Speaker Hastert's Land Deal Questioned

Group Says Lawmaker Pushed For Highway Funding To Boost His Profits

(CBS/AP) 
Ingemunson said Wallanches sold his property at a relatively good price for the buyers because the farmer was worried that the "bubble" was about to burst in the local real estate market. He said the subsequent property value was in line with fast-rising real estate in Kendall County.

For years, Hastert has pressed for federal support of the proposed north-south access road to meet the transportation challenges of Chicago's suburbs, including Kendall County, one of the fastest-growing areas in the nation. His pitch for the parkway had bipartisan support within the Illinois congressional delegation.

When President Bush last summer signed the multiyear transportation bill that included Hastert's Prairie Parkway, he even mentioned the connector road designed for joining two major highways.

In explaining the transactions, Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean backtracked to before 2004, when the Hasterts, using proceeds from selling their Yorkville residence and other assets, bought a 195-acre farm in Plano to serve as their new home.

About 70 acres of that land was hemmed in by other landowners, so Hastert bought additional acreage with Klatt and Ingemunson to give his farm frontage road access, Bonjean said.

Bonjean said Hastert borrowed money from his bank to pay for the quarter-interest in the adjacent property, and he said the loan was made on commercially available terms and fully secured by the value of the property.

In late 2005, Hastert sold 68.9 acres of his original 195-acre farm plus the 69.55 acres he and his partners had an interest in, Bonjean said. The speaker then bought 275 acres in Crawford County, Wis., for a possible future vacation home and, on equal footing with Klatt and Ingemunson, bought 126 acres in Kendall County.

"The Prairie Parkway was never a factor in these transactions," Bonjean said. "None of the properties purchased by the speaker are near enough to the Prairie Parkway to be affected by the proposed highway. ... When the property was purchased they did not know the Prairie Parkway was going to go down that route."

Anthony Casaccio, a Chicago-based real estate developer who says he owns several thousand acres in Kendall County, said he recently bought and sold commercially zoned property in the area where Hastert made his purchases and more than doubled his money in about two years.

"Depending on location and proximity to sewer and water, you could see easily doubling your money in a short period of time," said Casaccio, who said he was not a campaign contributor to Hastert and was not active politically.

Bonjean referred a reporter to Casaccio, saying he was expert in real estate matters in Kendall County.

Bill Allison, a spokesman and researcher for the Sunlight Foundation, said he would like to see paperwork from Hastert to back up the statements made by his staff and Ingemunson. He said too little is known about the transactions because much of the wheeling and dealing in real estate involved a trust, and, under Illinois law, it is difficult to learn about the details of transactions involving trusts.

Keith Ashdown, vice president of the group Taxpayers for Common Sense told the Washington Post that after chronicling Hastert's efforts to secure the parkway funding, he also remains suspicious.

"The facts are the facts," he told the newspaper, "and the facts are, he made a lot of money off this deal, and he was the one who got this earmark."