Some say he will get sent away for six months, others say it will be longer. Dennis Hastert faces jail. Once arguably the most powerful man in the U.S. Congress, Hastert is to be sentenced soon. He is going to jail not just for paying hush money and not just for covering up alleged sexual abuse of a minor, and not even for structuring the hush money bank withdrawals so no one would notice, but for repeatedly lying and misleading investigators.
Dennis Hastert has had an unethical and arguably a criminal past and I am in no way supporting an adult sexually abusing a minor, but his larger crime was the crime of arrogance and in thinking he was somehow bigger than his accusers and that he could outrun his bad choices. It doesn’t work that way.
A long time ago Hastert, an Illinois Republican, was a high school teacher. While a teacher it is alleged that he was involved in sexual misconduct with a minor. Years passed, and Hastert rose in power and national prominence – and as he grew in importance and went from congressman to speaker to powerful political lobbyist, the minor he abused grew into adulthood, and had the courage to call a lawyer.
The person he abused and the family agreed to settle with him for $3.5 million. Hastert did something sneaky, he withdrew (illegally) $952,000 at a time to avoid triggering red flags in the banking system. In this fashion, he paid his accuser hush money, the banking system wasn’t aware and the public didn’t know. He lied and he tricked and deceived everyone in an attempt to outrun his past.
Interestingly, Hastert is not being sent to jail for sexual abuse but for evading the banking laws. When he was indicted, a relative of another minor Hastert had abused stepped forward also accusing Hastert of sexual misconduct. All of the lies exploded in his face. Said the U.S. Attorney’s office:
“As part of the sentencing process in this case, as in all cases, we will provide the Court with relevant information about the defendant’s background and the charged offenses, and the defendant will have an opportunity to do the same, so that the Court can impose an appropriate sentence taking into account all relevant factors in the case.”
The truth is long past due.
Unethical actions come home to roost
The acts of sexual misconduct on minors by Hastert was covered-up for more than 30 years. However, Hastert was engaged in highly unethical behavior all along, and totally outside of sexual abuse, during and even after he left congress. For example, he was accused (as a powerful lobbyist) of using his past, political affiliations to help influence his lobbying.
Do I view the accumulation of unethical behaviors as “Karmic?” No, I don’t. I do believe that a pattern is set very early on and that men and women who believe their bad decisions won’t come back to haunt them, invariably suffer bad consequences. It is almost a guarantee.
In this case, Hastert’s sexual predilections are not the issue (providing he was with a consenting adult), the issue is one of “pattern.” He believed he was powerful enough to get away with anything. It may take years, or even decades, for the ethical ship to right itself, but it generally will.
Could ethical training have helped Dennis Hastert? I honestly cannot say. His behavior was more criminal than ethical and a psychological pattern was set. “Ethics” do not generally apply to child abusers. However, for others about to embark on a political career, or for politicians in office who are considering life as lobbyists or influencers after politics, ethical training should be mandatory.
Dennis Hastert is heading off to jail. We will never learn about his victims, we will only know about his lies. I don’t know if he will change his mindset after leaving jail, or if this will teach him a lesson. He has made several bad decisions over a lifetime.
The greatest lesson of all is what he can teach us about living an ethical life cause every choice has a consequence.
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