How Dennis Hastert parlayed his Position into Millions

Who knew he'd need that Inside-the-Beltway boost in Salary in order to pay out hush money in the millions over the years ...

How ‘Public Servant’ Hastert Got His Riches

by Ana Marie Cox, thedailybeast.com -- May 30 2015

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A better question, and one that many Washington watchdogs leapt on quickly: How did Hastert happen to have enough money lying around that paying out $3.5 million was even within the realm of possibility?

Hastert’s ability to participate in the blackmail is, after all, itself a general indictment of D.C.’s “revolving door” money culture, in which former lawmakers move easily from government into lobbying. In Hastert’s case, the ability to profit off of one’s legislative position is especially galling: While in office, Hastert used the earmarking process to turn his investment in some Illinois farmland into a profit of 140 percent when a federal highway project just happened to make its way through those very fields. Indeed, it was this instance of a completely legal form of insider trading that helped prompt Congress to end earmarks.

And, of course, Hastert made even more money once he was out of office. One study found that, on average -- and when the information is publicly available -- former lawmakers get a 1,425 percent raisewhen they make the jump from Capitol Hill to K Street. Hastert, who was worth between $4 million and $17 million when he left Congress, was making $175,000 as a representative. His K Street bump would be to almost $2.5 million a year.
[...]

But it does definitely say something about 'Big cheeses rotting in Denmark'

-- when making routine Hush Money payments, just becomes another "incidental cost"of doing business in D.C.