Aurora Beacon News, IL
Aug 17 2005
Hastert funding is under scrutiny
~U Investigation sought: Group which has ties to Democrats wants
claims of impropriety examined
By Ed Fanselow Staff WRITER
WASHINGTON – A magazine story alleging a covert relationship between
a group of Turkish nationals and House Speaker Dennis Hastert
has prompted a group of leading Democrats to call for a federal
investigation into the claims.
The story, published in the September issue of Vanity Fair magazine,
relies on an uncorroborated account from a former FBI translator, who
says she overheard Turkish wiretap targets – who were the subject of
counter-intelligence investigations – brag of funneling thousands of
dollars into Hastert’s campaign fund in exchange for political favors.
The translator told the magazine that the donations were to be made
in payments of less than $200, which do not have to be itemized under
Federal Election Commission rules.
The Yorkville Republican himself was never heard in the recordings, the
translator told the magazine, and the story’s author admitted that the
Turks supposed claims may have been nothing more than “hollow boasts.
”
Still, the story caught the eye of the Citizens for Responsibility and
Ethics in Washington (CREW), which on Tuesday filed a complaint with
the FEC calling for “a thorough investigation into Hastert’s finances.”
The group, founded by the former senior counsel to House Democrats,
was responsible for drafting a complaint against House Majority Leader
Tom DeLay, R-Texas, for which he was admonished last year.
In a written statement, CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan suggests
that the translator’s claims warrant a closer look since Hastert
recorded an inordinately high amount of small, unitemized donations
between 1996 and 2002.
According to the FEC, the Hastert For Congress Committee reported more
than $480,000 in donations of less than $200 during that 7-year period.
By comparison, DeLay reported receiving less than $100,000 during
the same span.
“The sheer number of small contributions should have raised a red
flag,” Sloan said.
John McGovern, a Hastert spokesman, called the allegations
“outlandish.”
“These are ridiculous and reckless claims from a Democratic front group
that have no basis in reality,” he said Tuesday. “It’s just not true.”
According to the Vanity Fair report, the Turks were apparently looking
for Hastert to help derail a 2000 House resolution designating the
killings of thousands of Armenians in Turkey during the 1920s as
genocide.
The controversial issue has long been a source of hostility between
the two countries as well as between Americans of Armenian and
Turkish descent.
The magazine alleges that Hastert originally supported the resolution,
only to reverse his position and withdraw it from consideration on
the House floor.
Another Hastert spokesman told the magazine, though, that the speaker’s
about-face came only after a personal appeal from then-President
Bill Clinton.
“To insinuate anything else,” the spokesman said, “just doesn’t
make sense.”