Hastert's Sunscreen

Dennis Hastert likes threatening bad news with lawsuits. Of course, it is about the only recourse left him. Hastert has been getting pounded by bad publicity lately, for it was not so long ago that ABC's Brian Ross reported that Hastert was "in the mix" of the Abramoff investigation. Hastert threatened to sue Ross unless a retraction was forthcoming. It wasn't and Ross stuck by his story. This tale quickly went into hibernation, however, when Democrat William Jefferson's congressional office was bagged by the FBI. This sent Hastert into a righteous rage about "seperation of powers," suddenly trumpeting a heretofore unmanifest concern for the Constitution.

And now Denny is threatening to sue someone else. In a follow-up to the Hastert pork-barrel highway story brought to light by the Sunlight Foundation, Advance Indiana is reporting that the House Speaker says he will sue the watchdog Sunlight Foundation for their article about the Prairie Parkway project. The argument now appears to be more about Hastert's lack of disclosure about his interest in the real estate deal rather than any charges of personal enrichment.