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Another son rising?
Friday, Apr 17, 2009 * John Laesch blogs about someone who was recently polled in Democratic Congressman Bill Foster’s district…
Ethan Hastert is Denny’s son. A GOP friend tells me that Ethan is calling around to the district’s county chairmen. The younger Hastert is a onetime aide to former VP Dick Cheney. He also had one bit of trouble in his past, but that was quite a while ago. Anyway, this looks like a possibility. [H/T: Progress Illinois]
- Posted by Rich Miller
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- VanillaMan - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 3:22 pm:
No!
Find another job in another field. We have enough sons and daughters thinking they have to be our civil servants to last a lifetime.
Find something else to do!
- Hon. Cranial Lamb (formerly carbon deforestation, formerly . . .) - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 3:24 pm:
I’m not saying that nobody should talk about the DUI arrest of Ethan Hastert, but from personal experience I think that we can all safely say that the judgment of a 22 year old is a world away from the judgment of a 30 year old. Probably shouldn’t be much of a campaign issue.
That said, Foster is a very likable guy and he’ll be much tougher to beat as the incumbent.
As Rich Miller pointed out earlier in the week. When was the last time an IL incumbent congressman was knocked off ??? (Rosty-Flanagan-Blago I think). Better question is: How many times has it happened in 30 years?
- Six Degrees of Separation - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 3:25 pm:
If my choices as a 14th District voter were John Laesch and Ethan Hastert, I would also be asking myself if death were an option.
- OneMan - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 3:26 pm:
I suspect Foster would not bring up the DUI…
Wonder what Lauzen thinks about this
- OneMan - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 3:30 pm:
Gripe about Johnny all you want but he almost beat Foster in the primary with virtually no cash…
- Sewanee - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 3:40 pm:
Foster has been running toward the middle on some key issues–card check, budget, spending–because the House doesn’t need his vote and because votes in favor of many of the primary democratic initiatives would make him more vulnerable in the Republican-leaning 14th.
- Baines 4 Prez - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 3:42 pm:
I agree with VMan, too strong a history of legacies in this state. His father still has plenty of connections so that he could undoubtedly end up doing anything his heart desires. I doubt leaving decision-making to such a small section of the gene pool is a good thing.
- Vote Quimby! - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 3:43 pm:
Yes! We need more nepotism and name-cashing-in in Illinois—it has worked wonders so far! On the Illinois scale of political scandals, a DUI when you were 22 is nothing.
- Fan of the Game - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 3:49 pm:
I see a bad moon rising.
I see trouble on the way…
- 47th Ward - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 4:10 pm:
It ain’t me. It ain’t me. I ain’t no Senator’s son.
- Anonymous - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 4:13 pm:
He’s just trying to get a new gig before the next round of layoffs at Mayer Brown.
- Capitol View - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 4:32 pm:
I’m not sure that Denny Hastert was ready for retirement. He’s now got his weight down, was involved with the state’s capital bill marketing to the voters…
Perhaps we can stop asking Jim Edgar to run for every post imaginable, and start a “draft Denny” movement for him to run for the Senate or Governor. The Republicans could do far worse, and probably will.
- Mr. Know-it-All - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 5:09 pm:
Ethan’s a bright and smart guy. His last name happens to be Hastert. I suspect that many of you who are bashing him here know nothing about him beyond who his father is.
- Objective Dem - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 5:11 pm:
It wouldn’t bother me if he were running for state rep or state senator. But I find it a bit annoying that he thinks he is ready for Congress at his young age without any prior elected experience.
I also think this is a mistake on his part because I assume he will lose and become a tarnished name rather than a rising star.
His close connections to Bush through his father and Cheney, certainly aren’t going to win him many votes.
- Just the Facts - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 6:32 pm:
Foster running to the middle on issues like card check? He is a co-sponsor of the legislation. The unions gave him close to $300,000 last year-he sings the party line on this issue
- always anonymous - Friday, Apr 17, 09 @ 7:38 pm:
why wasn’t he taken into custody? Everyone else is.
- 14th CD - Saturday, Apr 18, 09 @ 12:45 am:
Ethan was a Romney Delegate in some other CD so he must have moved back recently. This is a non-starter. Daddy just signed a $35 K lobbying contract for the Republic of Turkey. So he will be paid to put the interests of a foreign nation equal or above the interests of the US. Nice.
Remember when Tom Ewing tried to put his young son into Congress? Made a nice paycheck for Lee Newcom but the Ewing prodigal son finished 3rd.
- A WISE OLD MAN - Saturday, Apr 18, 09 @ 6:28 am:
That is true, we do not know much about Ethan Hastert, other than he is a 31 year old lawyer for Mayer Brown (Ethan’s picture is on the Mayer Brown website), and today’s Elgin Courier-News includes he has a 2-year old son. On his own merit, we know nothing except he has the bloodline to line-up campaign contributions, let alone scare off any serious primary challenge from Chris Lauzen, or any other aspiring mayor in the 14th.
The loyalty of most factions within the 14th district Republicans, conservatives and moderate Republicans alike, should bring them firmly into the Hastert camp, without much opposition. Jim Oberweis sold his loyalty to Hastert in 2008, so he will be on board. Wonder if Jim Oberweis will push to be Republican State Central Committeeman in the 14th, as part of the Hastert ticket.
Like it or not, if Ethan Hastert decides to run, he will have the Republican nomination locked up without much opposition. Now, beating an incumbent congressman like Bill Foster is another matter. The employment in Dick Cheney’s office, and the DUI arrest will come up. About the DUI, what was the final disposition of the case? Neither of those points will, by themselves, doom Hastert’s candidacy against Foster.
The 2010 General Election between Foster and Hastert will be about Foster’s record, and how the Democratic leadership protect Foster from controversial votes to 14th district residents. The Democrats will take the challenge from Denny Hastert’s son seriously, which will help Foster. Something else helping Foster will be he is a self-made success, which resonates with voters. Voters will know if Ethan Hastert is the Republican nominee, that the younger Hastert wouldn’t be where he is without being Denny’s son. Mainstream voters do prefer self-made over father-son legacies (remember how Congressman Tom Ewing’s 29-year old son, Sam, unsuccessfully ran for the 15th congressional district in 2000?).
Incumbent congressmen in Illinois being knocked off in General Elections? Apart from the 5th district changing hands in 1994 and 1996, the 16th district changed hands from John Cox to Don Manzullo in 1992, the 11th district of George Sangmeister went Republican with Jerry Weller’s election in 1994, the 8th district ouster of Congressman Phil Crane in 2004 by Melissa Bean are the only other times I can think of it happening in the past 20 years.
Thoughts to ponder.
- wordslinger - Saturday, Apr 18, 09 @ 11:18 am:
It’s a free country. It’s not nepotism if you run and win on your own. What kind of world is it if the father can’t help the son, as a great man once said.
- Beowulf - Sunday, Apr 19, 09 @ 8:46 am:
As a Republican, I would only suggest that Denny Hastert and Andy Mckenna spare young Ethan (and fellow Republicans) from embarassing himself. Denny and Andy should have stayed out of the last primary between Oberweis and Lauzen. Look what “Dumb & Dumber” managed to do: They “gave” a solidly Republican district to Mr. Foster.
I have talked to fellow Republicans over in that District about whether Foster will get re-elected? They said that they were impressed with Foster and his willingness to go against his own Party’s wishes. They said that they will likely vote him back into office. They said that they had a belly-full of the Illinois Republican’s leadership (or lack thereof). They also said that time has proven that what Denny Hastert was in political office for was what it could do for Denny Hastert and his family. Ethan wouldn’t stand a chance, folks. Republican voters over there would fall off of their kitchen chairs laughing if Oberweis ran again. Lauzen “might” have a slim chance but my money is on Foster since he has managed to stay above the normal partisan politics that people have come to expect in Illinois politics. The Illinois Republican Party is only two-steps behind going the route of the Whig Party unless they replace the current broken Republican Party leadership and brokers (Cellini, Kjellander, Jim Thompson, etc.) down in Springfield. I call it like it is, not as I would like it to be.