Hastert Shamelessness

Earlier in the week I briefly mentioned House Speaker Dennis Hastert's mind-numbingly insensitive comments about rebuilding New Orleans. Ever since those words left his mouth the speaker's been trying to do damage control (his office issued a statement noting that he wasn't "advocating that the city be abandoned or relocated"), but he continues to do a stunningly inept job of it.

Yesterday, the House came back early from vacation to debate and pass a $10.5 billion emergency funding bill for hurricane relief, following Senate action late Thursday night. But Speaker Hastert wasn't in the chair to gavel in the chamber ... in fact, he wasn't even in Washington. Ah, the less cynical among you might say, surely he was touring storm-ravaged areas of the Gulf coast, or engaged in some serious government business elsewhere in the country.

But of course that would have been the appropriate thing to do. Where was Hastert? In Indiana. At a fund-raiser for Rep. Mark Souder's reelection campaign. And after that? A quick flight to DC to at least toss in an appearance at the special session, right? Make a short statement of support for the devastated coast? Nah. After the fund-raiser, Hastert went to Auburn, IN to the Kruse International Labor Day weekend automobile auction - where he sold a car and a truck.

Hastert finally arrived in Washington around 4 p.m. yesterday afternoon, long after the House had finished its work. When reporters requested his tardy slip, Hastert emitted an excuse that should have made a hookey-playing fourth-grader blush: Souder's fund-raiser, he said, had been planned "for a long, long time."

You know what, Speaker? People have been sitting in their attics in New Orleans waiting to be rescued "for a long, long time." American citizens have been dying in the streets of one of our greatest cities because they've been unable to get food and water and medical attention "for a long, long time." Fund-raisers, Mr. Speaker, can be rescheduled. Lives? Not so much.

Of the car auction, Hastert snipped "Yes, I went to a charity auction. I took one of my cars and sold it for tens of thousands of dollars. And that money will go to hurricane relief efforts." Good. I'm glad it will. But somebody else could have taken the car to that auction, and you should have been doing your job presiding over the House of Representatives.

I don't care what party he's from - mine, any other, or none. I don't even care that Hastert's presence was technically unnecessary in Washington, since clearly the chamber was able to act just fine without him. It's the principle of the thing; it's the symbolism. When the third-ranking member of our government is off conducting fund-raisers (for a political campaign, mind you) instead of doing his duty, all Americans have a responsibility to call him out on it. It was a stupid, stupid move, and I hope that the voters of Hastert's district remember it next November.

You bet I'm angry about this. I'm angry, and I'm embarrassed. It's shameful, and Hastert doesn't even seem to understand that.