Secrets of former House speaker exact price

Penn State had to repaint a mural. A law enforcement complex in South Carolina had to change its name. And what was once called the Nixon Freeway is now known as the Marina Freeway to California commuters.

Jerry Sandusky, James Metts and Richard Nixon are examples of why nothing should be named after a living person. You just never know when someone will morph from good example to cautionary tale, as former House Speaker Dennis Hastert reminded the nation last week.

Hastert, the longest-serving Republican speaker, resigned from his lobbyist job Thursday after a damning federal grand-jury indictment was made public. The former high school teacher and wrestling coach is accused of making illegal withdrawals from his bank accounts and lying to federal investigators about them.

The bombshell, however, was not those actions, but the alleged scandal surrounding them: the charge that Hastert was withdrawing the money to pay $3.5 million to an unnamed person in exchange for keeping "past misconduct" secret. The New York Times reported that, according to sources familiar with evidence gathered by the FBI, the payments allegedly went to a man sexually abused decades ago by Hastert when he was a high school teacher and wrestling coach.

Whatever transpires, the indictment mars a previously unblemished political career spanning nearly three decades. In December 1998, a month before Mr. Hastert became House speaker, the executive director of the Illinois GOP told The Washington Post, "There is not a breath of scandal associated with Denny."

Meanwhile, plans for a $500,000 statue of Hastert at the Illinois Capitol are now on hold. No word on what will become of the wrestling tournament known as the Denny Hastert Yorktown Invitational. Note to naming committees everywhere: Reputations take years to build, but only days to crumble.

This article was published and distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.