Say Hello to the Hastert Highway

Fat Denny dismissed this term as a Red Herring a few years ago during an interview with the intrepid editors of the Aurora Beacon News (know locally as the "Be Confused"). At this hour, however, money for the Hastert Highway (officially dubbed the Prairie Parkway) is being signed over by President Chauncey Gardener.

That's Your Money! he likes to say.

So take a look at some of the history of this very unpopular road project, which has long been the brainchild of Hastert's financial backers.

Most interesting is the missing article about Hastert selling his house for somewhere around $300,000 (the sale is estimated at $549,900) less than the listing price to a local developer for what the developer called "stormwater management" for a 1,200-acre development on adjacent land.

Odd, ain't it? Also odd that neither this sale nor the purchase of the land outside Plano are listed on financial disclosure statements. Makes a fella say, "Hmmm."

Also something to note: the 192 acre little spot of paradise Large Dennis picked out happens to be nowhere near any of the projects IDOT recommended, although the purchase was arranged before the studies were made public.

Oh, yeah. The purchase price of the Plano property was rumored to be $2.2 million.

Not on the disclosure form.