As a resident of Oregon, I lived through much of the weird career of Neil Goldschmidt, mayor, cabinet secretary, governor, and child molester. Short version: For most of his political career Goldschmidit used his considerable power, money and influence to conceal his rape of a 14 or 15 year old girl back in the mid-70s when he'd been mayor of Portland and a national rising star in politics.
Goldschmidt, who now lives primarily in France due to his being despised in Oregon by everyone, is almost the same age as Hastert.
From the Hastert indictment, it's obvious that the former speaker was paying, in 2010, $3.5 million in blackmail to cover up something that happened back when he was a high school teacher, from 1965 to 1981. And it seems pretty obvious that whatever happened involved his teaching responsibilities.
Now $3.5 million is a lot of scratch (in case you didn't know that), for something that happened anywhere from 29 to 45 years previously. And even for Hastert, who mirabile dictu for an Illinois politician, left public "service" as a wealthy man, this was a lot.
Hastert must have been confronted with something he'd done a very long time in the past for which overwhelming proof still existed in the year 2010.
There's only one kind of evidence that could be both enduring and indisputable for that length of time, and that would have to be a child.
This of course is nothing new for politicians (see e.g. the Governator and also Ma, ma, where's my pa?), and really would not be worth much in terms of blackmail. Maybe some cereal boxtops and a copy of the collected works of Rick Santorum, but not much more.
No, this has to be something really despicable; otherwise why pay $3.5 million when the statute of limitations has long past? Having a child through an affair with an adult woman would not do it, but what if the child's mother were an underage student, perhaps 14 or 15?
The law almost certainly would classify that as rape, and even if, as appears quite likely, the statute of limitations would have long since run, Hastert would face instant ostracism just as Neil Goldschmidt did. Hastert, who must have quietly enjoyed his rise from wrestling coach with a dark secret to third in line for the presidency, would be a virtual exile, almost like Hale's Man Without a Country.
But evil deed or not Hastert is NOT being prosecuted for that. Instead, he's being prosecuted for the crime of withdrawing his own money and lying to the FBI about it. Oh the FREAKIN' HUMANITY! Glenn Greenwald hits it just right on L'Affair Hastert. Short version:
What we have here is a classic case of the warped American justice system. Hastert’s seriously bad and corrupt acts will remain unpunished. And the acts for which he is being punished, at least as laid out in the indictment, are not seriously bad and corrupt. One can harbor contempt for Hastert (as I do) while still recognizing the disturbing aspects of the U.S. justice system revealed by his indictment.