Questions About 3 Republicans’ Land Deals

Posted on Jun 22, 2006

The House speaker cleared a cool $2 million from the sale of land near a highway project that he helped to finance with targeted federal funds. Two other GOP congressmen had similar questionable dealings in their own districts. The Washington Post has the goods.

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Washington Post:

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) made a $2 million profit last year on the sale of land 5 1/2 miles from a highway project that he helped to finance with targeted federal funds.

A Republican House member from California, meanwhile, received nearly double what he paid for a four-acre parcel near an Air Force base after securing $8 million for a planned freeway interchange 16 miles away. And another California GOP congressman obtained funding in last year’s highway bill for street improvements near a planned residential and commercial development that he co-owns.

In all three cases, Hastert and Reps. Ken Calvert and Gary Miller say that they were securing funds their home districts wanted badly, and that in no way did the earmarks have any impact on the land values of their investments. But for watchdog groups, the cases have opened a fresh avenue for investigation and a new wrinkle in the ongoing controversy over earmarks—home-district projects funded through narrowly written legislative language.

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