Editorial: No sympathy as Hastert finally serves his time

Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert makes ignominious history today.

When he walks through the doors at the Federal Bureau of Prisons medical facility in Rochester, Minnesota, as inmate 47991-424, Hastert, 74, becomes the highest-ranking American official to serve time behind bars.

Though he was sentenced two months ago after pleading guilty to violating banking laws, it remains a stunning fall from grace.

As we now know, Hastert's crimes are much more menacing than bank fraud. He admitted molesting at least four boys while a high school teacher and coach in Yorkville decades ago.

He somehow thought those crimes would be forgotten as he embarked on a public, political career. In January 1999, he reached the pinnacle of that career when he was named speaker of the House at a time, ironically, when President Bill Clinton was facing impeachment as part of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Hastert served as speaker until early 2007.

"Nothing is more stunning than uttering 'serial child molester' and 'speaker of the House' in the same sentence," U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin said of Hastert in April when sentencing him to 15 months in prison. "Some conduct is unforgivable no matter how old it is."

Indeed, perhaps that is why Hastert is serving time when other notable politicians - think President Nixon or Vice President Spiro Agnew - avoided jail for their crimes.

In Illinois, of course, we've seen our politicians behind bars all too often. Still, this case is among the most shocking and most damning. Hastert ultimately tried to hide the fact he was paying one of his victims $3.5 million in hush money.

"Mr. Hastert's fall from grace has been swift and devastating," a court filing from Hastert's attorneys said. "He knows that, for the rest of his life, wherever he goes, the public warmth and affection that he previously received will be replaced by hostility and isolation."

Let that be a lesson to any politician or any person in authority - Hastert, after all, was a coach and teacher at the time of these crimes - who thinks he or she can abuse a child and not eventually face the consequences.

Unfortunately, it took almost four decades for Hastert's victims to get justice. For them and for the misplaced trust the public put in him, the former speaker deserves every moment he eventually spends in custody.