Gingrich to raise cash for Hastert

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich is set to host a Dec. 11 congressional fundraiser for the son of former Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

Ethan Hastert's campaign announced Friday that Gingrich would headline a morning fundraiser in St. Charles to help his GOP primary bid to win back his father's old seat.

Gingrich was quoted in the announcement as saying, "Ethan Hastert will fight to restore our conservative values and make our country worthy of the America we inherited."

Gingrich spearheaded the national "Contract with America" campaign that led to the Republican party taking a majority in the House in 1994 following the election of Democrat Bill Clinton as president.

Dennis Hastert took over as House speaker after Gingrich stepped down following seat losses in the 1998 elections. Hastert resigned as the longest-serving Republican House speaker not long after losing the party's House majority in 2006.

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, a Batavia Democrat, won the Far West suburban 14th District in a special 2008 election and then kept it in the following general election last year.

Ethan Hastert, an Elburn attorney, is running against state Sen. Randy Hultgren of Winfield Township, Mark Vargas of Elgin, Jeff Danklefsen of Geneva and Jim Purcell of Batavia.

Hultgren responded to news of the fundraiser by attacking the conservative credentials of Dennis Hastert and Gingrich, saying they "presided over the largest government expansion and biggest deficits in our nation's history."