Hastert deserves what he's going through

I'm writing to address the outrage I felt after reading the article in April 23's Daily Herald in which friends and family members of Dennis Hastert were asking for leniency in sentencing.

One of these people was Republican Tom DeLay. DeLay says that "we all have our flaws." Since when is perpetrating sexual abuse considered a "flaw"? I think it's severely reductionist to minimize sexual abuse to a mere character flaw.

Currently, the religious right zealots are making great sport of concocting laws to intentionally discriminate against the LGBT community as a whole and are using a distorted form of fear mongering to deny transgender individuals the basic human dignity of going to the bathroom safely. This fear mongering is based on phantom pedophiles. Hastert is not a phantom yet it is being asked that he be treated with compassion and leniency. The majority of sexual abuse is not perpetrated by phantom strangers. Most pedophiles who hurt our children are people they know and trust: coaches (such as Mr. Hastert), teachers, family members, priests/religious leaders, etc.

DeLay also says Hastert is "a good man that loves the Lord." Does a good man sexually abuse children, pay hush money rather than accept responsibility for his actions, and then use his political position to urge lawmakers to put repeat child molesters in jail for the rest of their lives while he remains free? Furthermore, Mr. Hastert's relationship with the Lord shouldn't have any bearing in the meting out of justice in an American court. Perhaps his Lord will decide if he deserves leniency.

On that, I'll agree. He deserves much worse. A verdict was handed down on the money transfer charges, but no verdict would have been appropriate enough because, conveniently for him, the statute of limitations on the sex abuse cases has expired.

Rita Rothmund

Naperville