WHO: Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert
WHAT: Politico reports that taxpayers are being billed more than $40,000 per month for rented office space in Illinois, $100,000-plus salaries of three assistants, cell phones, laptops, satellite TV and a leased 2008 GMC Yukon for Hastert, who now lobbies for U.S. corporations and foreign governments.
WHY IT’S AN OUTRAGE: A federal law gives former speakers up to five years of such taxpayer-funded perks as long as they do not use them to lobby their former colleagues. Hastert claims he keeps his lobbying activities totally separate, but an aide admitted that the taxpayer-funded office is the only one Hastert maintains.
WHERE TO VENT: Call House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (who’s next in line for the post-office perks) at 202-225-4965.
