The New York Times reports:
Speaker J. Dennis Hastert made history this year when he became the longest-serving Republican in that post. Now he is about to go into the books again as one of the few House speakers, and the first in almost 50 years, to rejoin the rank and file.
Defying expectations that he would immediately retire if the Republicans lost their majority, Mr. Hastert is preparing to remain in the House for at least the early months of the 110th Congress while he helps orchestrate a line of succession at home in Illinois and seeks to shape a political ending beyond his party’s defeat.
“It is not an ideal situation, but the speaker is a grounded person and is focused on serving another term in Congress,� said Ron Bonjean, a spokesman for Mr. Hastert.
Others close to Mr. Hastert say the speaker, who has said little publicly since the Republicans lost the House, is dejected and embarrassed by the rebuke. The defeat had a strong personal element, because Mr. Hastert’s role in the Mark Foley scandal became a Democratic talking point and severely limited his effectiveness as an advocate for House candidates.
Mr. Hastert is awaiting a report from the House ethics committee on whether he or his staff should have taken earlier and more aggressive steps to deal with warnings about improper conduct by Mr. Foley, the former Republican representative from Florida, toward Congressional pages.
I personally always find it hilarious when politicians wait for someone to blame them publicly for something, before they are tempted to take responsibility for their own mistakes / behavior. Hastert is – obviously – not different: first the report has to state that he and / or his staff acted wrongly and then (and only then) is he willing to draw (political and personal) conclusions.
One of the reasons for his refusal – for now at least – to retire:
Mr. Hastert wants to make sure that no Democrat, or even a Republican he does not anoint, slips into his Congressional seat through the short campaign preceding a special election.
“Or even a Republican he does not anoint”. Let that one sink in for a while. It goes to show what is wrong with the Grand Old Party these days: dissent is not allowed, not even within its own ranks.
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