Denny, Have You Been a Bad Boy?

According to Rawstory, the September issue of Vanity Fair “packs a punch with an article about Sibel Edmonds, the FBI translator who has been gagged by the Bush Administration from revealing information about conversations she translated surrounding a seemingly major corruption scandal involving Turkish nationals and U.S. lawmakers”.

Edmonds "reported hearing Turkish wiretap targets boast that they had a covert relationship with a very senior Republican indeed-Dennis Hastert, Republican congressman from Illinois and Speaker of the House since 1999," Rose writes. "The targets reportedly discussed giving Hastert tens of thousands of dollars in surreptitious payments in exchange for political favors and information."

"Some of the calls reportedly contained what sounded like references to large scale drug shipments and other crimes," writes Rose. "One name, however, apparently stood out-a man the Turkish callers often referred to by the nickname 'Denny boy.' It was Dennis Hastert. According to some of the wiretaps, the FBI's targets had arranged for thousands of dollars to be paid to Hastert's campaign funds in small checks. Under Federal Election Commission rules, donations of less than $200 are not required to be itemized in public filings.

"Hastert himself was never heard on the recordings," Rose says. "Nevertheless, an examination of Hastert's federal filings shows that the level of un-itemized payments his campaigns received over many years was relatively high. Between April 1996 and December 2002, un-itemized personal donations to the Hastert for Congress fund amounted to $483,000."