HR1054 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1054 LRB095 20331 GRL 47546 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, J. Dennis Hastert was born in Aurora, Illinois, on January 2, 1942, but is a true son of Kendall County, Illinois, having grown up in Oswego, which was a farm town in the time of his youth; the "Denny" who became a familiar figure to television audiences around the world started out as a carrier of 100-pound feed bags for the agricultural supply business that his family owned and operated; and

WHEREAS, The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert is both a teacher and a maker of history, having served as both an instructor of history at Kendall County's Yorkville High School and as the longest-serving Republican Speaker in the annals of the United States House of Representatives; and

WHEREAS, Dennis Hastert's service to Yorkville High as both a teacher and a coach culminated when he successfully mentored the "Foxes" to their wrestling State championship in 1975-1976, and was named the Illinois Wrestling Coach of the Year; and

WHEREAS, Dennis Hastert has since been elevated to the Illinois Wrestling Coaches' Hall of Fame; and

WHEREAS, As a community leader, Dennis Hastert was a natural choice by his Aurora-based district to be one of their three State representatives in November of 1980; and

WHEREAS, In his three terms in the Illinois House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert served alongside legislators such as Michael J. Madigan, Barbara Flynn Currie, Tim Johnson, and Ron Stephens, rising to the position of minority spokesperson on the Appropriations II Committee; and

WHEREAS, While on course to what would have been his unopposed election to a fourth term in the Illinois House in 1986, Dennis Hastert was selected by his fellow local Republican Party leaders as a substitute candidate to replace the Honorable John E. Grotberg, congressman from Illinois's Fourteenth District, after tragic health concerns forced Grotberg to relinquish his nomination for re-election to Congress; and

WHEREAS, In November of 1986, the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert was elected by the people of northern Illinois to represent them in the 100th Congress, and Coach Hastert was himself coached as a freshman representative by his predecessor, John Grotberg, and Grotberg's staff, by his Illinois Republican colleague and mentor, Robert Michel of Peoria, by his Illinois Republican colleague, Ed Madigan of Lincoln, and by many other Congressmen and women from both political parties; and

WHEREAS, When Dennis Hastert entered Congress, the United States House of Representatives had been controlled for more than thirty years by a Democratic majority, but in November of 1994, the American people selected Republican candidates to serve in the majority and organize the House of Representatives in the 104th Congress; and

WHEREAS, As a member of both the minority and the majority parties in Congress, Dennis Hastert served on the House Energy and Commerce Committee and specialized in the issues of job creation and economic growth; and

WHEREAS, Dennis Hastert worked with members of both political parties on concerns of the Chicago metropolitan area, including the health of Chicago's financial futures and derivatives markets, long-term growth plans for Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, and the cleanup of the thorium dumpsite in West Chicago, which was, at one time, the second largest radioactive waste site in the United States; and

WHEREAS, Dennis Hastert worked on many issues of national and international importance, including the development of alternative energy sources and bio-fuels, the War on Drugs, and American health care; and

WHEREAS, Congressman Hastert served as Chairman of the Congressional Anti-Drug Task Force; and

WHEREAS, Dennis Hastert headed the legislative effort that mediated between disparate interests and developed and passed the federal Patients' Bill of Rights; and

WHEREAS, Coach Hastert impressed his Republican colleagues with his grasp of national policy issues, his friendliness, and his emotional connection with the concerns of the American heartland; in December of 1998, his colleagues chose the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert to lead their caucus as their Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in the 106th Congress; and

WHEREAS, It fell upon Speaker Dennis Hastert to lead America's House of Representatives on September 11, 2001; and

WHEREAS, During the traumatic days immediately after 9/11, Dennis Hastert presided over a House of Representatives in which partisan concerns were temporarily submerged into a common desire to respond to the crisis as a united nation and a unified body of lawmakers, with many key items of ground-breaking legislation passed that reflected this national perspective; and

WHEREAS, During and after those unforgettable days, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was a familiar figure on television screens across the world in his role as the presiding officer of the House when it is addressed by national leaders and heads of state, including the President of the United States when delivering the annual State of the Union Address and special addresses to Congress; and

WHEREAS, America's Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, presided over the federal House of Representatives through four biennial congressional terms, covering the 106th, 107th, 108th, and 109th Congresses, a longer period of service than any other Speaker from the Republican Party; and

WHEREAS, Dennis Hastert has announced his desire to resume his career as an educator by leading the creation of the J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government and Public Policy at Wheaton College, the college from which he graduated in 1964; and

WHEREAS, "Denny" Hastert, during his momentous time of national leadership, has been sustained by his connections to the people of northern Illinois, and above all by his personal faith; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we acknowledge the contributions of the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert as an esteemed former member of the Illinois House of Representatives, as a Congressman, and as the four-time elected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we thank Jean Kahl Hastert, the wife of the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, and Speaker Hastert's two sons, Joshua Hastert and Ethan Hastert, for their support of "Denny" Hastert during the traumatic times that surrounded his period of national responsibility; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we never forget that a native son of Illinois was on hand to help guide our nation through these years of grave crisis; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this Preamble and Resolution be presented to the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert in remembrance of his years of State and national service.