WASHINGTON — Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., plans to resign before the end of the year, Republican sources said Thursday.
“It’s pretty much a certainty that he is expected to step down before the end of the year,” said a House GOP leadership aide.
Hastert previously announced he will not seek re-election next year. His office would not confirm his departure.
“He has consistently said that he would continue to serve as long as he is effective, and that is still the case today,” said spokesman Brad Hahn. “There are different discussions taking place, but no decisions have been made.”
Hastert is in his 11th term and served as speaker from 1999 until Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., succeeded him this year. He was the longest-serving Republican speaker and had the second-longest continuous term in the post overall, longer than anyone since Thomas “Tip” O’Neill, D-Mass.
Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich will schedule a special election for early next year. Hastert’s departure will create an opening on the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Hastert, a former high school teacher and wrestling coach, was born in Aurora, Ill., and has spent his life in his district, where Chicago’s exurbs sprawl into the farmland of downstate Illinois. He became speaker two months after the November 1998 elections, succeeding Newt Gingrich, R-Ga. He was known as “the accidental speaker” because he was selected after Gingrich’s putative successor, Bob Livingston, resigned and because he never intended to push for the job. But at the behest of Gingrich, Hastert announced his candidacy and was chosen in the course of a day.
Over time, the low-key Hastert built a reputation as a consensus-builder and a smart tactician.
