Hastert Directs Millions to Birthplace

Aurora's $24 million accounts for about 1.7 percent of the $1.4 billion earmarked in the health resources account through 2004. An equal division of the funds among all 435 House districts would have given each about $3.2 million.

In addition to the money for Aurora University and Rush-Copley Medical Center, there was $3.4 million to purchase movable equipment for a surgical expansion at Provena Mercy Medical Center, where Hastert aide Lulu Blacksmith was manager of community outreach until three years ago.

Other Aurora-area beneficiaries have been the Aurora Primary Care Consortium, which has received $409,240, and the Visiting Nurses Association, which plans to use a total of $1.6 million directed to it by Congress over three years to build a 50,000-square-foot facility housing health clinics and offices.

In 2004, the Association for Individual Development, an Aurora-based nonprofit, received a $3.1 million earmark to build a 34,000-square-foot facility in Elgin to teach job skills to the disabled.

Worthy as the projects may be, the lengthening list of earmarks in Congress has come under fire from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). During a floor speech in 2000, he said he was "appalled" at the mounting sums being handed out for constructing facilities without a competitive process.

"I am confident there are many organizations which need financial assistance and yet are not fortunate enough to have an advocate in the appropriations process," he said.

Palmer: Speaker Wants It

Palmer, Hastert's chief of staff, is by all accounts the speaker's closest adviser. He has served in his post since 1987, except for a stint from 1995 to 1999 as deputy chief of staff to then-House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). He shares a Southwest Washington townhouse with Hastert. In addition to receiving a House salary of $144,000, two campaign funds associated with Hastert paid Palmer $23,204 in consulting fees in 2003, according to his financial disclosure report.

At Aurora University, Palmer won praise as an undergraduate actor and history scholar. He graduated in 1972 but stayed on to get a business degree and serve as registrar and director of public information. Palmer left in 1984 to become marketing director of a bank and a part-time political consultant.

His honorary degree came as the university was seeking to expand a modest program that brought elementary school students to the college campus, where aspiring teachers could work with them in classrooms.

The university envisioned a more ambitious plan: a multimillion-dollar "Institute for Collaboration in Education and Health Services," to be housed in a new two-story building. The institute would "support the goals in the No Child Left Behind Act" and would "alleviate the shortages of teachers, school social workers and school nurses in the region," according to various university announcements.

Palmer was directly involved in shepherding the $10 million earmark through Congress and into the 2003 omnibus spending bill, according to one source with firsthand knowledge of the process. Palmer personally presented the request to the House Appropriations Committee staff, saying it was an item the speaker wanted, the source said. Palmer and Hastert traveled to Aurora for the announcement in February 2003. Palmer received a university medallion and was given the honorary title of "president for the day," according to the alumni publication.

In an interview, Aurora University President Rebecca L. Sherrick described Palmer as a "very important ally," but added that the university has a "strong public agenda" and works closely with state and federal officials in both parties.

Nonetheless, the project drew fire from Democrats, who contended it had little connection to health programs.

A report issued by Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee charged that it violated a long-standing policy against using federal funds for school construction projects.

The health resources account was also used to designate $5.5 million to Rush-Copley Medical Center in several annual installments between 2002 and 2004, when Palmer was an unpaid member of the hospital's governing board.

Lisa Brady, vice president of strategy for the hospital, said the money has purchased surgery equipment, heart monitoring devices, lab information systems, and radiology and fetal monitoring equipment. She said she did not know whether Palmer had played a role in obtaining the funds.

Officials at Provena Hospital worked with Blacksmith and other aides in Hastert's Batavia office to get the $3.4 million for a new surgery center through the health resources program, according to Michael Meyer, the hospital's vice president of public affairs and marketing. Blacksmith attended the dedication of the facility in April, he added.

Now Provena is seeking $1.5 million for a mental health initiative. But Meyer said even when your representative is the most powerful member of the House, there are no guarantees. "It's like Yogi Berra said, you don't have it until you have it."

There is every sign that Hastert's door remains open to Aurora. On May 9, the speaker sponsored a "grant writing workshop" in the city, aimed at "helping area not-for-profit and other organizations [get] better access to federal dollars."