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Aurora Beacon-News
August 9, 2002
Recent news reports, including Sunday's article in The Beacon News "Holding on to Paradise," on
Kane County's Farmland Protection Program, have suggested that Rep. Dennis Hastert is a supporter of this and similar
programs.
Just 10 months ago, however, Rep. Hastert voted against a bipartisan amendment to the House farm bill which would
have provided $5.4 billion a year for agricultural conservation programs, including farmland protection efforts
like those in Kane County.
In fact, Rep. Hastert has a dismal environmental record in Congress. The League of Conservation Voters, which
tracks votes in Congress on environmental issues, reported that he did not support any of the environmental issues
the organization viewed as significant last year.
Since he is speaker of the House, Rep. Hastert votes at his own discretion. Of the 14 key issues tracked by the
League of Conservation Voters, he voted on just six of them, and in each case took the "anti-environment"
position. (Check out the organization's Web site at [WEB SITE] . One of those bills he specifically chose to vote
on was the agricultural conservation program amendment to the House farm bill.
On top of this voting record, Rep. Hastert is the chief cheerleader and fund-raiser for the proposed outer beltway
that will destroy thousands of acres of prime farmland in Kane and Kendall counties and lead to accelerated growth
and sprawl. These actions are hardly those of a supporter of farmland protection.
Jan Strasma Maple Park