I recently sent a posting to the article written by Lynn Sweet on January 30th about Congressman Henry Hyde.  Funny that one of the stipulations when you submit a response posting to her article states “your posting must first be approved by the editors before it is printed”.  Mine was never printed.  Is what I said profane in any way, or is it the truth?  Here is what I posted, or asked to be posted.

“Lynn Sweet was never kind in her articles to Henry Hyde when he was alive, and it looks as though she is maintaining her dislike even now that he is dead.  She despised Hyde for the Hyde Amendment and despises him even more today because it is the Hyde Amendment that recently brought Obamacare to its knees.  It is typical Lynn Sweet in that she quoted a story from a liberal who hated Henry Hyde.  No wonder that Sweet is ranked by her peers in Washington as a 1 on a scale of 10.  Why?  Because like the blogger Sweet did not check out the story with the FBI, and provided no proof, and no sources of verification.  The Sun-Times owes the Hyde family an apology for this story and their reckless columnist Lynn Sweet.  Who, what, when, where, and why plus obtaining two reliable sources amounts to Journalism 101.  Sweet did none of the above, she uses her blog instead where any innuendo, rumor, accusation, or lie can be posted.  Shame!  Shame!”

I used no profanity anywhere in my rebuttal and told only the truth.  Why didn’t they print it?  Only Lynn Sweet and her editors know why.  Now let me tell you about the Henry Hyde I knew for 34 years and about just one of the many bribe offers I know took place.

When Hyde represented a large portion of Cook County one of the three Congressional offices we had was in Cicero.  And, as you know, Congressmen make appointments to the military Academy’s like West Point, Annapolis, etc..  When I picked up Congressman Hyde at the airport one Friday night in 1975 he told me we had an early morning appointment with Doctor “X” at the Cicero office at 9AM the next morning.

Doctor “X” happened to be a very well known and respected physician that we knew in the 6th Congressional District so Henry was happy to meet with him.  We arrived at the Cicero office early and Doctor “X” came in a short time later.  As was our custom, I always sat in on office meetings with the Congressman to take notes because I was usually the one that had to follow up on what needed to get done after the fact.  This time however the good doctor asked that I not be present because this was a very personal matter to him and he wanted to speak to the congressman alone.  So after a shrug of the shoulders by Congressman Hyde I stepped out of the room.

A short time later the intercom rang and I was asked by Congressman Hyde to come into his office “Now”.  When I walked in Doctor “X” was on his feet pleading for the Congressman’s understanding about something.  Congressman Hyde looked at me and said “Pat, what do you see on my desk”?  I looked down and saw an opened envelope with 100 dollar bills protruding from it, and I told him that’s what I saw.  The Congressman then said to me I want you to count it.  As I picked it up and started to count it the Doctor was very flustered and kept repeating “Congressman please I’m sorry, please understand”. 

I told the Congressman I was finished counting over the pleadings of the Doctor.  The Congressman said very sternly “How much is there”?  I said “$10,000”.  Then the Congressman said in a very convincing tone, “Now I want you to take that money, give it back to Doctor X, and take it and him to the door and remove him from this office”. 
I shoved the money into the doctor’s chest which he grabbed with both hands all the while pleading “please Congressman Hyde you must understand”.  Pulling him by one arm while he offered some resistance, I finally got him to the outside door.  While pushing him gently outside he kept yelling over my shoulder towards the office where the Congressman was sitting, “please Congressman Hyde you must listen, you must understand”. 

After I locked the door I returned to the Congressman and asked “what the Hell was that all about”?  He said “could you believe that S.O.B. offered me a bribe to nominate his son to Annapolis”?  Then he said “Get Alice on the phone”? 

Now Alice was Alice Horstman, the Congressman’s District Office Manager who handled the Academy appointments.  These Academy appointments I might add were chosen by an unbiased committee of retired military officers who held ranks from Major to General.  They knew the Academy system inside out and they knew what applicants the Academy’s would accept and not accept.  Although many Congressmen made them, an appointment for political reasons would be stupid because the Academy had the right to reject any congressional appointee that was not qualified.

The Congressman asked Alice to tell him about this student, the son of Doctor “X”.  Alice told us that without a doubt this young man was ranked by the Committee as their number one choice to get an Annapolis appointment and they were going to give his file to the Congressman with a recommendation for appointment.  So stupid Doctor “X” was offering Congressman Hyde a $10,000 bribe to get his son a nomination which his son was going to get anyway, but the doctor didn’t know that.

The Congressman then instructed Alice and I to start calling anywhere and everywhere to find U.S. Senator “So and So” because he needed to talk to him immediately.  After a time Alice found the Senator and he called Congressman Hyde.  The Congressman said “Senator I have a favor to ask you.  I have a highly qualified young man I need you to appoint to Annapolis.  If you will appoint him I will take one of the students you were going to appoint and will appoint him in exchange for this young man’s appointment.  I know this sounds dumb but I promise to tell you the reason why when I see you in Washington next week”.

The Senator told the Congressman “it didn’t sound dumb, a little crazy maybe” and he agreed to do it.  He told us who to call on his staff to make the arrangements and the deal was done.  The young man got his justly deserved appointment.  An appointment his over anxious father almost blew for him.  Thanks to Congressman Hyde the young man never learned about this.

This writer can also speak to several other high dollar bribes I witnessed Congressman Hyde turning down, and dozens of low dollar, cash in the hand money he literally would throw to the ground when certain people shook hands with him.  A bribe to Congressman Hyde was worse that anything he could imagine.  He was incredulous that people would try to offer him money in exchange for a favor.  He hated it and every staff member that worked for him knew this.

Keep in mind the supposed FBI investigation which was dropped by the for lack of evidence (of course I knew that) took place in 1974.  The Doctor’s visit with the $10,000 bribe took place in early 1975.  If Congressman Hyde was a small bribe taker in 1974, why would he refuse a $10,000 bribe in 1975?  He could have taken that money in his office and only he and the doctor would have known, but he didn’t.  It should be noted that Henry Hyde also had a $44,000 campaign debt at this time, and that $10,000 would have come in mighty handy.

Henry Hyde the bribe taker.  What a shameful joke.  Anyone that knew Henry would tell you he lived from pay check to pay check.  I think more than a few times he was ranked as the poorest Congressman in Washington.  He had a mortgage on his house in Wood Dale and a mortgage on his house in Washington.  He drove old, used beat up cars.  While other Congressmen and Senators gained riches and became millionaires, Henry had to make ends meet.  The following is the posting by his Son Bob.

By Bob Hyde on January 30, 2010 7:54 PM

This gawker stuff is a lot of research which must have consumed huge amounts of time and expense – but basically what does it actually signify? The FBI investigated Mr. Hyde who was a state representative - not a state senator. During that time Illinois politics had a lot of corruption – a secretary of state passes away and within his home shoe boxes full cash are discovered – Otto Kerner – once the Illinois governor – then a federal judge – goes off to federal prison – numerous other state senators, other public officials are being investigated – many are indicted – many off to jail – and two plus years after Hyde passes away – this gawker stuff published?

In 1974 he gets elected to Congress just after the Watergate scandal – so being one of the very few republican freshman members of Congress in 1974 – stuck in the basement of the Longworth building – really doesn’t posses much political clout to do much of anything. So the innuendo of using influence to stop further investigation simply doesn’t seem possible.

This gawker material seems to conclude that after 4 years of investigation – no additional crimes / leads ever arise. Hyde stayed in Congress for 34 years and most really corrupt elected officials are well into multi-tasking – but strangely – not this guy from the Illinois 6th district. No other payoffs noted -

So is the purpose of this material merely to blemish his posthumous reputation? It seems like somebody has an ax to grind - all this research - no mention of anything positive: voting to ban assault weapons, funding significant aid to Africa in dealing with its AIDS pandemic – and others - just mostly 37 year old potential “dirt”?

He took himself out of consideration of for the cabinet post – he wanted to remain in Congress and 10 years later became chairman of the Judiciary – and afterwards chairman of IR. The year after his retirement – a democratic controlled congress named one of the Capitol’s rooms after him – an even rarer honor compared to a Presidential Medal of Freedom award.

There are two sides to most things – knowing the motivation for releasing such stale material might make an interesting story too.

Bob Hyde

As to the liberal writer John Cook it must be noted that he opposed every single position Henry Hyde stood for.  Cook claimed that he supported Hyde however on the Clinton impeachment even though he felt Henry was guilty of the same offense.  I need to ask John Cook to now start researching where and when Henry Hyde lied under oath like Clinton did?  He just doesn’t get what the impeachment was all about.  His timing to discredit the Hyde name now that the Hyde Amendment is before Congress once again is more than coincidental.  And get this, his hobby is to file FOIA’s on conservative politicians that die.  How sick in the head is that?

And the fact that Lynn Sweet had to use her blog to post this piece of filth is proof of her ethical understanding of what a true journalist is.  What were Sweet and Cook thinking? Ah, Henry Hyde is dead, he can’t respond so let’s hit his family, friends and supporters below the belt and try to destroy his memory, his reputation, and his dedication to the unborn and America.  Shame on you John Cook and shame on you Lynn Sweet.  I hope you both sleep well tonight knowing you kicked a dead man, and that what goes around, does come around.

Patrick Durante
Executive Assistant for 32 years to the most honest Congressman I ever knew