Abusers Group to Hastert: ‘come Forward’

By Nick Gale
WLS
June 1, 2015

http://www.wlsam.com/2015/06/01/78390/

SNAP president Barbara Blaine speaks outside the Thompson Center (Photo: WLS News)

The group of abuse survivors usually targeting wayward priests is calling on former congressman Dennis Hastert to come forward to address reports of alleged abuse.

“We would encourage Mr. Hastert to face up and to tell the truth. If children were hurt under his watch he should own up to it and pay the consequences,” said Barbara Blaine, president of The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.

The group is also calling on the state to set up a confidential hotline for men and women who have been violated as children, to call for help.

“We’re just asking that, to use this moment,” Blaine said. “It’s a sad moment for Illinois to have this happen and we’re saying, lets make the most of it.”

The group delivered a letter to the attorney general’s office asking her to establish such a hotline.

Hastert is facing bank fraud charges and has not been charged with any wrong doing in terms of sexual misconduct.