ESSEN, Germany (June 10, 2014) — Former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert will be a featured speaker at the Tire Industry Association's honors gathering Nov. 3 in Las Vegas prior to the opening of the 2014 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show.
TIA Executive Vice President Roy Littlefield, speaking to Tire Business at the recent Reifen Show in Essen, confirmed Mr. Hastert's appearance at the annual TIA event. He has not yet picked a topic for his presentation.
Mr. Hastert, a Republican from Aurora, Ill., was speaker of the U.S. House during the 106th to 109th sessions, covering 1999-2007. He retired in 2009 after 11 terms in Congress, starting in 1987, and now is member of Dickstein Shapiro's Public Policy & Law Practice.
Prior to being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986 to represent the state's 14th Congressional District. Mr. Hastert was a member of the Illinois state house of representatives from 1980-1986. Before that he was a teacher, athletic coach and business owner.
During his 20 years in the House, Mr. Hastert focused his efforts on lowering taxes, improving education, strengthening Social Security and Medicare, and fortifying national defense efforts, according to his biography on Dickstein Shapiro's website.
He also championed legislation to balance the federal budget, cut taxes and government waste and clean up the environment, the bio states, along with passing legislation to reduce government regulations in areas such as trucking and telecommunications.
He also is credited with developing a policy that came to be known as the “Hastert Rule”—a philosophy that requires the “majority of the majority” to bring up a bill for a vote in the House of Representatives—according to various political websites.
TIA's annual meeting and honors award ceremonies at the SEMA Show will take place this year at Caesars Palace, the host hotel. The annual meeting is scheduled for noon to 12:30, while the honors awards ceremony will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m., followed by a welcome reception until 9 p.m.