Republicans were apoplectic that U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin wouldn't return a donation from Sen. Robert Menendez in the wake of his federal bribery indictment.

A Baldwin aide said she would cough up the $5,000 from Menendez's political action committee only if the New Jersey Democrat is convicted of using his Senate office to push the business interests of a friend in return for luxury vacations.

"They should have returned the money long ago, and their refusal to act raises troubling questions on their judgment," Joe Fadness, executive director of the state Republican Party, said earlier this year.

Tut-tut.

But now the political tables have been turned.

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who was indicted last month by federal authorities, has given to many Republicans, including several in Wisconsin, through his leadership fund, Keeping Our Mission PAC.

U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, a Republican from Illinois, announced this month that he would be giving a $10,000 Hastert donation to a nonprofit that helps provide after-school programs for children.

But three Wisconsin Republicans won't be following Kirk's lead. Hastert is accused of breaking banking rules and lying to the FBI to try to cover up sexual misconduct with a student during his days as a high school wrestling coach.

Hastert has given nine donations for a total of $25,000 to U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan and one $1,000 donation each to U.S. Reps. Reid Ribble and Sean Duffy.

A Ryan spokeswoman said he would be holding onto the Hastert money.

"The donations were made and reported in compliance with the FEC rules, and there are no plans to return the legal contributions," said Susan Jacobson, campaign manager and finance director for Ryan's campaign.

In 2006, Ryan unloaded a $3,000 donation from then-Rep. Mark Foley after it was disclosed that Foley had sent sexually explicit instant messages to teenage boys working as Capitol pages. Ryan said he "didn't want to be associated" with Foley.

Perhaps times have changed. Or maybe the dollar figure is much bigger.

Staffers for Ribble and Duffy did not respond to calls and emails about the contributions. But a GOP insider confirmed that both would be keeping the cash.

Scot Ross, head of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, said the trio of Wisconsin lawmakers should purge their accounts of Hastert money, even if it was given legally. He noted Fadness, the leader of the state GOP, was "shrieking" about this same issue just months ago.

"Under most circumstances, reasonable people can debate why and when a politician should return a campaign contribution," he said.

"But given what Hastert's accused of," he continued, "Ryan, Duffy and Ribble should have already sent out news releases assuring the public they had returned his contributions."

OK, let's add to the degree of difficulty here.

Does Ross believe Baldwin should return the money she got from an indicted fellow Democrat?

Nope.

"The allegations against Hastert are considerably more serious," Ross said.

So new rule: sex scandal, return to sender; political favors, deposit the check.

And what about Fadness — does the GOP boss think the Republican congressmen should dump their donations from the indicted former GOP lawmaker?

"No comment," Fadness said.

In other words, just what you'd expect.

Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 224-2135 or dbice@journalsentinel.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.