Sexual harassment payouts for legislators by taxpayers could end with bill passage

March 17, 2018 46

SPRINGFIELD (Heartland Newsfeed) — In the wake of sexual harassment scandals sweeping the nation, an Illinois state representative’s bill banning tax dollars from being used to pay out settlements sailed through committee.

House Bill 4243, introduced by state representative David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills), would prohibit taxpayer dollars from being used to settle sexual harassment claims against state legislators. The bill attempts to combat this issue, following several instances of sexual misconduct in the U.S. Congress resulted in millions in taxpayer dollars being spent to settle claims, which McSweeney considers outrageous.

“When you see examples of Republican and Democratic members of the House of Representatives using taxpayer money as hush money to silence sexual harassment claims, it’s wrong,” McSweeney said. “I want to be sure that doesn’t happen in Illinois.”

News reports released earlier this year from Capitol Hill showed that Congress has paid out more than $17 million since 1997 from a special fund used to settle sexual harassment and misconduct claims against members of Congress.

McSweeney cites a specific incident regarding an adviser of Democratic representative Alcee L. Hastings (Florida), who received a secret settlement which was one of the largest payouts ever given by the Congressional Office of Compliance, but was unaware of similar payouts in the Illinois General Assembly.

“I checked with staff,” McSweeney said. “They’ve stated there have not been examples here in Illinois yet, but I want to make sure it never happens. So this is an opportunity for Illinois to lead and not waste taxpayers’ money. This will prevent members from using their allowances to silence sexual harassment claims.”

More accusations are being levied against members of the General Assembly and lawmakers are trying to make sure taxpayers aren’t paying for secret slush funds to protect state legislators.

An open letter signed by hundreds of female legislators, lobbyists and staff last fall publicly accused Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago) of sexual harassment, originally levied by anti-violence advocate Denise Rotheimer. The accusation revealed a three-year vacancy in the position of legislative inspector general, leaving more than two dozen allegations collecting dust without any form of investigative process taking place.

Julie Porter, who would later become inspector general, released a report that Silverstein acted in an inappropriate matter, but did not commit sexual harassment, leaving Rotheimer to rebut the report, citing that Porter did not have all the details.

Rotheimer is publicly critical of the reporting process to the legislative inspector general, citing it needs to be more independent of the Legislative Ethics Commission, which Porter reports to.

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan revealed nine cases of alleged wrongdoing within his office, excluding an unknown number of complaints against lawmakers

The bill passed through committee last week without debate and will be heard on the House floor in mid-April. The bill has sixteen sponsors in the House — including McSweeney — and currently has bipartisan support.

Jake Leonard, Editor-In-Chief

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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.