MOORE’S SUMMARY: Gov. JB Pritzker urged Legislative Inspector General Mike McCuskey to speed up his review of a complaint filed with his office against Rep. Harry Benton earlier this year. The Plainfield Democrat has subsequently been stripped of his committee assignments and removed from the House Democratic caucus.
‘WORK FASTER’: Pritzker, gaggling with reporters following an unrelated event in Springfield on Tuesday, said he “would like the LIG to work faster.”
“This thing has been going on for months now,” Pritzker said. “We should already have had some kind of report to the leadership, and there should already have been some action. So I’d like to see that happen.”
Pritzker said “someone who’s been accused deserves due process,” but added that the voters and legislature “want to know how to proceed” while complaining that “this is taking longer than anybody expected.”
HOUSE ACTION: House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, kicked Benton out of the House Democratic caucus with no explanation in late February. Capitol News Illinois later confirmed that allegations of sexual harassment were made against Benton, a two-term legislator who represents a southwest suburban Chicago swing district. Under pressure from reporters, Welch hesitantly addressed the topic last week, but declined to offer specific details, citing the need to “respect victims” and protect “due process.”
“There is a process in place that guarantees every one of us due process, and we’re going to allow that process to play out,” Welch said.
While Welch hasn’t publicly explained what he means by “due process,” he told House Democrats during a private caucus meeting last month that a complaint was filed and in the hands of McCuskey, a retired federal judge who’s served as LIG since 2022.
‘NO COMMENT’: McCuskey did not have much to say about Pritzker’s comments when I stopped by his office on the fourth floor of the Stratton Building on Tuesday.
“Everything the LIG does is confidential, and I have no comment on what the governor said,” McCuskey told me.
THE LIG’S ROLE: The legislative inspector general investigates claims of misconduct by legislators and staff. In this role, McCuskey is not a prosecutor or a judge, and his investigations are administrative, not criminal in nature. An investigation can essentially follow three tracks:
If the LIG determines insufficient evidence of a violation exists, the case is closed.
If sufficient evidence exists, the LIG issues a summary report of the investigation, including alleged misconduct and any recommendations for corrective or disciplinary action. In this case, the report would likely be delivered to Welch’s office.
Welch and Benton would then have 20 days to respond in writing to the LIG. Welch’s response would include details of any corrective or disciplinary action imposed. If the LIG determines the action to be “appropriate and adequate,” he must file a report with the Legislative Ethics Commission within 30 days detailing why he isn’t filing a complaint. The case would then be closed.
If, in the LIG’s judgement, the corrective or disciplinary action is not adequate, then he has 30 days to notify the LEC and the Illinois attorney general’s office that he believes a complaint should be filed. If the attorney general determines that reasonable cause exists for a violation, then the LIG may file a complaint with the LEC, which could then hold evidentiary hearings and determine what to do with it.
There’s technically no limit on how long an investigation can take, but under state law, the LIG must file a report with the LEC detailing the allegation and key findings to date if it is not wrapped up within six months.
IMPORTANTLY: Even if a summary report is delivered to Welch, there’s no guarantee of transparency. The LIG does not have the authority to make investigative summary reports public – only the Legislative Ethics Commission, an eight-member board comprised of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans from both legislative chambers, can do so. And they can only do it in cases resulting in at least a three-day suspension, termination or as part of the public record of a disciplinary hearing held by the LEC.
The last time a summary report was released to the public? 2020.
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