MOORE’S SUMMARY: State Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, is urging his colleagues to call on House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, to resign over his handling of sexual harassment allegations made against ex-Rep. Harry Benton by a former district staffer.
“At best, his failure to adequately respond to sexual harassment complaints is the consequence of poor management and irresponsibility,” Crespo said of Welch in an op-ed published in the Chicago Tribune Wednesday morning. “At worst, the speaker doesn’t take sexual harassment seriously and his office normalizes such behavior.”
WHY IT MATTERS: Crespo is the first House Democrat to publicly call for Welch’s ouster amid fallout from a Tribune story published earlier this month that revealed that the speaker’s office knew for years about allegations made against Benton.
But Crespo is also a special case. Welch excommunicated Crespo, then an appropriations committee chair, from the House Democratic caucus last year for working on his own budget proposal and “not communicating” with leadership about the plan.
‘INAPPROPRIATENESS AND POOR JUDGEMENT’: Crespo said also criticized Welch’s own behavior towards the staffer that complained about Benton. According to the Tribune, the speaker responded to her Instagram stories with likes and heart eyes emojis and invited her to a bar on an encrypted messaging app. Crespo called the behavior “concerning” and said it “demonstrates inappropriateness and poor judgment” and “explains why the speaker’s office treated Benton’s behavior as normal.”
He also urged the House “to renew its call for zero tolerance, and perhaps even push for the state’s first-ever female speaker of the House.”
AN OLD FEUD: Welch’s team made overtures about supporting a primary opponent against Crespo earlier this year, but the Hoffman Estates Democrat is generally well-liked in his district, and local leaders circled the wagons around him. He ultimately ran unopposed in the primary and is heavily favored to win the general election in November.
That said, Crespo and Welch are still not on speaking terms, and the former is still not welcome in caucus meetings.
FRUSTRATION: Crespo is on the outside looking in but will have a vote in the speaker’s race this January like all 118 members. And his comments reflect frustration, shared by other Democrats, about how Welch handled the Benton matter.
Rep. Mary Beth Canty, D-Arlington Heights, the chair of the House Democratic Women’s Caucus, said in a statement last week that the speaker “fell short” of the highest standards of professionalism in his social media interactions.
The caucus said in a statement that “simply referring a complainant to the Legislative Inspector General is insufficient.”
Other House Democrats have privately criticized Welch. In virtual meetings last week with various subcaucuses, Welch faced pointed questions about why he continued to support Benton in 2024 despite his office knowing of allegations against him. They pointed out that Welch supported primaries against Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, who lost, and Rep. Cyril Nichols, D-Chicago, who eventually withdrew from the race.
Keeping Benton around, some members have said, may have exposed more female staff to harassment.
Welch, while acknowledging that his social media behavior was not proper, has defended his office’s handling of the Benton matter. He has said that Legislative Inspector General Mike McCuskey’s report will vindicate him.
But it remains unclear how much McCuskey’s report, the contents of which stem from sexual comments Benton allegedly made to a lobbyist at a Chicago bar earlier this year, will include from the earlier case outlined by the Tribune. The staffer in question did not file a report and it is now well past the one-year statute of limitations. The incident, however, can be used to establish a pattern of behavior.
WHAT’S NEXT: The Legislative Ethics Commission voted unanimously last week to release McCuskey’s report. The bipartisan, bicameral body said they anticipate the redaction process to be complete by Friday. A version of the report would then become public.
While there’s no sign yet of an organized effort to oust Welch a la “The 19” who forced out disgraced ex-Speaker Michael Madigan in 2021, it’s worth reviewing the math.
Welch will need at least 60 votes in the full House to be reelected speaker in January. He currently has 76 in his caucus, not including Crespo and recently indicted Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana. House Democrats are bullish on adding seats in November, which means the cushion could grow.
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