MOORE’S SUMMARY: A second House Democrat is declining to participate in a private working group created by Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch to respond to persistent workplace culture issues in Springfield.
Rep. Gregg Johnson, D-East Moline, confirmed to Capitol News Illinois that he is not a member of the working group that Welch announced last week without releasing the names of the members serving on it to the public.
Johnson said he was never asked to serve on a working group and didn’t feel comfortable doing so unless it was composed of members who hadn’t publicly taken positions on Welch’s handling of a sexual harassment investigation against ex-Rep. Harry Benton.
Nonetheless, his name appeared among 11 House Democrats named as participants in an email distributed to the caucus last week. While Welch never made the list public, his close ally, political consultant Maze Jackson, leaked it on his Facebook page the same day Welch announced it.
WHAT HAPPENED: Johnson said there was a “miscommunication” between him and House Democratic leadership. He said Welch’s chief of staff, Clayton Harris, called last week asking if he’d be interested in “having a conversation” about fixing the workplace culture.
Johnson agreed, thinking “it was going to be like another Zoom meeting,” like their semi-regular caucus calls. He said he was “never asked to actually serve on a working group.” But, later that night, his name was included in the email.
‘UNCOMFORTABLE’: Johnson told CNI that he was “really, really upset” when a Chicago Tribune report last month detailed allegations against Benton, saying he had “no idea” what was going on in the Plainfield Democrat’s office.
It prompted some “soul searching” and internal questions about whether he did enough. “I just want to protect these workers,” Johnson said.
But Johnson said he feels “uncomfortable” participating in the working group due to its inclusion of members who’ve publicly staked out positions. Reps. Lisa Davis, D-Chicago, and Norma Hernandez, D-Melrose Park, for example, were recently part of a panel on WGN-TV in Chicago that defended Welch’s handling of complaints.
Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, said last week she would not participate after a series of questions she asked “to ensure that the group would offer more than lip service or a PR stunt” went unanswered.
“Everybody on the working group, all the names, I think they’re all really, really good legislators,” Johnson said. “But I’ve just made it very clear that I didn’t feel comfortable serving on the committee unless it was going to consist of people who had not publicly put out any statements or taken any interviews because I saw different narratives coming out of those interviews and those conversations.”
“And I don’t want to say they were tainted, but I felt like we needed 11 people who have really been absorbing all this like I have,” Johnson said, adding that he ” wanted to be part of something where we’re not coming in with any preconceived ideas or notions.”
Welch told CNI last week that Rep. Dagmara Avelar, D-Romeoville, would chair the working group. The list published to Jackson’s page showed other members include Reps. Amy “Murri” Briel, D-LaSalle; Kam Buckner, D-Chicago; Daniel Didech, D-Buffalo Grove; Theresa Mah, D-Chicago; and Suzanne Ness, D-Crystal Lake.
Johnson called Avelar “wonderful,” noting they served together on an abortion rights working group. And he said he’s “not opposed to working groups.” But, he felt “the chemistry” of this working group “was just not going to get us immediately where we needed to go.”
We asked Welch’s office for comment on Johnson deciding not to participate. A spokesperson replied: “It is Representative Johnson’s right to decline.”
SKEPTICISM: Johnson and Cassidy aren’t the only ones skeptical on Welch’s working group. On Friday, Gov. JB Pritzker struck a dismissive tone suggesting the problem doesn’t necessitate “a brainstorming session” and emphasizing the need to move fast.
“I’ve seen working groups go on for a year-and-a-half,” Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference in Chicago Friday afternoon. “There is no time here. There are already models for dealing with this in other states. I believe that there doesn’t need to be much of a discussion through a working group.”
The governor acknowledged that there’s technical work to be done to draft legislation or new rules, but that it’s important “for this to happen very quickly because… we’re not reinventing the wheel here. The nation has figured out how to allow someone to come forward and make sure that they get justice when they’ve been harassed.”
“So it shouldn’t take long for us to get a result here,” he said.
SOLUTIONS: Lawmakers aren’t due back to Springfield until November. It is presumed that House Democrats will present a series of legislative solutions and new rules to address the workplace culture issue.
Welch told CNI last week that one of his top priorities is centralizing human resources operations in the House. Currently, district staffers report HR concerns like sexual harassment to the representative that employs them.
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