* My Crain’s Chicago Business column…
“None of us in the building can risk being iced out,” a female friend of mine said the other day.
My friend has done quite a bit of lobbying at the Illinois Statehouse, a place where folks in her profession often use any means necessary to take clients from each other or go to extreme lengths to pass or kill bills. Legislators also participate in these games, oftentimes at the behest of their lobbyist friends.
A few years back, a handful of lobbyists cold-called a dying colleague’s clients to try to snag his contracts, even though the sick man’s wife was his lobbying partner.
I’ve seen lobbyists attempt to plant news stories to discredit rivals. There have been targeted whisper campaigns. Outright lies are told. Some of these lobbying contracts can be worth tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars. And some people will do just about anything to make more money or to retaliate against someone for losing clients.
This isn’t everyone, mind you. Most lobbyists I know, believe it or not, are actually pretty upstanding folks. Years ago, when the General Assembly was working on a bill to ban gifts from lobbyists to legislators, some of the strongest support for the proposal came from lobbyists who were sick of being shaken down by pols. You really got a good idea of what sort of people were around you by watching that debate play out.
But in an environment like that, just imagine how difficult it would be for a female lobbyist who’s been sexually harassed by a legislator or a fellow lobbyist to publicly come forward with her story.
The culture of retaliation and retribution is so strong that speaking your mind or trying to buck the system on almost anything can result in a career disaster. Pretty much nobody’s bills absolutely have to pass, nor do they have to pass in a way a legislator or a lobbyist wants them to pass. Bills can suddenly start dying, or be amended in a hostile manner. And then clients start complaining, and then people get fired. So speaking out about sexual harassment could be the kiss of death.
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* Related…
* “Technicality” Results in Backlog of Ethical Complaints at Capitol: Senator McConnaughay is… working on legislation that would completely restructure the process by removing input from the General Assembly altogether.
* Sex-harassment bill puts Illinois leaders on the defensive
* Lawmakers appoint former prosecutor as top watchdog in wake of sexual harassment scandal
* State lawmakers appoint inspector general amid harassment scandal
* Republican leader wants sexual harassment hotline in wake of Capitol scandal: The toll-free number would be run by the Illinois Department of Human Rights and would help connect people to counseling services and advice on filing complaints with the proper authorities. It will be open to state employees, as well as residents who work in the private sector.
* Lawmaker: Women “need to get their voices heard”: Veteran state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz said an offshoot of lawmakers’ discussion this week on how to deal with sexual harassment may be an increasing awareness of women’s issues and the voice women bring to government and politics… “We can write as many laws as we want in Springfield, as you know we do, but if we don’t change the culture and we don’t stop pointing fingers at each other and using these things as a partisan issue and stay focused on empowering women — I mean that’s what I’m hoping we accomplish here,” she said.
* Mark Brown: Piece of advice, nobody cares what you dreamed about last night
- Northernwatersports - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 10:20 am:
Great column! When you have to risk your entire career to ‘hopefully’ pass meaningful legislation, and feel it can be done in a morally repugnant and/or ethically challenged way, the entire system becomes what we find today, with lobsters and legislators equally at fault…
Public distrust, lack of civility and no honest debate about important and sometimes life or death matters. The politics of personal destruction from and for and by and to others is a sign that an individual has lost their moral authority to expect anything!
+++
” The culture of retaliation and retribution is so strong that speaking your mind or trying to buck the system on almost anything can result in a career disaster. Pretty much nobody’s bills absolutely have to pass, nor do they have to pass in a way a legislator or a lobbyist wants them to pass. Bills can suddenly start dying, or be amended in a hostile manner. And then clients start complaining, and then people get fired. So speaking out about sexual harassment could be the kiss of death.’
++++++++++++++
Sexual harrasment is one of those greatly important matters that can AND should be held in highest importance with with utmost care, respect, sincerity, understanding and empathy.
If our elected officials have surrendered their moral and ethical behavior and expectations, I fear how much further we can afford to slip into this terrible morass……
Just thinking out loud…..
- perry noya - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 10:21 am:
I haven’t been around Springfield much for years, but a friend who was a progressive lobbyist told me pretty much the same things Rich says in this column.
- Annonin' - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 10:30 am:
Is OK to tell those tech savvy brainstormers at ILGOPie/Durkie HQ that a hotline seems to exists?
Will 2 make the complaints get resolved faster? Punishments twice as severve?
- Chicago_Downstater - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 10:33 am:
Thanks for writing this up & thanks to the woman that gave you that eloquent quote.
- Juvenal - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 10:33 am:
Our state’s Whistleblower laws are equally weak.
Ask Rauner’s former chief legal counsel.
- Downstate - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 10:40 am:
It reminds me of the “attitude” in the GA, when it was discovered that GA members had clouted friends and family into the U of I.
Several U of I administrators lost their position for succumbing to the political pressure of the GA members. But shockingly no GA members were ever named or shamed.
In some sense it feels like the same thing is playing out on the most current issue. Lots of outrage and posturing, but GA members will remain insulated.
- Responsa - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 10:52 am:
==Is OK to tell …. that a hotline seems to exists? Will 2 make the complaints get resolved faster? Punishments twice as severve?==
That existing “hotline” has been working so well. Right? No need to change anything. Right?
- Anonymous - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 10:57 am:
Another piece of advice, guys. There is in physics an ‘action-reaction’ truth. There will be a counter to the Weinstein Effect. Advice? Keep your mouth shut.
- Fav hum - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 11:47 am:
Sara Feigenholtz
She’s been in the legislature for a while. Why did she never speak out on behalf of those women??
- Rod - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 12:02 pm:
Rich a little historical perspective in all of this would be nice. We simply did not have many female lobbyists in the years of the past. Billie Paige was amongst the earliest in the 1970s. That was when most lobbyists where middle-aged, white, Protestant, male and professional-holding a law degree or some other graduate degree.
We have had lobbyist registration since 1957 along with various rules, the focus of all of these rules were driven by pay offs and other forms of monetary corruption and not sexual favors. Paul Powell even sponsored one of the reforms to the registration act, We all know the story of Powell’s corruption and shoeboxes, briefcases, strongboxes with more than $800,000 in cash were found in his hotel suite residence at the St. Nicholas Hotel in Springfield, after his death. The untold number of sexual favors requested and received for years and years remains unrecorded in the history of the General Assembly.
Here in lies the problem.
- Anonymous - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 1:23 pm:
I don’t want to sound harsh. Harassment is inexcusable in any way, shape or form. No one should be subjected to it. But these lobbyists chose to remain silent and take it in return for sometimes lucrative careers. In other words, they did it for the money.
There are other ways to make a living. This doesn’t in any way lessen the culpability of the harassers and the need for radical change. It only means that, if everyone is being honest, the victims should acknowledge that they are not completely innocent either. As Dr. King said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
- Anonymous - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 1:57 pm:
Guess you weren’t around during the ERA debate when one anti-ERA legislator flipped after a “date” with an attractive ERA supporter.
- Cassandra - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 2:35 pm:
The private sector might want to be involved in the establishment of an informational hotline. Many mid and large sized corporations already have extensive procedures for reporting and handling sexual harassment claims. They might want to be informed as to what information and advice the government is giving out and/or participate in the development of hotline protocols.
- Ahoy! - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 2:49 pm:
I am glad you are writing about this and bringing attention to the issue that many women will not want to come forward on this and be public.
- Emily Miller - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 3:30 pm:
==I don’t want to sound harsh. Harassment is inexcusable in any way, shape or form. No one should be subjected to it. But these lobbyists chose to remain silent and take it in return for sometimes lucrative careers. In other words, they did it for the money.
There are other ways to make a living. This doesn’t in any way lessen the culpability of the harassers and the need for radical change. It only means that, if everyone is being honest, the victims should acknowledge that they are not completely innocent either. As Dr. King said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”==
Wow. There is so much to unpack here. My patience is worn so thin. It will have to be enough for me to say that I appreciate the honesty of Anonymous @ 1:23 pm. I think deep down, many people of all genders feel that way — that if we’re honest, it’s the victim’s fault.
So many people feel that way that it has a name. It’s called victim blaming. It’s a close cousin of slut shaming. Both are tried and true ways to deflect blame from the perpetrator and keep existing power structures in place. It takes someone really special to so eloquently spell it out in earnest, and it’s good for it to be out there in full public display. Now everyone has something they can point to and say, “Hm- That comment on cap fax is pretty messed up and seems counter-productive and stuck in the stone ages. I should do better than Anonymous @ 1:23 pm.”
- Emily Miller - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 3:35 pm:
It would also be really helpful for Anonymous @ 1:23 pm to check the context of the Dr. King quote. Just do better, man.
- Arthur Andersen - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 4:34 pm:
Anonnin’ is it OK to tell Madigan and Cullerton that they exacerbated this shameful mess by dumping a ton of bricks on an already inadequate process?
Oh, and Downstate, try the Google on the U of I admissions scandal. The Tribune most definitely named names of legislators who put the arm on the Big U for favors. The top offender’s name rhymed with ” Bad Again.”
- SAP - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 5:31 pm:
What Emily Miller said.
- My New Handle - Monday, Nov 6, 17 @ 6:50 pm:
And let us not forget female lobbyists that offer favors for a favorable vote. Believe me, it happenns.