* From the Legislative Inspector General’s conclusion…

I do not recommend that disciplinary proceedings be taken against Rep. Benton pursuant to Article XII of (House Rule 91) of the ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY because the proceeding in the House would be lengthy and require a Special Session.

* One of the complainants had some objections…

July 29, 2026 RESPONSE TO REPORT

There are inaccuracies in the Legislative Inspector General’s report that must be addressed. It is likely that these errors stem from the fact that LIG McCuskey did not record our one-on-one interview or take contemporaneous notes.

The inaccuracies in the LIG report on my experience are as follows:

1. I did not report the incident to the Speaker’s office. The incident was reported by someone else without my knowledge.

2. Harry Benton never said to me, “You want to get out of here and have some fun?,” as the LIG report states. I never claimed that Benton made this statement to me. What Benton did say to me was the following: “I look like a five, but I f*ck like a ten,” “I am not hitting on you, unless you are interested,” and “Let’s just say you are too hot to be a lobbyist.” I shared this directly with the LIG throughout the interview and in multiple subsequent phone conversations.

3. I did not “immediately” turn to the other male state representative, as the LIG report states. Rather, I called him the next day to share what had happened the night before. I did so in the hopes that the state representative would address the problem directly with Benton to attempt to prevent him from addressing women in this manner in the future.

4. The other state representative did not respond: “What do you want me to do about it?” as depicted in the LIG report. I never claimed that and do not know why this is stated in this report. Rather, the state representative listened to my story, shared my concern and indicated to me that what Benton said to me was not an isolated incident.

5. In his supplemental response letter to Speaker Welch dated July 24, 2026, LIG McCuskey said that another victim and I both stated that we “had no objections or redactions and thanked [McCuskey] for preserving” our confidentiality. In fact, I raised the inaccuracy noted in item (3) above to LIG McCuskey in that conversation, and he responded to me that it “doesn’t matter.” It is also important to note that he did not read me the report, but only gave me a high-level summary in advance.

6. Despite the LIG’s statement that he was unable to substantiate any claims that Benton had shown people photos of women on his phone, I did inform the LIG that Benton showed me photos on his phone of women that he claimed to be sleeping with. I do not know why the LIG disregarded this information, and thereby concluded that the allegation is unfounded.

While the errors in the report are concerning, the underlying facts remain the same. Harry Benton did make inappropriate sexual comments to me despite my protestations, and his resignation was appropriate.

I request that the Legislative Ethics Commission correct these inaccuracies and ensure that the record accurately reflects the information I provided during the investigation.

Respectfully,

Lobbyist as referenced in Item 2 on page 6

The LIG forcefully denied any inaccuracies.

* Back to the report…

The Only Claims from the Complaint Which Are Founded

1. A district director of a [redacted] district office filed a complaint with her [redacted] that Rep. Harry Benton had sexually harassed her in a bar in Springfield following the [redacted] Latino Unity Day Festivities. While the district director was at the [redacted] Rep. Benton approached her and leaned over her and put his hand on her back. She said that made her feel very uncomfortable. He began a conversation by lamenting that [redacted] County elected Officials disliked him. He continued to lean over her while touching her back. She then backed away from him because he made her feel uneasy; She said he was creepy. An individual came to intervene and stood between the district director and Benton. When interviewed Rep. Benton, he denied that any of this ever occured. I found the district director to be credible; Both leaning over someone and leaning in too close are considered sexual harassment when it is unwelcomed conduct. This late-night bar encounter with Rep. Benton touching her back caused the district director to feel Benton was acting creepy and caused her to pull away and require the assistance of an individual to step in between her and Benton. This, example of unwanted behavior is clearly taught in sexual harrassment training and was ignored by Rep. Benton. I find this claim of sexual harassment to be founded.

2. I will now address the final allegation in the March 4, 2026 complaint against Rep. Harry Benton. A registered female lobbyist reported this incident to the Speaker’s Office and it has been referred to me for investigation as the LIG. I interviewed the lobbyist, Representative Harry Benton and a male state representative. All three were present and talking together in a bar in early January or February of this year. The lobbyist when interviewed, told me that Representative Benton said to her “You know, I might be a 5, but I f*ck like a 10. You want to get out of here and have some fun?” The lobbyist said that comment made her shocked and disgusted. She said she immediately turned to the male state representative nearby and said to him “What are you going to do about your boy?” The state representative responded, “What do you want me to do about it? He is always like this.” When I interviewed the male state representative, he said he was a friend of Rep. Benton and a friend of the lobbyist and was present at the bar. He confirmed what the lobbyist said to him and what he replied to her. He told me that she appeared very angry because of whatever Harry said to her. He told me he could not confirm what Benton said word for word because he wasn’t that close to their conversation. When I confronted Rep. Benton during our interview on May 29, 2026, he denied the entire incident and said it didn’t happen. Moreover, he threw in this statement, “I don’t hit on lobbyists.” My veteran investigator who was present with me during the interview said, “‘I believe he lied.” I responded that I know he lied as well because I have interviewed all three individuals in person and I believe the lobbyist and the bystander are truthful. Accordingly, this allegation in the complaint is founded.

* Regarding the 2023 incidents…

On April 14, 2023, a district office employee of Rep. Benton sent a lengthy email to Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s Chief of Staff detailing acts of sexual harassment by Harry Benton. The email started in part as follows; “I do want this documented as several women work for him if something were to happen in the future.” The employee further said “I am leaning towards just getting this on the record and not doing much more with it.” The email would thereafter detail many odd statements made to the employee as well as many statements of direct sexual harassment.

During the first week of employment, Rep. Benton said to her ‘’The reason I ran for office was to get away from my wife.” During her three-hour job interview Rep. Benton “asked me to be vulnerable.” In early February 2023, Benton said to the employee the following dress attire comment “make sure you don’t forget to wear something underneath that.” On February 9, 2023, she documented this conversation “asked to stay at my friend’s condo with me in the city, put me in an extremely awkward situation having to say no to him.” Also in February, 2023, she said Benton “sent me a picture of an OnlyFans model on accident? He asked me to send it back.” Benton than said, “Makes me feel better now I have this on you.” My investigation revealed that OnlyFans is a well-known social media platform for pornographic content. When the employee requested a webcam for district office zoom meetings, Benton responded “why, so you can double dip in the office?” His comment refers to using a webcam for pornographic content which is what women on OnlyFans offer to subscribers. Undeterred, in early March, Rep. Benton told the employee, “See, I’m doing a good service, I am keeping you off the pole with this job.” This comment references the pole dancers at a strip club. At a dinner with a lobbyist during this same time frame, Benton said about this employee, “She will do, she was the cheapest.” In Springfield, in front of staff, employee stated a conversation in March; “I said my boyfriend was taking me to the gun range. He responded (referring to Rep. Benton) ‘Wow, you’re going to let him take you instead of me?’”

It doesn’t take but a cursory reading of the April 14, 2023 E-mail documentation from the complaining district office employee to see a very early pattern and practice of sexual harassment by Rep. Harry Benton. The Chief of Staff and the Ethics Officer for the Speaker’s Office decided to confront Benton with these allegations after the district employee resigned in June 2023 to avoid retaliation by Benton ifhe found out who filed the complaint.

The Zoom meeting to discuss the former district office employee’s complaint was conducted on July 20, 2023 or on a date close to that date. On July 19, 2023 the employee emailed the Chief of Staff indicating that Rep. Benton had invited the employee to join the Zoom meeting. It is very interesting that Benton did this even though he had always taken the position that the complaint did not come from his office staff and was only based on rumor. The employee did not participate in the Zoom meeting and wrote in the July 19th email ‘’I want to note that! will not pursue any further actions beyond this. The reason l reported this was for the protection of the other women in the office.'’

On July 20, 2023 the Chief of Staff emailed the complaining employee the following; “I would still encourage you to consider filing a report With the LIG; n:ote thatthe.statute of limitation is 1 year after the most recent alleged violation or of a series of alleged violation. So, while there is SOL (Statute of Limitations), there is still time if you do change your mind after further distance after leaving the Office. Know that we reiterated the severity of retaliation and/or intimidation and will continue to do so. As promised to you, your name or identifying situation will never be used (unless you tell me otherwise). As always; reach out any time.'’ […]

Even though the one year statute of limitations has passed on this portion of the March 4, 2026 complaint, I include it as a matter of pattern and practice of sexual harassment occurring during the entirety of Harry Benton’s career as a member of the General Assembly. This statement is made in this summary report because as L1G, it is my opinion and the opinion of my veteran investigator that Harry Benton was not credible during the entirety of our interview with him at his lawyer’s office in Springfield on May 29, 2026.

* From a supplemental LIG letter to the House Speaker…

To my surprise this week, Harry Benton’s tirst employee who he had sexually harassed called me. It was our first conversation. She wantedto know if I had obtained the emails she had sent to from April through July 2023. I told her I believed I had all of the emails and I explained how I had referenced them in my report. I told her I related only the facts from her emails in my report, as well as emails to her. Also, I told her that I used her account of Benton’s sexual harassment to show his pattern and practice of sexual misconduct over the years. Finally, I told her that I could not act on his misconduct because of the statute of limitations which she said she understood. I did not discuss with her anything printed in the press because it cannot be part of my report which was completed on June 30, 2026. She seemed satisfied with how I prepared the report and thanked me for preserving her confidentiality.and requested no redactions of the part of the report which mentions her.