* Last week…
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch is apologizing for his interactions with a former staff member who brought a sexual harassment complaint against ex-Rep. Harry Benton to his office.
Welch told Capitol News Illinois it wasn’t until he read a Chicago Tribune article last month that he realized his actions — including reacting to the former staffer’s Instagram photos with heart eyes and inviting her to a bar through an encrypted messaging app — made her feel uncomfortable.
“When I read that, I felt terrible,” Welch, a Hillside Democrat, said. “That certainly was not my intent, but I made her feel uncomfortable, and I have to own that. I regret that and I’m embarrassed by it, and I apologize for it. And I think that’s taking responsibility.”
Welch said he’s changed his social media behavior since the Chicago Tribune’s July 17 report, which focused heavily on the fact that the staffer initially complained about Benton’s actions toward her in 2023.
* Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) was on Ben Joravsky’s show this week and said Welch was told he had a problem with his social media presence years ago before he was elected House Speaker…
He did know that, because this came up during his first race for speaker. His social media activity was, those photos, screenshots, were flying around the Bank of Springfield floor. And there was a whole conversation about it. And so to suggest that this is something new is just patently false. I have had conversations with him since then about people who pointed out his social media activity as concerning, since then, and, you know, it’s just, it’s patently false.
* Cassidy on Speaker Welch inviting Harry Benton’s former staffer via the encrypted Signal app to meet at the bar in Gibson’s…
You know, whenever I find myself in a group of younger people, happily I have some of those in my family, so I frequently am around younger people. I ask young women, and I just do it dispassionately: ‘All right, you reach out to a senior person in your desired field that you’ve had a tangential connection to and ask for career advice. He asks you to move your conversation to Signal and invites you to the bar at Gibson’s.’
And their face will tell you that, this is completely unambiguous in many cases, their face will tell you that it’s already happened to them. I had one young woman ask me, ‘Did she reply?’ And I said, No. Why? And she said, ‘Because I was expecting that the next message would be telling her what to wear.’ This is unambiguous to young people. This was not a professional invitation by any stretch of the imagination.
* On updating procedures and Speaker Welch’s “investigation” into the Benton matter…
We really need to do this more collaboratively and be mindful of the fact that there are people who work for others who are being harassed in our building, who don’t have anywhere to go. But, you know, this concept that we have to focus this working group’s efforts on House policies when the reality of this issue is not so much about, you know, did she know she could go to human resources, did she know who to talk to?
It really boils down to what the speaker called an investigation wasn’t. You can’t say, I conducted an investigation by talking to the victim and accepting the denial of the perpetrator without trying to get to the bottom of it at all.
And so at the end of the day, you don’t need policies to say ‘take victims seriously.’ Be sincere in your effort to get them help, because talking to [Benton] really only gave [Benton] the opportunity to retaliate against her again because he started sending her invitations to the meetings he was having with the speaker about this.
* And at the end, Ben makes note of something very important about this state…
Joravsky: Just think any kind of resistance, Kelly, think about like you sticking out your neck about what’s been happening with sexual harassment charges. Any kind of resistance in this state, you get ripped. I mean, if you stick your neck out on any issue, you’re going to get hammered.
Cassidy: I am so glad you brought that up, Ben, because what I’ve been saying to colleagues when they’re talking to me about this, and anybody that talks to me about like, Aren’t you afraid of what might happen because you’ve been so outspoken on this? And the reality of life is that you are never safer from retaliation than when you are standing in the middle of the street screaming the truth. And so I welcome others to practice that as well and and be unafraid. … Embrace that reality. Because it’s easier to retaliate against somebody who has shown themselves to be frightened.
Please pardon any transcription errors.
- River Heights PI - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 1:58 pm:
I forget how refreshing it is to listen to the sane person talk
- Downstate - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 2:00 pm:
“He asks you to move your conversation to Signal and invites you to the bar at Gibson’s.”
This.
- @misterjayem - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 2:00 pm:
“Don’t make no waves, don’t back no losers.”
Something very important about this state, indeed.
– MrJM
- SpiDem - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 2:07 pm:
For my part, I can confirm that many lobbyists have been discussing Welch’s inappropriate social media habits for the last several years.
- DuPage Saint - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 2:14 pm:
he started sending her invitations to the meetings he was having with the speaker about this.
I missed this or maybe it was not reported before. Did the Speaker know this? Heck a young woman reports an issue Ann’s the Speaker invites her to a bar and the harasser lets her know he is meeting with the Speaker to discuss her? What on earth is she supposed to think? Rich mentioned a Tepublican leader who got rid of as one and apples I think whoever it was should get a picture on wall saying he is a Springfield unicorn
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 2:18 pm:
===I missed this or maybe it was not reported before===
Original Tribune story.
- Think Again - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 2:19 pm:
=you are never safer from retaliation than when you are standing …screaming the truth. … Embrace that reality…easier to retaliate against somebody who has shown themselves to be frightened=
I rarely agree on policy with Rep. Cassidy - but man do I agree with her principled stance - truth and common decency over politics every time.
- Bagger Vance - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 2:29 pm:
Cassidy is doing an astounding job of pointing out the obvious, it is just so sad it needs to be done.
When Welch says that it was “not his intention” to make a former staffer feel “uncomfortable,” the only way I can interpret that is that he was hoping she was willing to move the conversation to Signal, meet him in a bar, and exchange sex for help advancing her career.
There is no other reasonable interpretation.
It is not possible to unintentionally ask a woman half your age to meet you in a bar. It is not credible to believe his intentions were selfless, and this would be an open-and-shut case for the department of human rights under the “reasonable person” standard.
A reasonable person would not have said “I think I can help you, meet me in a bar.” A reasonable person would have said “Of course I am happy to help, call my office and set up a meeting.”
I have to believe that every woman and most men in the General Assembly know that what I am saying is true, and that Welch’s intentions were anything but honorable. They just have not found the courage yet to act.
The current system with a LIG was put in place because lawmakers were worried that placing the legislature under the investigative authority of the Illinois Dept. of Human Rights would politicize sexual harrassment investigations.
What we are witnessing is as politicized as it gets.
If Democrats will not hold Welch accountable, they should turn power back over to the Dept of Human Rights to investigate sexual harrassment, discrimination, and hostile workplace complaints.
Lead, or get out of the way.
- east central - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 2:33 pm:
If JBP aspires to national office, wouldn’t the Benton/Welch matter come up in a tough campaign? The bar and emoji aspects would draw attention.
Isn’t there a risk that an adversary would ask:
As Governor and de facto leader of the Democratic Party in Illinois, what actions did you take when you read about the behavior of your fellow Democrats in the Chicago Tribune?
- Dotnonymous x - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 2:38 pm:
“When I read that, I felt terrible,” Welch, a Hillside Democrat, said. “That certainly was not my intent, but I made her feel uncomfortable, and I have to own that. I regret that and I’m embarrassed by it, and I apologize for it. And I think that’s taking responsibility.”
Or…he coulda just said, I regret getting caught.
- Dotnonymous x - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 2:45 pm:
What’s good for one gander is good for the other, right?…politics over principle is wrong, right?
- iheartsza - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 2:48 pm:
Kelly Cassidy proves, yet again, she is the best of us.
- Dotnonymous x - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 2:58 pm:
Abusing the power of state office to leverage sex from young women is a weak to pathetic move.
- Concerned - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 3:13 pm:
This is really embarassing
- Shytown - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 3:38 pm:
== As Governor and de facto leader of the Democratic Party in Illinois, what actions did you take when you read about the behavior of your fellow Democrats in the Chicago Tribune? ==
He’s been on the record about this specifically. Use google.
- Simon - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 4:01 pm:
Cassidy is right to focus on Welch’s social media habits and his online interactions with Benton’s victim. That really is the crux of the matter because those things demonstrate that Welch either doesn’t really understand what sexual harassment is or he is unbothered when it happens.
Yes, systemic changes need to be made. Like a reporting structure for district office employees of state reps. But the primary problem here is not systemic, it’s character and leadership. A better system would not have stopped Welch from using social media to essentially hit on Benton’s victim.
- Stephanie Kollmann - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 4:02 pm:
I don’t think the Signal and Gibson’s thing means sex, necessarily. But it does mean not caring whether she would worry about secrets and money and power and pressure and whether sex would come up. Which is bad enough.
- Laird - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 5:37 pm:
If Rep. Kelly Cassidy knew that then rep. Welch had creepy social media posts back then she should have said something about it back then.
- Amalia - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 5:43 pm:
oh Laird, Rep. KC is not the problem. I was going to simply post Are We There Yet? but clearly for some people we are not.
- Capitol Caravan - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 6:10 pm:
Only a matter of time until an enterprising reporter finds Judge ShawnTe Raines-Welch at the courthouse to ask for her view on the speaker’s behavior.
- Excitable Boy - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 7:10 pm:
- she should have said something about it back then. -
She did, and she didn’t support him for Speaker.
- Stephanie Kollmann - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 7:14 pm:
==Signal is so you can send 2 am texts for a rendezvous.===
do you use Signal? I do and think this is a really weird projection.
- ;) - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 7:20 pm:
Kelly Cassidy, the only profile in courage in the democratic women’s caucus. Very sad.
- Capitol Caravan - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 7:20 pm:
If in fact the speaker’s social media behavior was documented and expressed as a topic of concern among House Democrats at the time of his election in January 2021, as Rep. Cassidy has said, it makes it all the more extraordinary that he was sending flirtatious emojis and cocktail invites, etc., to the young female staffer AFTER that dialogue had occurred within his caucus.
- K3 - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 10:22 pm:
Drip…drip….drip
- Frida's Boss - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 10:30 pm:
The caucus knew of his social media habits before he became Speaker, and they still voted for him.
I believe that by November, there will be very little chance that Speaker Welch can secure the 60 votes needed.
- charles in charge - Thursday, Aug 13, 26 @ 11:01 pm:
== No, Signal is so you can send 2 am texts for a rendezvous.==
I am not defending the Speaker’s conduct here, but with all due respect, you don’t actually know what you are talking about. I have used Signal for years for all kinds of conversations with both personal and professional contacts, and exactly zero of those conversations concerned any “rendezvous,” at 2am or at any other time of day. The idea that that’s the only thing anyone ever uses it for is ridiculously inaccurate.
- Bagger Vance - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 6:36 am:
=== I have used Signal for years for all kinds of conversations with both personal and professional contacts,===
Let’s try to stay on topic and in context:
How many times have you told a professional contact half your age who has your cell phone number to move the text conversation to Signal instead and meet you in a bar?
In politics, where communications by public officials are subject to FOIA…and frequently requested by media…Signal is used by politicians to hide activities they do not want you to know about. The added advantage of Signal for corrupt politicians is that data is not stored on a central server, so law enforcement cant go to Signal Foundation two years from now with a subpoena to get Chris Welch’s texts.
So: if Welch was not trying to hide sexual escapades, what was he trying to hide?
Madigan was mocked for not having a cell phone, but honestly maybe someone should take Welch’s away from him.
- charles in charge - Friday, Aug 14, 26 @ 10:57 am:
==Let’s try to stay on topic and in context==
Dude, bite me. You dismissively waved away another commenter pointing out that there could be other reasons–including other reasons involving improper motives by Welch besides sex–making the pronouncement that Signal is used for one thing and one thing only, which, as I pointed out, is just flat wrong. So maybe in the future, whatever the “topic” or “context,” you might want to think about refraining from condescendingly dismissing other people’s comments while making objectively wrong and uninformed statements.