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Hultgren aide fired after scandal

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Illinois

* Randy Hultgren has been the most boring member of the state’s congressional delegation. No more…

Illinois GOP Rep. Randy Hultgren has fired a top aide after the staffer was found in a car last fall with a 17-year-old boy and no shirt on, according to multiple sources and a police report.

Nick Provenzano, 56, was dismissed by Hultgren over the weekend, the sources said. […]

The Hultgren spokesperson said the office learned about the incident “late Wednesday and immediately placed him on leave before his eventual termination.” […]

Provenzano served as a McHenry County board member for 13 years. He was also the campaign manager for former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) in 2010, according to his LinkedIn biography.

The police report is here.

* NW Herald…

On Oct. 21, a pair of police officers rolled down a dead-end McHenry street and found an SUV with its headlights turned off.

Inside, they found a shirtless man and a teenage boy.

The boy was 17. The driver was 56-year-old Nick Provenzano, a former McHenry County Board member who worked for U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren.

They had met on Grindr, a popular gay dating app.

McHenry police questioned Provenzano about what happened inside the car. He said they were “hanging out,” according to a redacted McHenry police report obtained by the Northwest Herald using the Freedom of Information Act.

Provenzano said he took off his shirt because he was hot. The day had a high of 76 degrees and a low of 61.

The police report includes a detective interview with the 17-year-old boy. He told police the meeting was “sexual” in nature – a late-night encounter that involved Provenzano at one point pulling down his pants and underwear.

The boy told police that the meeting was consensual. The age of consent in Illinois is 17.

Provenzano, who earned a reputation as one of the County Board’s most outspoken conservative members, declined to give police a statement, and he has not been charged with a crime.

* Patch…

Provenzano was placed on leave late Wednesday after Hultgren’s office learned of the incident, a Hultgren spokesman told Patch. He was fired on Monday. […]

Randy Hultgren, a Republican, is running unopposed in Tuesday’s primary election. There are seven Democrats vying for their party’s nomination Tuesday with the hopes of unseating Hultgren this fall.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:27 pm

Comments

So he was fired for being gay?

Comment by Franks Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:30 pm
… Last fall?! It took this long for him to dismiss this staffer? Epic fail…

Comment by That Dude Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:30 pm
The age difference is definitely creepy, but it’s legal

Comment by Miss Marie Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:32 pm
But on the upside, it wasn’t a dead girl.

– MrJM

Comment by @misterjayem Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:34 pm
@ Franks, realistically, yeah he was, but a 56 year old having an encounter with a 17 year old, ignoring the genders involved, is bad press enough to warrant getting fired, just as damage control, so the Congressman has cover there I think.

Comment by Perrid Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:36 pm
== So he was fired for being gay? ==
He was fired for being a hypocrite. Nick Provenzano that name rings a bell. He was campaign manager for Joe Walsh and David McSweeney.

Comment by Frankensense Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:36 pm
Legal. But definitely I think worthy of being in termination in politics. You don’t want your staffers being caught in parked cars with boys or girls still in highschool.

Comment by Nick Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:36 pm
Franks: that was my immediate reaction too. All by consent. Attacked for being gay.

Comment by Saynomore Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:37 pm
I don’t like the sneaking around aspects of this, but there’s nothing illegal about this.

I also don’t like defending anyone who would work for Joe Walsh.

Comment by Cheryl44 Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:38 pm
Legal, but not ethical. Termination of a 56 year old man with a 17 year old woman would be similarly justified.

Comment by ArchPundit Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:40 pm
=Provenzano, who earned a reputation as one of the County Board’s most outspoken conservative members=

Conservatives can be gay or straight, wealthy or wanting for wealth,
fiscally responsable or deadbeats.
What binds them together is their hypocrisy.

Comment by Hastert Conservative Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:42 pm
Creepy isn’t the word. An adult with a minor. While age of consent is 17, the kid is still a minor.

Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:47 pm
Attacked for being gay?

Un no. Not buying that. Fired for being a married, hypocritical creep with a thing for high schoolers. Totally justified.

Comment by McGuppin Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:49 pm
===Attacked for being gay.===

Termination is the equivalent of being attacked? Over-the-top verbiage doesn’t help your argument.

Comment by Cubs in '16 Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:50 pm
=== Termination of a 56 year old man with a 17 year old woman would be similarly justified. ===

Maybe justified, but would termination happen?

Also…. what if it was a 56 year old man and an 18 year old woman? I don’t think, even if one finds it creepy, that someone would be terminated in that instance, because society generally agrees that 18 is an adult. But when it comes to sexual consent, the law considers 17 the age of consent, but some want to treat the circumstances as if the law doesn’t say that. Why were the police even investigating this at all? They should confirm the teen is 17 and leave it at that. If we want to change the age of consent to 18, that’s totally reasonable, but that’s a different conversation.

Comment by Just Observing Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:51 pm
‘He was campaign manager for Joe Walsh and David McSweeney.’

Any react from McSweeney?

Comment by Flat Bed Ford Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:52 pm
Government officials have the right, some would say the obligation, to hold their staff to a standard higher than [maybe] “legal but creepy.” I doubt seriously many officials from the other party would allow someone similarly situated to remain on staff either.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:53 pm
Even leaving aside the age difference, there’s something seedy about using hookup apps and late-night/early-morning rendezvous in parked cars. The mayor of Nashville, TN just had to resign because she was meeting her lover for trysts in cemeteries; how is this any better? Plus Provenzano’s behavior leaves him vulnerable to blackmail.

Provenzano had to go.

Comment by SheetrockBobby Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:53 pm
===. The age of consent in IL is 17 only if the other party is less than 5 years older. It’s a misdemeanor, but still illegal.

Lots of confusion about this, but this is no accurate. 17 is the age of consent in all cases. If someone has sexual contact with someone under 17 and is within 5 years the crime is less serious. So a 17 year old is legal in a case like this. However, the absurd part is the 17 year old would be violating the law with a 16 year old.

Comment by ArchPundit Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:53 pm
Yeah, in a post-Ray Moore world, no politician should be within 10 feet of anything resembling this. Sexual preference shouldn’t matter here.

Comment by ChrisB Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 2:56 pm
Which isn’t touching how this was in a car. In public. Which someone saw and called the cops on because they were rightfully suspicious.

That just plain isn’t smart.

Comment by Nick Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 3:02 pm
While I don’t think he was fired for being gay, I can’t help but wonder if the teenager had been female if a police report would have been issued at all.

Comment by Just Me Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 3:03 pm
=== The mayor of Nashville, TN just had to resign because she was meeting her lover for trysts in cemeteries; how is this any better? ===

She resigned because of felony theft.

=== Plus Provenzano’s behavior leaves him vulnerable to blackmail. ===

At what point do we determine someone has to go because they can be blackmailed by someone they are sexually involved with? 56 year old man + 17 year old boy = potential blackmail? 56 year old man + 19 year old man = potential blackmail? 56 year old man + 23 year old woman = potential blackmail? Where do you cut this off? And he was deputy district director of a congressman’s office, not national security advisor to the POTUS.

Comment by Just Observing Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 3:03 pm
McSweeney is going to refer him to the Jeanne Ives school for gay conversion therapy. Can’t wait to see how McSweeney tries to blame Rauner for this

Comment by Old Time R Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 3:04 pm
=== I can’t help but wonder if the teenager had been female if a police report would have been issued at all. ===

You may be right, but I wouldn’t be totally surprised if the police responded the same way with a 17 year old girl. That said, why are the police, other than maybe writing a report the same way they would for any call, conducting a big investigation and asking Provenzano to come down to the station and all that. Once they determine the boy is 17 case closed, move on. Again, it’s totally reasonable to argue that the age of consent should be 18, but that’s not the decision of the police.

Comment by Just Observing Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 3:07 pm
All you people defending a 56 year old trying to hook up with a 17 year old are really creeping me out.

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 3:14 pm
My first thought was that this was a legal act…but seeking public sex in a parked car is also illegal, and that seems to be where this was going…

Scandals are scandals…

Comment by NIU Grad Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 3:20 pm
1) Why does something need to be illegal to get you fired? A couple years back, a congressman fired his spokesman because he accidentally tweeted “Me Likey Broke Girls” from the congressman’s official account, in reference to a risque commercial during the Super Bowl featuring the lead actors from CBS’ sitcom, Two Broke Girls (thankfully, now cancelled.) Nothing illegal about that. Just embarrassing for the congressman. No difference here. You embarrass your employer in a high profile way, you should expect to get canned.

2) Unless you all are a bunch of prosecutors or criminal defense lawyers… why do you all know so much about age of consent?

Comment by JB13 Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 3:44 pm
If they met on Grindr, who was looking for what and who was lying on the bio and pix?

Comment by d.p.gumby Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 3:46 pm
2)… why do you all know so much about age of consent?

LOLOLOLOL

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 3:48 pm
Looks like Rauner put some cash into the family too

Comment by Annonin' Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 4:04 pm
Provenzano related to the Maine Township Provenzano combine folks, right?

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 4:26 pm
Icky old man.

Comment by VanillaMan Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 4:39 pm
And Provenzano used to be a Dennis Hastert staffer. Shocker. Not.

Comment by Chris P. Bacon Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 4:53 pm
The age of consent argument here is a way strange. The dude’s 56; the kid’s in high school. That’s Roy Moore stuff.

I don’t think there’s any mystery as to why he rightfully got fired.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Mar 20, 18 @ 5:07 pm
Randy Hultgren needs to get focused on his deteriorating district with people fleeing. I counted 17-20 empty houses in my precinct of Sandwich #1 & #3 Why are people leaving, if the Democrats and liberal Republicans are running the state so well?

Comment by Elsie Morrissey Thursday, Mar 22, 18 @ 10:14 am