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* The beginning and end of Rep. Kelly Cassidy’s op-ed as it appeared in the Tribune yesterday…
Kristen McQueary’s recent column (“The fall and rise of former state Rep. John Anthony,” Nov. 26), in which she declares former state Rep. John Anthony’s redemption from his #MeToo moment, denies the reality of his victims and raises important questions: Why is there such a disproportionate concern for the lives and well-being of perpetrators of abuse — and why do victims never seem to receive the same? […]
McQueary minimizes the story of what led to Anthony’s downfall while fawning over his rise from the ashes. The editorial page regularly uses Hampton’s name as a cudgel against House Speaker Michael Madigan. But these writers don’t care whether Hampton’s abuser, Kevin Quinn, repents. They don’t care about Anthony’s victims, and they have no expectation that he does the work to earn redemption. They care about ideology and they’re willing to exploit anyone’s pain they can to promote it.
The paper asked Cassidy to limit her submission to 400 words, so she rewrote it.
* Here is her op-ed as originally submitted…
Kristen McQueary’s love letter to former Representative Anthony, in which she declares his redemption from his #MeToo moment, reaches a new low in tone deafness. What is our obsession with what comes next in the lives of perpetrators of abuse like Anthony? Why is there such a disproportionate concern for their lives and wellbeing–and why do victims never seem to receive the same?
Time and again, we are subjected to questions of what constitutes an appropriate punishment for men caught up in public cases of abusing women in the workplace. The pearl clutching concerns over so called “cancel culture” have grown incredibly tiresome. When will we start talking about what the appropriate remedies are for the women subjected to this abuse? We should be focusing our energy on contemplating the long term trauma that can result from being abused within a power dynamic as complex as a political workplace.
And yes, let’s also have the conversation about what redemption looks like. I am certain there are men among my colleagues who look back and cringe at some of their past actions and wonder what they can do to make it right, and men caught up in cases who truly want to repair the harm they’ve done. But redemption is not a right or guarantee–one must do the work to earn forgiveness, to recognize the harm they’ve caused and to commit to working to repair it. As I tweeted the night the article posted, the bare minimum looks a little like this: 1) acknowledge the harm done and accept consequences, 2) seek guidance on changing your behavior and do the work, 3) NEVER DO IT AGAIN, and 4) help others learn how not to repeat your mistakes.
McQueary proclaims Anthony redeemed–because she says so. Did she call any of the victims? Did she ask Anthony whether he had apologized to any of them? Whether he had pursued therapy to address the underlying behavior behind the “mistakes” he says he has made? Did she ask the victims how they felt about whether he was deserving of redemption? If she did, none of that information made it into her column.
The women who have come forward about sexual misconduct they’ve endured are expected to just go back to their everyday work lives, frequently still in close proximity to abusers, without a system in place to address the damage done. As high profile sexual harassment victim Alaina Hampton has shared, even notes from therapy to address the harms done can be subpoenaed if the victim is seeking damages for emotional distress and mental health trauma, creating a chilling disincentive to getting help. Tie that with the effect of feeling shunned at work lest others be seen as a whistleblower too, and we have a perfect storm of challenges facing folks who come forward to bring an end to the abuse.
Every time I see a story mentioning one of the higher profile #MeToo stories in the press, my first thought is to check in on the victim in the story. Because, make no mistake, even when someone has no regrets about coming forward, new mentions bring new traumas.
McQueary goes to great lengths to minimize the story of what led to former Rep. Anthony’s downfall while fawning over his rise from the ashes. The women in that story had to see their stories belittled, minimized and disregarded in order to praise the man who changed their work experience forever.
For this to come from an editorial page that uses Alaina Hampton’s name every chance they get as a cudgel against Speaker Madigan and his allies is repulsive. These writers don’t care what happened to Alaina and they don’t care whether Kevin Quinn repents and finds a new life. They don’t care about the victims of former Rep. Anthony, and they clearly have no expectations that he does the work to earn redemption. They care about ideology and they’re willing to exploit anyone’s pain they can to promote it.
The phrase “a new low in tone deafness” was removed at the Tribune’s request, Cassidy said, because it “violated their standards.”
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 9:53 am
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Sometimes I wish the Chicago Tribune had it’s own hurricane Katrina moment so I could start fresh again
Comment by Ok Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 9:58 am
This isn’t just the tribune doing this.
Last week there was a hit-and-run that injured one woman, and killed another. A few days later they caught the guy who did it - a priest who was at the same party as the women killed/injured.
The news story I saw had multiple paragraphs about the killer/driver, all about his back story and the work he did in the church. How he was a man of god, and whatever. There was one sentence that mentioned the names of his victims.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:02 am
You know, with Fox starting to move slightly to the left (for them, I mean) it’s possible her constant auditioning for them may come to naught.
We can hope, anyway.
Comment by Cheryl44 Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:04 am
“Violated their standards” because nothing ever published will ever be a stone deaf as the Hurricane Katrina piece?
BTW, John McCormick, on June 17th you published an op-Ed by McQueary calling Mayor Lightfoot “tone deaf”….so what exactly is this editorial standard? Can you share it with us?
Comment by Thomas Paine Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:07 am
Good for Cassidy on calling it out, now how about calling out for a new speaker and new chairman.
Comment by Rutro Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:08 am
=== Good for Cassidy on calling it out, now how about calling out for a new speaker and new chairman. ===
I think that is exactly the opposite of the point that Cassidy is trying to make.
Comment by Powdered Whig Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:09 am
@OK -
That storm is coming. Chicago Tribune dome in by vulture capitalists and Kass shopping his portfolio to The Reader is the ultimate schadenfruede.
Comment by Thomas Paine Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:10 am
=on June 17th you published an op-Ed by McQueary calling Mayor Lightfoot “tone deaf”=
Is that the same McQueary who today said that Lightfoot “doesn’t always say the safe thing. But she usually says the right thing”?
I’m getting whiplash.
Comment by JoanP Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:15 am
I applaud Cassidy for her effort here. And to be fair, she does not have a responsibility to speak to every angle of the #MeToo movement/controversies at all times.
That said, I will say that I found it very upsetting that, with the exception of Iris Martinez, I’m not aware of a single member of the legislative Democrats who raised any type of public alarm or disgust, or demanded answers from the Speaker after the Speaker’s consigliere, Mike McClain, was revealed to have been coordinating payments to Kevin Quinn.
I thought McQueary’s column on Anthony was just awful. But the Democrats raising heck over her column, who then have stayed silent in the face of the revelations about the Speakers team arranging payments for Quinn, seem to be every bit as hypocritical as McQueary.
Comment by ILPundit Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:17 am
“… why do victims never seem to receive the same?”
I’m not crying over any of these guys, but this seems plain dishonest to me. Society as a whole isn’t trying to keep hurting the victims, but society as a whole IS trying to keep hurting the abusers. She equates a failure to help victims (alluding to somehow making the workplace better or changing how lawsuits work), which is at most a passive type of injury, to actively keeping someone from a job, which is a very active, targeted, ongoing type of injury. I’d argue that society “allowing” for the possibility for harm to happen is different from society actively harming someone, so comparing the two is questionable, at best.
As for the meat of the article, yes, McQueary is a hypocrite, Anthony should try to grow as a person and acknowledge the harm he’s done, and we should always be asking ourselves how we can do better.
Comment by Perrid Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:17 am
Katrina’s hagiography of Anthony was 1,227 words; but the Trib was unwilling to afford Cassidy even half the space for a well reasoned, 667 word critique.
So much for the Trib’s claim that it “embraces the great diversity of people and perspectives in its community.”
Comment by Moe Berg Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:29 am
I am just so thankful for Rep. Cassidy
Comment by Honeybear Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:29 am
==violated their standards==
I seem to remember a column where McQueary mentioned wanting a Hurrican Katrina in Chicago. The Tribune’s standards seem to vary depending on who is doing the writing.
Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:31 am
==because it “violated their standards.”==
And yet wishing for a hurricane to hit the city where the vast majority their readership lives does not “violate their standards”. The Trib appears to be focused on ensuring that the FKA statehouse chick doesn’t bolt to someplace like fox or OANN, so all that’s gonna happen here is that they’ll print it and ignore the issue going forward. If Cassidy wants to start a conversation about the double standards that trib edit board members have when it comes to sexual harassment, she should submit this op-ed to the Sun-Times, Daily Herald, etc as well (if she hasn’t already done so).
Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:45 am
Kelly nailed it. Absolutely nailed it. That the same paper that employed Royko now employs McQueary and Kass is just sad.
Comment by Chicago Cynic Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:55 am
I find it tiresome every time I read about how someone is irritated at women not calling out the Speaker over his Me Too issues.
Where are the men??? So we have to learn to deal with toxic work place environments, and fix said environments too? What male legislator has called out the Speaker over any Me Too
issues? Where is the anguish over the striking silence of all the Dudes?
I guess this is just a “women’s issue”/ s
Kelly Cassidy is incredible. Thank you Rich for posting her submission as she originally intended it. Sure would be nice to hear from the phantom chorus of Dudes actively participating in changing a culture they benefit from.
Comment by Sideline Watcher Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 10:56 am
This is an interesting up date. But Katrina and others seem to miss the notion that PAWs “charmed” a number folks before his GA exit and “promotion” to his brief IDOC career. Don’t think others hit the same disgusting level
Comment by Annonin Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 11:00 am
Do you think Kelly Cassidy’s scathing letter could have included a word or two about the reprisals she faced from crossing the Speaker on this issue?
She will get double points for this direct hit on two birds with one stone, an African American Republican sexual harasser and Kristin Mc Queary in one letter “all about ideology”.
Comment by Lucky Pierre Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 11:03 am
What is the Tribune’s target audience? I’m the only person on the train each morning with a newspaper in my hand and it’s the Sun Times. I get most people read on a device but I wonder who’s paying for the Tribune anymore . Kass is a joke and KM is just mean. Exactly who are they writing for?
Comment by Trapped in the ‘burbs Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 11:28 am
=== Time and again, we are subjected to questions of what constitutes an appropriate punishment for men caught up in public cases of abusing women in the workplace. The pearl clutching concerns over so called “cancel culture” have grown incredibly tiresome. When will we start talking about what the appropriate remedies are for the women subjected to this abuse? ===
The law addresses what are the appropriate punishments for sexual harrassment and the appropriate remedy. Employers and the department of human rights and the courts and the federal government all have policies and procedures in place.
I think Cassidy raises the question of what the appropriateness is od additional sanctions for “public” cases. Should Weinstein films be banned from Netflix, for example. Should we set a period of time when its acceptable for Kevin Quinn or Michael Ferro or Al Franken to earn a fair living, or a set of steps they must complete? And what happens when Michael Ferro and Al Franken’s respective peer groups have very different ideas of what is fair or necessary?
As for the “cancel culture”, i had no idea what it meant, but Cassidy’s comment seems glib. Read the Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, and ask yourself whether victims should all become pariahs for reporting offenses or perpetrators should all become pariahs for commiting offenses. That’s not the kind of restorative justice that most Democrats preach or most professionals practice.
I can assure Rep Cassidy that “most men” among her colleagues look back and cringe and things in their past. I also bet that given the power dynamic in politics, there are “plenty” of women among her colleagues who have harrassed staff and lobbyists. You will never read about it in the papers, and it will never get reported, because for men there isn’t supposed to be such a thing as “unwanted attention.”
Given the widespread prevelance of both perpetrators and victims, how exactly do we turn everyone into pariahs and still have functioning workplaces is a fair question.
As for McQueary, women journalists and biz leaders need to take her to task publicly for what she did, it is likely the only thing that is going to change her behavior.
Comment by Raymond Shuckles Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 11:29 am
I think all the men in the house should be asking why the speaker is still the speaker as well. imho Cassidy would make a great speaker.
Comment by Rutro Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 11:36 am
Brava, Rep. Cassidy! Thank you.
Comment by Andrea Durbin Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 11:46 am
It’s important to remember the Chicago Tribune publisher/editor Bruce Dold completely supports whatever McQueary writes, yet Cassidy’s comment of tone deafness was deleted. I cancelled my subscription two years ago.
Comment by Wensicia Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 11:58 am
=== …it violated their standards ===
They hired and continue to support McQueary, so it comes as a surprise to me that the Tribune has any standards at all.
Comment by PublicServant Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 11:59 am
== could have included a word or two about the reprisals she faced from crossing the Speaker on this issue?==
Reprisals? Which reprisals would those be? I’ve repeatedly asked here why JB and other state dems didn’t shove Madigan out the door early last year because he’s anachronistic and far more trouble than he’s worth, but I was unaware that members like Cassidy have experienced reprisals.
Comment by Lester Holt’s Mustache Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 12:18 pm
=Do you think Kelly Cassidy’s scathing letter could have included a word or two about the reprisals she faced from crossing the Speaker on this issue?=
Not for nothing but the article was about McQueary and the piece she wrote and not Madigan.
Maybe you see a secret code that others don’t.
Or maybe you just require every conversation to be prefaced by … But Madigan?
LP-”Waiter, I would like the porter house medium rare with a side of asparagus, but only of course if this restaurant has denounced Mike Madigan as Speaker of the House or called for his conviction.” “And I will have the bananas foster for desert.”
Is that how it is supposed to work for you? (not really a question, it is meant rhetorically).
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 12:20 pm
===Is that how it is supposed to work for you?===
Maybe you are talking to Representative Batinick. That seems to be how his ‘conversations’ play out lately.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 1:45 pm
“KM is just mean.“
Agreed. Wishing for death and destruction to get rid of unions and redo the public sector was not an errant or misguided thought. This person has some real animus.
Comment by Grandson of Man Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 2:11 pm
=Maybe you are talking to Representative Batinick. That seems to be how his ‘conversations’ play out lately.=
More deflection.
Of course.
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 2:14 pm
We subscribe to the Tribune and every so often I notice what Kristen McQueary writes and start to get an impulse to cancel the Tribune. I particularly detest Kristen’s sky is falling pieces on people leaving Illinois. I just wish she would leave.
Comment by Blue Dogs are Blind, Deaf, and Dumb Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 2:38 pm
“I can assure Rep Cassidy that ‘most men’ among her colleagues look back and cringe and things in their past. I also bet that given the power dynamic in politics, there are ‘plenty’ of women among her colleagues who have harrassed staff and lobbyists.”
Actually, in the absence of additional facts, you can only speak for yourself.
– MrJM
Comment by @misterjayem Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 3:04 pm
@MrJM-
81 percent of women say they’ve been sexually harassed. Rep. Anthony and Kevin Quinn cannot be the only perps.
How is that for some inductive reasoning?
If you cannot look back at your past and find some cringeworthy moments, you’re either a saint among mortals or myopic.
Comment by Raymond Shuckles Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 5:49 pm
Also, men account for 17 percent of NLRB harrassment complaints and 10 percent of EEOC complaints. To be fair, those complaints don’t necessarily involve women perpetrators. A man who is repeated subjected to his coworkers unwanted tales of exploits has a valid claim.
If you want to argue that a man who has been the victim of sexual harassment is less likely to file a complaint, fine. The data says otherwise.
Comment by Raymond Shuckles Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 5:58 pm
Thanks, Rep Cassidy. In addition to the victim of the article reliving their abuse, so many of us relive ours while feeling for her.
Comment by #MeToox2 Tuesday, Dec 10, 19 @ 7:53 pm