YES,
SPEAKER MADIGAN, YOU HAVE A CULTURE PROBLEM
Illinois Policy Institute/
Austin Berg
The speaker protects his own. Despite the
growing tally of victims, that’s why so many lawmakers are still lining
up to protect him.
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In a hastily arranged press conference Tuesday, House Speaker
Mike Madigan laid out nine more instances of sexual harassment his office has
overseen in the past five years, with more potentially excluded.
But Madigan’s office doesn’t have a sexual harassment problem. Just ask him.
“What does this say about your office?” asked Illinois News Network reporter
Greg Bishop. “Is there a culture within your office?”
Madigan passed the buck. “There’s no culture with me … we don’t tolerate
inappropriate behavior. We just don’t tolerate it.”
None of the cases listed in the speaker’s report resulted in Madigan’s office
terminating or suspending an employee. In one instance, an outside lobbyist was
“removed from his position” as a result of his conduct toward a staffer, which
was his employer’s decision.
 Madigan’s actions, or lack thereof, send a clear message: Those that engage in
sexual harassment in the workplace will be tolerated. And eventually, they can
even be rewarded.
Alaina Hampton, a former campaign worker for the speaker whose story forced the
ousting of one state worker/Madigan political operative, Kevin Quinn, has
witnessed this first hand.
She endured months of pathetic, inappropriate advances from Quinn, whose
brother, a Chicago alderman, shares his ward office with Madigan.
“I never wanted to do this but I know my silence only protects the perpetrator
and the organization, which will allow this situation to happen to someone
else,” Hampton said.
“I firmly believe they thought that I was too loyal to ever come forward.”
Hampton shed a clear light on what’s kept the toxic Statehouse culture afloat
for decades: loyalty and fear.
Look at the bizarre remarks from Alderman Pat O’Connor, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s
floor leader in Chicago City Council, when asked if Madigan should step down
from his state Democratic Party chairmanship.
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“If the allies had pulled Eisenhower out of his
position when the troops were landing on Normandy, you would take
the head of those forces and throw those forces into disarray,” he
said.
“If you look at the state party and feel that it’s
important that we elect individuals that the party has backed, then
you wouldn’t take your leadership out when you’re about to have the
election.”
Victims be damned, can’t you see it’s an election year?
Notably, Madigan’s list only included cases within the legislature.
It did not include any instances reported in the campaign world,
where the speaker is the only legislative leader in the nation to
also serve as the state party chairman.
Madigan’s deflection of responsibility regarding Statehouse culture
is insulting to the men and women who have put up with a toxic work
environment in Springfield and in political offices across the
state.
Organizational culture comes from the top. And no one has been at
the top longer than Madigan. He is the longest-serving state
legislative leader in American history.
What does Madigan’s Springfield culture look like?
For years, participants in the state’s legislative intern program
were gifted a piece of advice from their superiors at the start of
their summers: Don’t ever get into an elevator alone with a
lawmaker.

Madigan’s limited disclosure this week explicitly excluded
“complaints by staff about a member regarding manner of treatment or
derogatory comments.”
The speaker protects his own. Despite the growing tally of victims,
that’s why so many lawmakers are still lining up to protect him.
This, of course, is the culture at work.
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