SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Bruce Rauner is siding with several Democratic members of the House saying there needs to be an independent group to investigate claims of sexual harassment, fraud and conflict of interest.
“The ethics commission should not have any legislators on it,” Rauner said Wednesday to a group of students at the University of Illinois. “It should be all independent people. It should not be the case that legislators should review the investigations of their own fellow legislators. That’s a conflict. That should be eliminated.”
The idea comes after complaints against two powerful Democrats — House Deputy Majority Leader Lou Lang and Tim Mapes, chief of staff to House Speaker Michael Madigan. Lang and Mapes both have since resigned their leadership positions, although Lang still represents Skokie in the House.
On May 31, the last day of the most recent session, Lang was publicly accused of harassment, inappropriate behavior and retaliation. Less than a week later, Mapes was accused of sexual harassment and bullying.
Rauner said an outside council should be taking on these claims so bias and retaliation isn’t shown among colleagues in the Capitol.
“Illinois has one of the nation’s highest rates of public corruption and Illinoisans have the lowest confidence in their government compared to citizens of every other state,” Rauner said last when signing an ethics overhaul bill.
“An independent legislative inspector general and independent commission are needed to help restore Illinoisans’ confidence in the legislature,” he said.
Rauner signed the ethics overhaul bill into law last Friday that would increase the independence of the investigation process. The new law changes the process of how ethics complaints are handled.
Under the law, the legislative inspector general will be permitted to conduct independent investigations into sexual harassment claims without first getting permission from the Legislative Ethics Commission.
The law also creates an independent search committee to recommend candidates to the legislative inspector general position. That position will now be full-time instead of part-time so ethics complaints are addressed sooner.
“This bill is a victory for the heroic women who have stepped forward to take on the culture of fear, abuse and retaliation that permeates too much of state government,” Rauner said.
“Illinoisans should applaud this improvement and champion the women who stood up to Illinois’ political power structures in order to make this change happen. Through their courageous words and actions, they have declared that the culture in Springfield must change,” he said.
While Rauner applauded the potential benefits of the bill, he said there is still much more that needs to be done, like forming the independent investigation group, and urged lawmakers to push for it.
Democratic Reps. Kelly Burke, Deb Conroy and Ann Williams are behind the efforts to change the climate in Springfield.
Together they recommended the launch of a new program called Representing Respect. The interactive sexual harassment training program has been used by Fortune 500 companies to establish core values and educate employees and employers as to how interpersonal interactions should reflect these values, according to a statement released by the women following the Lang and Mapes claims.
“Several House members have participated in an abbreviated version of the program, and we plan to pilot the complete program later this summer with our Democratic colleagues in the House and recommend it be provided to all staff in the fall,” the statement says. “We are committed to working to improve our workplace environment for all women — and men — who work in and around the Capitol in any capacity.”
Additionally, the three women agree with Rauner that there should be an independent council.
“There’s precedent for these types of investigations in the corporate world and I think we need to follow that model,” Burke, of Evergreen Park, said in an interview. “It’s forward looking. Let’s acknowledge that there are vast improvements that can be made in our culture. Let’s move forward and figure out how we can all work together much better and with much more respect and have a better environment for the people that work there and ultimately have a better outcome for the people we represent.”