Report finds ‘pattern and practice’ of sexual harassment by ex-Rep. Harry Benton

SPRINGFIELD —Disgraced ex-Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, violated state law by committing two acts of sexual harassment, according to a summary legislative inspector general report made public Friday afternoon.

LIG Mike McCuskey said the instances were “part of a pattern and practice of inappropriate sexual conduct” by Benton that began soon after he took his initial sexual harassment training as a newly elected member in 2023. He said Benton “ignored common sense examples of what not to say and do.”

“The fact that these violations are only misdemeanors and may be considered minor crimes by some does not mean they should be ignored,” McCuskey wrote. “Others might argue that these are merely talking crimes at most. Those arguments don’t stand up in today’s society. People should not be treated as mere objects to tolerate other people’s verbal pleasure or jokes.”

The seven-page report also confirmed that House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s office knew about a sexual harassment allegation against Benton as early as April 2023 but did not address that allegation, made by a former district staffer, with Benton until July 2023.

That allegation, first outlined in a Chicago Tribune report earlier this month, laid outside the LIG’s one-year statute of limitations but was used to establish a pattern of behavior.

McCuskey said the staffer in 2023 sent a letter to Welch’s chief of staff detailing allegations against Benton, but said she was “leaning to just getting on the record and not doing much more with it.”

The allegations said Benton “asked to stay at my friend’s condo with me in the city, put me in an extremely awkward position having to say no to him.” He also allegedly made comments like he was keeping her “off the pole” by hiring her and he once told her “don’t forget to wear something underneath that.”

“Had the speaker acted appropriately in 2023, we would not be here today. There would not have been additional allegations,” House Republican Leader Tony McCombie said at a news conference after the report was released.

Despite his office’s knowledge of the allegation, which Benton denied at the time, Welch spent $1.4 million for Benton’s reelection campaign to his swingy southwest suburban House seat in 2024. And he would not boot Benton from the House Democratic caucus and strip him of his committee assignments until this February following the allegations that were ultimately founded in the report.

“Why would he spend 1.4 million dollars defending a flawed member instead of acting on the first complaint, why risk the integrity of the institution to protect a seat that would never have changed the Democratic supermajority?” McCombie asked. “This should be the moment ethics reform finally moves forward.”

Benton, who was elected in 2022, resigned in early July, just two days after McCuskey delivered his report to Welch, who quickly called for Benton’s ouster, citing patterns of behavior that were “outrageous, unethical, and unbecoming of a member of the Illinois House of Representatives.”

He’s been replaced in office and on the ballot by Jessica Dixon Heitman, who was briefly Benton’s media and community outreach coordinator in 2023. She resigned from that position and told the Tribune after being appointed to replace Benton that it was “not a great fit” and her tenure there “is a hard thing to talk about.”

Gabby Shanahan, the Republican who will face her, faulted her for not coming forward, though Heitman was not in a position of power in Benton’s office.

“I think she should have come forward,” Shanahan said. “This culture continues to perpetuate because people don’t come forward when these things happen.”

Pressure on Welch

McCombie said Welch should resign. She echoed the call of Rep. Fred Crespo, one of Welch’s fellow Democrats — albeit one who Welch excommunicated from the Democratic caucus last year. Crespo, who Welch booted for leading his own budget negotiations, wrote an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune saying Welch didn’t adequately respond to the harassment claims.

In a statement following the release of the report, Welch said it reaffirmed that his office “acted responsibly” by “following legal guidance, respecting the wishes of those who came forward, and taking decisive action as additional information established a pattern of misconduct.”

Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, a member of the Legislative Ethics Commission that voted to release the report, slammed Welch’s handling of the situation in a lengthy statement. She said Welch’s argument that the report shows he handled the 2023 situation appropriately “does not hold up to scrutiny.”

“Had the speaker intervened meaningfully in 2023, he may have been able to prevent the victimization of the other two women, who were harassed in May 2025 and January 2026,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy, who was a vocal critic of former Speaker Mike Madigan’s handling of sexual harassment issues, also said Welch needs to address his own reported conduct toward Benton’s former employee. But she did not call on Welch to resign. The woman at the center of the 2023 incident said Welch reacted to several of her Instagram post with a heart eyes emoji and invited her to a bar via an encrypted messaging app when she asked for career advice.

“Even if the speaker did not intend to send flirtatious signals, or to generate pressure on a young woman he had already indicated he found attractive, the effect of his behavior was to make her uncomfortable,” Cassidy said. “I encourage the speaker to acknowledge that publicly and apologize to the woman for his conduct.”

Founded allegations

The LIG complaint was sparked by an incident with a female lobbyist at a bar in Chicago. Benton, according to the report, allegedly told her “I might be a five, but I f— like a 10.” In a statement published alongside the report, the lobbyist said Benton also showed her photos on his phone of women he claimed to be sleeping with.

According to a letter from Kat Bray, Welch’s chief legal counsel, to McCuskey on Feb. 20, two House members made the speaker’s office aware of the incident on Feb. 19. Benton was booted from the caucus the following week and a more detailed complaint was filed with the LIG on March 4.

The report includes a previously undisclosed third instance of alleged sexual harassment by Benton. In an undated incident, a district director of a House member said Benton harassed her at a Springfield bar following Latino Unity Day festivities. Benton allegedly approached the woman, leaned over her and put his hand on her back, actions she said made her feel uncomfortable and were creepy. She backed away and another colleague stepped between the two.

McCuskey found both claims to be founded.

“It is very evident, as the LIG points out, that the initial pattern and practice of harassment and sexual harassment occurred almost immediately upon former Rep. Harry Benton assuming office,” LEC Chair Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, said during a news conference.

Unfounded claims

McCuskey found three claims unfounded, including one claiming that Benton was hostile while attempting to get on stage with Gov. JB Pritzker at the Illinois State Fair in 2024 and another from December 2025 claiming that he harassed and was hostile to a staffer of the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

The third was an allegation that Benton had pictures on his cellphone of women he claimed to be involved with romantically. McCuskey dismissed the claim as hearsay, though the lobbyist in her statement confirmed that Benton had showed her photos on his phone matching that description.

The lobbyist noted there were “inaccuracies” in McCuskey’s report, something she attributed to him not recording the conversation or taking contemporaneous notes. While she called these “concerning,” she said “the underlying facts remain the same.”

“Harry Benton did make inappropriate sexual comments to me despite my protestations, and his resignation was appropriate,” she wrote.

McCuskey, in response, said there were “no inaccuracies” in the report.

McCuskey’s recommendation

Ultimately, McCuskey recommended that Welch permanently remove Benton from the caucus and revoke committee assignments and support from the speaker’s staff. He did not recommend that Welch pursue further discipline.

Welch, in his response to McCuskey, indicated that he accepted all recommendations McCuskey made besides punishment. He then reiterated his call for Benton to resign, threatening to initiate expulsion proceedings against him if he didn’t.

“This report must represent more than an accounting of what happened,” Welch said in his statement. “It must serve as a catalyst for meaningful, structural change. If there are gaps in our policies, our laws, or our workplace practices, then it is our duty to close them. The work has already begun.”

“He’s had opportunity after opportunity as the speaker of the House to do that,” McCombie responded. “The House Republicans have repeatedly sent over reforms. Repeatedly asked for the committee to meet to discuss these things, and there’s crickets over there. They do not want to have ethics reform that has been proven under his leadership.”

It’s the first founded LIG report to be released since 2020.

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