Welch launches private working group to respond to sexual harassment, but it’s off to a rocky start

SPRINGFIELD — In the wake of criticism over his office’s handling of a sexual harassment complaint against a member and his own behavior on social media, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch is turning to one of his favorite tools to formulate policy solutions: a Democrat-only private working group.

“It’s going to be ongoing work to continue to address the culture in Springfield,” Welch told Capitol News Illinois this week, adding that he’s assigned Rep. Dagmara Avelar, D-Romeoville — a member of his leadership team — to chair the group. “They’ve been charged. They have work to do. We’re going to let them do that work. My working groups have proven to be successful, and I believe this one’s going to be successful too.”

But it is already off to a rocky start.

While Welch shared with Capitol News Illinois who would chair the group, his office hadn’t published the full list of lawmakers who’d be in it as of Thursday. Instead, the list was informally disclosed early Wednesday in a social media post by an outside political ally of Welch.

One of the members purportedly named to the group, Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, issued a statement Wednesday saying she would not participate in the working group after her name was leaked as being part of it.

“Prior to agreeing to serve on the working group, I asked a series of questions in order to ensure that the group would offer more than lip service or a PR stunt. My questions were not answered,” she said in a statement.

Cassidy said her name was “leaked as part of this process without my agreement.”

“I’m disappointed, as I believe a working group on this topic could be necessary and important,” Cassidy said. “But we have a responsibility to victims and survivors to ensure any such body is credible and effective, and I currently do not have confidence it will be.”

Welch remains under pressure

Welch has struggled to manage the fallout from a Chicago Tribune report that revealed his office knew about a sexual harassment allegation made by a former district staffer against now-resigned Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, as early as April 2023 but did not address it with Benton until July of that year. The reporting was later confirmed by Legislative Inspector General Mike McCuskey’s now-public report detailing allegations made against Benton.

The Tribune report also detailed Welch’s own interactions, which included reacting to the former staffer’s Instagram photos with heart eyes and inviting her to a bar through an encrypted messaging app. She told the paper that the interactions made her “uncomfortable.” Welch told CNI earlier this week that he was “embarrassed” by the interactions and apologized.

In addition to outside scrutiny, the speaker has faced pushback within his own caucus. In meetings with the various subcaucuses of the supermajority House Democratic caucus, the speaker was asked why he didn’t address allegations when the staffer first brought them to his office’s attention, members on those calls told CNI. He was also asked why he spent $1.4 million in 2024 to reelect Benton.

Some, however, have defended Welch and sought to move the conversation away from the speaker’s actions and towards actions lawmakers can take to have better systems in place in the future.

The formation of a working group is ostensibly a step in that direction. But many of the details surrounding it remain murky, as Welch’s spokespeople have not responded to requests to clarify the status of the group or provide an up-to-date list of members participating.

The social media post that led to Cassidy’s statement was written by political consultant and close Welch ally Maze Jackson. The list published to his page showed other members include Reps. Amy “Murri” Briel, D-LaSalle; Kam Buckner, D-Chicago; Lisa Davis, D-Chicago; Daniel Didech, D-Buffalo Grove; Gregg Johnson, D-East Moline; Norma Hernandez, D-Melrose Park; Theresa Mah, D-Chicago; and Suzanne Ness, D-Crystal Lake.

CNI reached out via text message to all members named in the social media post as being part of the working group besides Davis and Briel. Only Ness provided a comment as of Thursday afternoon.

“I am looking forward to being a part of the working group,” Ness said in a text message. “There are many opportunities for improvements that will help us create a harassment free environment for all who serve, work, lobby and advocate in the state of Illinois. I’m ready to do this important work.”

Davis and Hernandez were recently part of a panel on WGN-TV in Chicago that defended Welch’s handling of complaints.

“I think I think he did what he could do in the power that he has in office now, given not actually having the proper process in place,” Hernandez said in the interview. “It is time for us to kind of figure out how we can create new systems and processes to protect our district offices, given what has happened with Representative Benton.”

Working group process

Working groups have been a go-to tool for Welch during his tenure as speaker. Basically, the all-Democrat groups are tasked with finding policy solutions to specific topics. This session, for example, House Democrats utilized a working group to formulate their package of bills regulating artificial intelligence. Past working groups have addressed issues like gun safety and criminal justice reform.

Proponents say the working group process is an effective way to achieve consensus on complex public policy issues within a House Democratic caucus that is often divided on gender, racial, geographical and ideological lines.

Critics, however, say working groups allow the supermajority to essentially circumvent the committee process by moving conversations that would otherwise take place behind closed doors. Though bills still need to pass through committees that include Republicans, critics argue it is cursory with most of the details already worked out among the smaller, all-Democratic working groups.

The Illinois House Republican Organization, in a statement, criticized the group, saying it “appears to be more about repairing the Speaker’s political standing than repairing the culture of the Illinois House.”

“If Speaker Welch were serious about reform, he would have created a bipartisan working group committed to meaningful change,” they said. “Instead, he appointed an all-Democratic panel, shutting Republicans out of a conversation that should transcend party politics.”

It is not clear when the committee will first meet, though it’s expected that some reforms will be on the docket when lawmakers return to Springfield for the fall veto session in November and December.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.