Report finds ‘pattern and practice’ of sexual harassment by ex-Rep.
Harry Benton
[August 01, 2026]
By Brenden Moore, Ben Szalinski
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.
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Ex-Rep. Harry Benton is pictured on the House floor, with text from
the legislative inspector general’s report that found he engaged in
“a pattern and practice of inappropriate sexual conduct.” (Capitol
News Illinois illustration by Jerry Nowicki)
“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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