Welch launches private working group to respond to sexual harassment,
but it’s off to a rocky start
[August 07, 2026]
By Ben Szalinski and Brenden Moore
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.
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Rep. Dagmara Avelar, D-Romeoville, speaks on the House floor in
October 2025, with House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch in the
foreground. Welch named Avelar to lead a private working group on
sexual harassment policy in the House. (Capitol News Illinois photo
by Jerry Nowicki)
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.
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