When Illinois Legislative Inspector General Michael McCuskey last month released his report substantiating sexual harassment allegations against former state Rep. Harry Benton, one of the victims listed in the report — a female lobbyist — issued a statement accusing McCuskey of inaccurately characterizing her side of the story.
McCuskey, 78, a former longtime state and federal judge, denied there were any inaccuracies and said, “My judgments have never been attacked by an individual doubting my credibility!”
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But the lobbyist has doubled down on her criticism of McCuskey in a recent letter to Illinois’ four top legislative leaders and obtained by the Tribune. In the four-page letter, the lobbyist says McCuskey “violated the confidence of other victims and me, broke standard investigative norms, and made inappropriate comments” to her during their interview and in other interactions with her about her allegations against Benton.
“Specifically, he shared the names of the other victims and other confidential information about their cases with me without prompting, among other inappropriate statements and missteps,” the lobbyist wrote to Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, House Republican Leader Tony McCombie, Illinois Senate President Don Harmon and Senate Republican Leader John Curran. The Tribune is not identifying the female lobbyist because she is a victim of sexual harassment.
The lobbyist’s latest complaints about McCuskey’s demeanor come after he concluded in his July 31 report that Benton, a Democrat from Plainfield, engaged in a “pattern and practice” of sexual harassment against the lobbyist and two other women. Benton resigned on July 3. They also come amid a firestorm that has focused on Welch’s handling of the Benton case and raised questions about why the speaker didn’t discipline him in 2023 when one of the three women — a female Benton staffer — notified the speaker’s office that he sexually harassed her on the job.
On Friday, after reading the lobbyist’s latest letter, McCuskey said, “All of the allegations that have been made against me are always discussed and will be discussed in confidence with the Legislative Ethics Commission, who I report to each month.” He declined to comment further.
Still, the two Senate caucuses recognized the concerns raised by the lobbyist.
“I have sincere concerns about deficiencies in the Legislative Inspector General’s investigative process highlighted in the victim’s letter,” Curran of Downers Grove said in a statement. “It is important that the Legislative Ethics Commission review and address this complaint in a timely manner. The legislature must provide an impartial and independent, investigative process for all harassment complaints that is thorough, comprehensive and maintains strict confidentiality to prohibit any threat of retaliation to victims coming forward.”
“Victims and witnesses need to know that when they come forward to report incidents that they will be treated with respect, confidentiality and professionalism. That is a foundational element of our ethics laws and the responsibility of the Legislative Ethics Commission and the office of the legislative inspector general,” said John Patterson, a spokesman for Harmon, a Democrat from Oak Park. “If that’s not happening, then something needs to change.”
Spokespeople for Welch of Hillside did not return requests for comment, and a spokesperson for McCombie of Savanna declined to comment.
Earlier this month, McCuskey raised eyebrows in Springfield political circles during a radio interview with political commentator Patrick Pfingsten, in which he discussed the sensitivities of the Benton case and his job and acknowledged that he hadn’t taken notes while interviewing the lobbyist. The lobbyist has also said it didn’t appear McCuskey recorded the interview, a claim he has not denied out of concern that it could deter other victims from coming forward in similar cases.
The Tribune last month first revealed the details of the allegations against Benton when the former Benton staffer and the lobbyist discussed how they were victims of his sexual harassment, the ex-staffer in 2023 and the lobbyist earlier this year. Another woman also accused Benton of sexual harassment after he touched her back in a “creepy” way at a Springfield bar last year, according to McCuskey’s report.
Welch did not remove Benton from his committee assignments and other caucus duties until February. That was after, according to the lobbyist, the speaker’s office learned she accused Benton of making lewd comments to her and showing her pictures of women after the two ran into each other at a bar in Chicago’s River North. The lobbyist has said she told McCuskey about those photos in her interview, though McCuskey didn’t include those details in his report.
But in the lobbyist’s latest letter, dated July 31, she outlined more of her criticisms about McCuskey.
She accused him of breaching her confidentiality by contacting her business partner and mother and sharing information with them while trying to reach her. She also alleged McCuskey shared information with her that appeared to breach the other victims’ confidentiality.
“He began talking about one of the other women who was sexually harassed by Benton. He gave me detailed information about the woman and her interactions with Benton, and read me an email that she had sent previously,” the lobbyist said.
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The lobbyist said McCuskey told her the names of the former Benton staffer and the woman from the Springfield bar. She also alleged he told her the bar’s name, which was redacted in McCuskey’s public report about the Benton case.
During her hourlong interview with McCuskey, the lobbyist also said she was taken aback by his comments about her physical appearance, which she found “highly inappropriate and concerning.”
“LIG McCuskey interrupted the interview to ask me if I knew that I did not look as old as I am. He told me that I look very young, that his son was 32, that he is well aware of what 30-year-olds look like, and I look like his son’s friends,” the lobbyist wrote.
The lobbyist also described another instance in which she felt McCuskey could have jeopardized her confidentiality when she asked him to ensure no one was walking past his Springfield office before she left.
“As I left, I saw a state representative walking down the hall with a large group of people. I was deeply disturbed that the LIG either did not know who the representative was, or had knowingly put me in the position to be seen by a legislator,” the lobbyist wrote.
Republican state Rep. Jeff Keicher of Sycamore, who chairs the Legislative Ethics Commission, provided a statement addressing McCuskey’s radio interview with Pfingsten and the lobbyist’s letter, saying the issues raised “are being taken seriously,” but declined to get into specifics, citing the commission’s confidential nature. The eight-member body consists of four Democratic and four Republican legislators, including Keicher.
After an earlier version of this Tribune story was published online Friday night, state Rep. Mary Beth Canty, who heads the House Democratic Women’s Caucus, called for McCuskey to step down or for the Legislative Ethics Commission, which oversees his work, to remove him from his post. McCuskey is in the middle of a five-year term that expires June 30, 2028, and state law allows the commission to remove him “only for cause.”
“These latest reports raise additional serious concerns about LIG McCuskey’s conduct, both during and since the Benton investigation,” Canty, an Arlington Heights Democrat, said on the social media platform X. “He has shown repeatedly that he lacks the temperament and approach the job requires.“