A long-awaited report from the Illinois Legislative Inspector General may put a damper on a federal lawsuit filed by Pleasant Plains native and political consultant Alaina Hampton. The report says that Kevin Quinn, the former top political aid to Speaker Michael Madigan, did violate sexual harassment provisions. However, those provisions were made after the incidents in which Hampton was harassed by Quinn over a period of five months. The provisions were made after a swath of sexual harassment allegations rocked the State House last year in an effort to clean up the behavior.
Since Quinn is no longer a state employee, he can’t be disciplined for a violation. Current Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope recommended a memo be placed in Quinn’s file as a do-not-hire for any state employment or contract in the future. A separate legislative inspector general’s report about former Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes was also released today, saying that he also violated the sexual harassment provisions. Pope wrote that Mapes also refused to cooperate with the investigation. He, too, will get a memo in his file and can never be rehired as a state employee. Pope said that her predecessor also referred the Quinn allegations to Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to consider criminal charges, but Raoul declined to prosecute.
In a statement released to news media outlets in Chicago, Madigan said that the Inspector General exonerated him of any wrongdoing in the matter and also said that the insured that no one be treated unfairly in the wake of the allegations. Hampton believes she continues to be quietly blacklisted from receiving political consulting jobs for going public with the allegations.