Prairie State Wire

The Illinois Republican Party is calling for greater transparency from Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan on the issue of sexual harassment in his office.

“Speaker Madigan’s own office says that on multiple occasions, Madigan fired employees accused of sexual harassment, but we don't know who or when,” GOP leaders said in a March 6 press release. “Over a year ago, Madigan released a partial list of harassment complaints against unnamed employees of his, but the public was never given a full list of complaints and whether or not those complaints have been resolved. Outside of that list, there are three instances where a Madigan employee was fired, dismissed or resigned because of harassment complaints, but that still does not give us the full scope of harassment in Madigan’s organization.”

Madigan owes his constituents a more detailed account of the events, Illinois Republican Party spokesperson Aaron DeGroot added.

GOP spokesman Aaron DeGroot

“In the interest of transparency, Madigan should release the full list of complaints made against his employees and disclose any instances where he terminated their employment," DeGroot said. "The people of Illinois deserve to know that the most powerful political figure in the state is fully addressing sexual harassment allegations in his own office.”

Debate on the issue has picked up anew in recent days after WBEZ reported Madigan’s office never moved to act on at least one “sexual harassment and/or assault” brought against one of his aides.

According to reports, at least two women in Madigan’s office made accusations against government staff worker Travis Shea and “nothing was done in response,” paving the way for him to continue working in the Speaker’s office at least two more years.

Among Madigan top staffers who have been either fired, dismissed or resigned in recent times after being hit with allegations of sexual harassment are former Chief of Staff Tim Mapes and top campaign aides Shaw Decremer and Tim Quinn.