Credit for, or conniving by, Madigan?

It hasn’t even been a full week since the Illinois House Democrats had to fire its long-time chief of staff because of behavior considered by some to be demeaning to women; yet da Dems already have a replacement in place and the new caucus operative is a “she.”

MADIGAN: Does he deserve blame, or praise?

Is that evidence House Speaker Michael Madigan (also the Illinois Democratic chairman) is a conniving political operator masterful in covering his own behind? Or someone who addressed a problem in a prompt manner?

I’M SURE THE way one views this issue is going to depend entirely on their ideological leanings. Because some people are determined to view several incidents of sexual harassment by political people solely in terms as an issue to be used to dump Madigan from political power.

Along those lines, I couldn’t help but notice the stories getting prominent play Tuesday morning about the woman currently suing Madigan because she claims he didn’t do much of anything to stop one of his political aides from his constant barrage of flirtations and sexual harassment.

The Chicago Sun-Times had it as their top story for a few hours that Alaina Hampton herself (the woman with the pending lawsuit) wanted to be the new chief of staff.

Yet I’m also wondering how many people learned of reports about Madigan’s response before they learned of Hampton herself.

BASHAM: The new Dem powerhouse

FOR THE RECORD, the new chief of staff is Jessica Basham, a former director of the Illinois House research appropriations unit – who issued a statement Tuesday saying she’s looking to hire a human resources director and an equal employment opportunity/affirmative action officer in hopes of creating a more fair working environment for the roughly 200 people whose jobs require them to call Madigan their “boss.”

Of course, Madigan will claim he didn’t hire Basham. He actually appointed a committee last week that was to review candidates for the chief of staff post. And yes, the committee was composed entirely of women – although they all were politically connected and most were themselves elected legislators.

With the head of that committee being Juliana Stratton – the woman who currently is running mate to gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker for the Nov. 6 general election.

STRATTON: Had a say in her pick

So the people who were hoping that Hampton’s plea in the press for the political post would help keep alive the stories of Mike Madigan being an insensitive boss who allows his people to harass women and treat them like objects will have to wonder.

IS MADIGAN SERIOUSLY addressing the issue of a problem within his staff (which I really don’t think is confined to the Democratic caucus, or to Illinois state government officials)?

I’d say that argument could be made, with how quickly a new chief of staff was hired.

While I’m not about to say that the “problem” is solved just because a woman is in the position of running the daily operations of the Democratic Party in the Illinois House of Representatives.

The critics (the people who want to go about screeching and screaming “Dump Madigan!” as their solution to all of government’s issues) may well claim that the women who had a say in picking a new chief of staff are too connected to the Democratic Party establishment to be objective.

WHICH MAY WELL be the big objection I have to the notion of sexual harassment being used as an issue to dump political people.

RAUNER: Would he be the only winner?

I suspect the people who are most behind this are the ones who can’t otherwise defeat the Dems on Election Day. I also suspect the last thing they really care about is the plight of women who are getting mistreatment on the job – no matter how hard they work.

Which as far as I’m concerned is the real injustice that we ought to be trying to resolve within our government – and within our society at-large.

That resolution likely involves people with serious approaches that go beyond a partisan attempt to dump someone from office come Election Day.

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Is “too little, too late” for sexual harassment worth $350,000, legal fees?

A one-time aide to the political operations of Illinois Democratic Chairman Michael Madigan is suing both the state Democratic Party and the Friends of Michael J. Madigan organizations, seeking $350,000 (plus legal fees) to make up for the sexual harassment she says she had to endure on her job.

Alaina Hampton is taking Michael Madigan and the Democrats in Illinois to court. Photo provided by Kulwin, Masciopinto & Kulwin law firm

Yet that may be the wrong focus – this ‘story’ isn’t about the money. It’s about wanting to create political embarrassment for people, including Madigan himself, for their refusal to take seriously her early accusations that she was treated as an object of sexual titillation.

ALAINA HAMPTON FILED her lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Chicago late Wednesday, and Thursday morning met with TV-types to ensure that everybody knew all about her legal action.

She claims the fact that she resisted sexual advances by higher-ranking Madigan operatives essentially killed her chances of rising professionally within the Democratic Party ranks, where she worked in a number of roles and campaigns from 2012-17.

One such operative, Kevin Quinn (whose brother is the alderman of the Chicago ward in which Madigan lives) has already been publicly dismissed because of his behavior – which amounts to not being able to recognize that “no” means “no!”

Is there a political path from Fritchey loss ...

In fact, another Madigan aide also has lost his job as a result of sexual harassment allegations.

WHICH HAS MADIGAN-types insisting there’s no problem. The Illinois House speaker learned of allegations, had them investigated, and wound up removing people from their politically-influential positions upon learning of their truth.

Which is true (sort of). Madigan has hired an attorney, Heather Wier Vaught, to look into such matters, and she was the one who uncovered all the harassing and sexually-suggestive e-mail messages that Quinn had sent to Hampton.

But Hampton has implied that it took Madigan quite a while to get off his keister and initiate some action; almost as though he was hoping the problem would go away if it were ignored long enough.

... to eventual Madigan demise?

That ultimately is going to be the issue that will be decided in both this lawsuit, and an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint that Hampton filed in February.

WHAT I FIND most interesting about the Hampton situation is how she has managed to cope with the circumstances her professional life has taken.

After realizing she wasn’t going to have a work-life as part of the Democratic organization, she turned herself into a political consultant for-hire who during this most-recent election cycle worked for the campaign of Bridget Degnan.

She’s the woman who ran for a seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners and managed to win in Tuesday’s primary, defeating John Fritchey – who had been on the county board since 2010.

While I’m sure she can use the money from a lawsuit or eventual settlement, I don’t doubt the biggest desire of Hampton and those people most enthusiastically supporting her is to create bits of political embarrassment that could force political change.

PERHAPS EVEN CAUSING enough embarrassment to put the political pressure on Madigan himself? I’m not certain this can stretch out that far – mostly because I believe the people inclined to want to dump Madigan are also going to have their own ideological hang-ups that would cause them to want to dismiss the significance of sexual harassment.

DEGNAN: First victory for Hampton?

Trying to make Madigan an enabler of people who can’t keep their hands to themselves amongst women might be too much of a stretch. I’m not sure I see a connection that can be drawn from Fritchey’s demise to the dreams of “Dump Madigan!” that Gov. Bruce Rauner and his biggest fanatics will be spewing forth in coming months.

For her part, Hampton said Thursday she is hoping this encourages other women who have suffered harassment to come forth. “They are watching closely to see how my case is handled,” she said.

While also watching closely will be Madigan & Co., watching to see if the issue is capable of gaining any traction between now and the Nov. 6 general election.

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