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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Madigan has investigation into sexual harassment by clout-heavy aide

I remember once someone telling me what was supposed to be the biggest of secrets into how politics really worked – the reason that Michael Madigan had managed to last so long (now nearly a half-century) as a public official is that he never resisted efforts to investigate himself.

MADIGAN: A sexual harassment firing

The way it was put to me is that any time federal investigators approached Madigan for information, he was always forthcoming with precisely whatever data was sought.

HE WASN’T SOMEONE likely to get caught up in some stupid technicality. In fact, I have heard of many of the political people who have been indicted throughout the years who, supposedly, got caught because Madigan’s staff essentially turned them in.

Meaning Madigan would snitch out anybody if it meant detracting investigatory attention from himself.

Admittedly, the person who told me this was trying to put as negative spin as possible on this – as though Madigan were the moral-less one who was selling out everybody else for his self-preservation.

Or could it be that the long-time Illinois House speaker (a legislator since 1971 and holder of the top leadership post for all but two years since 1983) has that bit of honesty in him that he’s not going to make the mistake of covering up for other officials just because they have that “D” following their names that indicates their Democratic Party leanings.

THIS POPPED INTO my mind when I read the statement Madigan had issued in his name about the dismissal of Kevin Quinn, an aide to the speaker in various roles for nearly two decades.

What also should have made Quinn safe is that he is the brother of Marty Quinn – as in the 13rd Ward alderman (Madigan’s home ward) who has his City Council post largely because of Madigan’s influence.

Yet when Madigan was made aware of complaints by women regarding Kevin Quinn’s behavior to them, the speaker brought in an attorney to investigate.

QUINN: Not enough clout to keep brother employed

That attorney, Madigan said, “recently came to the conclusion that the individual engaged in inappropriate conduct and failed to exercise the professional judgment I expect of those affiliated with my political organizations and the office of the Speaker.”

NOW I’M SURE the political cynics are going to complain that Madigan is only behaving in such a way because of the outburst of complaints we have heard in recent months concerning sexual harassment.

I’m sure they’re going to see this as Madigan selling out one aide so as to protect the overall structure.

But I can’t help but see it as a step in the right direction. Because a large part of the reason why the “old boy’s network” attitude that treats many female officials as potential playthings is because of the perception that the people in charge aren’t going to do anything about it.

This may be a sign that someone will do something about it, although the real acts of significance in Madigan’s statement are his claims that his attorneys have made recommendations for preventing inappropriate behavior and improving methods of reporting such allegations.

WE’LL HAVE TO see what becomes of this. If it results in future action, or just a whole lot of talk about nothing.

Could it be that part of the Madigan legacy (aside from being the longest-serving House speaker from any state) will be that he addressed the sexist culture that some would definitely like to have kept in the 19^th Century – rather than advancing to the 21^st?

DALEY: Had his own morals rules

Or is this just a moralist quirk that allows things to remain the same, similar to the old Mayor Richard J. Daley who supposedly was willing to turn a blind eye to all types of corruption EXCEPT that of government officials engaged in adulterous behavior.

Which would almost be proof of that old cliche, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

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