A long-awaited legislative inspector general’s report requested by former political consultant turned #MeToo whistleblower Alaina Hampton concludes Kevin Quinn — a former top political aide to Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan — violated sexual harassment provisions now in place.
But the harassment in question happened before those provisions were added to state law as part of a revamped ethics act. That revamp was part of a cleanup effort after a swath of #MeToo allegations last year.
The redacted 11-page report finds that Quinn violated only the Illinois State Officials and Employees Ethics Act by refusing to cooperate in the investigation, conducted by former interim Legislative Inspector General Julie Porter.
But since Quinn no longer is a state employee, he can’t even be disciplined for that violation. Current Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope — who adopted Porter’s findings — recommended that a memo from the speaker be placed in his official personnel file; the memo would state that he violated that provision and that “he never be rehired as a State employee or contractor.”
A separate legislative inspector general’s report about former Madigan chief of staff Tim Mapes was also released on Wednesday. Pope, too, found that Mapes “violated the Ethics Act by engaging in conduct of a sexual nature with the purpose and effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, and offensive working environment.” 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.
“The messages that K. Quinn sent to Hampton plainly had the effect of creating an intimidating, hostile, and offensive working environment for Hampton,” Pope wrote in the Quinn report.
The sexual harassment provisions of the Ethics Act weren’t put in place until November 2017. That means no formal charge was made against Quinn under the Ethics Act.
In a letter to Pope, Madigan wrote that he reviewed her summary: “I stand by my response to your original summary that it is the duty of every officer and employee to cooperate with the Office of the Legislative Inspector General, and therefore I concur with your recommendation.”
In another letter to Pope, Hampton wrote to thank Porter for the investigation.
“It is my firm belief that in order to combat the culture of harassment that has pervaded the organizations chaired by Speaker Madigan, victims must feel safe in coming forward with their allegations,” Hampton said.
Hampton wrote of the emotional toil of coming out with the allegations.
“Victims, like myself, are shamed, labeled liars and considered by those in Speaker Madigan’s organizations to be disloyal,” Hampton wrote. “In addition to being ostracized, we face retaliation and being blackballed while the perpetrators go unpunished and undeterred in their misconduct.”
Hampton wrote that in light of the investigation, she hopes “the systematic shaming of victims and the protection of powerful and high ranking political operatives will end.”
Hampton also accused Madigan’s personal attorney Heather Wier Vaught of “engaging in a continued effort to silence me, undermine my credibility, and further damage my career, all to protect Speaker Madigan and his organizations.”
Quinn in a response apologized to Hampton.
“I take full responsibility for my behavior,” Quinn wrote. “I also want to take this opportunity to apologize to my family, my ex-wife, my former employer and former coworkers. I look forward to putting this matter behind me and remain focused on continuing to rebuild my life.”
The report says that there were multiple attempts to have Quinn sit down for an interview with Porter. During one attempt, Porter tried to interview him at his home and he asked her to leave and speak to his attorney, Mike Kasper. Several months later, Porter contacted Quinn to tell him Kasper stated he wasn’t representing him.
The report found that Quinn told Hampton he was separating from his wife, while also asking her out for a beer. The messages “became increasingly personal, and Hampton had the impression that K. Quinn was obsessed with her, the report says. She also found them “inappropriate” since he was a supervisor. Hampton told Quinn she only wanted to talk about work.
In one exchange, Quinn asked if Hampton found him to be attractive.
“I do not see you in that way,” she replied.
Hampton’s detailing of unwanted advances from Kevin Quinn — the brother of Ald. Marty Quinn — not only led to his firing last year but also got the powerful speaker to admit he hasn’t done enough to combat sexual harassment. Days later, another Madigan aide was ousted for “inappropriate behavior” toward a candidate and staff during the 2016 election.
The Legislative Ethics Commission met two weeks ago to discuss the report, which was requested by Hampton last year. Hampton requested an investigation into her accuser, as well as Madigan and Wier Vaught over their handling of her claims.
Wier Vaught told the Sun-Times she met with Porter in April 2018. Porter reached out to Wier Vaught in February 2019 to tell her the investigation was closed.
“She told me that she was satisfied that I did not engage in misconduct and I did not mismanage the investigation,” Wier Vaught said. “She also met separately with the speaker and told him that she was satisfied that he took the investigation seriously and made a reasonable decision on how to impose the consequence of misconduct.”
Quinn never sat down with Porter for the investigation, instead sending her a document he had sent to reporters last year called “The Truth.”
Hampton in February 2018 outlined accusations against Quinn, claiming he sent her barrages of unwanted text messages and phone calls in pursuit of a romantic and sexual relationship.
At the time, Madigan called Hampton “a courageous woman” for bringing the allegations to his attention.
Since then, Hampton has filed a federal lawsuit against the powerful Illinois House speaker’s political committee and the state Democratic party.
Among many of his rebuttals, Kevin Quinn says he believes he was actually fired because of a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge stemming from what he called a “nasty and bitter divorce” — not Hampton’s allegations.
Madigan has since ousted Mapes, his chief of staff and executive director of the state’s Democratic Party after allegations of bullying from a longtime speaker’s staffer. Madigan, too, forced Deputy Majority Lou Lang’s hand in resigning from his leadership positions and from the Legislative Ethics Commission amid harassment allegations. Porter in September 2018 cleared Lang of harassment allegations — ruling there’s not enough evidence to prove such harassment occurred, in part because the woman who accused him would not be interviewed for the investigation. While there has not been a legislative inspector general’s report into Mapes, Maggie Hickey, a former inspector general hired by Madigan to conduct a review of workplace culture, threw the book at Mapes in a lengthy report issued last month.
The report’s biggest blows were aimed squarely at Mapes. Most of those interviewed, Hickey wrote, “agreed that Mr. Mapes commonly threatened people’s jobs or reminded them that they were dispensable.” Mapes has defended himself, arguing that “recent criticisms made against me do not truly appreciate the size of the responsibility of my position.”
