With the news that Illinois House Speaker and Illinois Democratic Party chair Michael Madigan (D) had a second aide of his dismissed for misconduct, I say it is time for the resignation of Madigan from his roles as House Speaker and as the chair of the state’s Democratic Party before he further hurts the Dems in the Prairie State!
Mary Ann Ahern at NBC Chicago:
A second high-ranking operative for Speaker Michael Madigan has been quietly removed from the powerful Democrat’s political organization, according to multiple sources.
Shaw Decremer, who once worked as a Madigan staffer and is now a prominent lobbyist, has been a longtime campaign aide, but in recent years has done so on a volunteer basis. NBC 5 has learned from several sources, including lawmakers and others tied to the Democratic party, that allegations of his inappropriate behavior led to his removal.
Decremer has been a Madigan supervisor on numerous political campaigns, overseeing campaign workers embedded in various races across the state. He is also known for his work as a an expert in the petition process.
Ray Long at Chicago Tribune on Kevin Quinn’s firing via sexting:
The political operative booted from his job with House Speaker Michael Madigan’s Democratic organization over inappropriate texting to a female campaign worker was arrested Thursday on a charge of violating a protective order because of texts and calls to another person, suburban police said.
Kevin Quinn, 41, allegedly made calls and sent text messages on Feb. 10 in violation of the protective order, two days before Madigan announced Quinn had been ousted from the organization. Quinn is the brother of Marty Quinn, the alderman in Chicago’s 13th Ward, where Madigan has ruled for decades.
The issue erupted Monday when Madigan issued a statement announcing he had cut Kevin Quinn loose from the speaker’s government and political operations.
Quinn was arrested at his home on Chicago’s Southwest Side around 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Evergreen Park police said. He had pleaded guilty in January to disorderly conduct.
WGN’s Nancy Loo and Sean Lewis on Alaina Hampton, the person who accused Quinn of inappropriate behavior:
Alaina Hampton said the political upheaval should have happened a year ago when she first complained about the top aide's behavior.
Hampton said Quinn sent her a series of inappropriate text messages leading up to February of last year. "I managed the unwanted attention for five months. I asked him to stop seven times. It never stopped. I feared not responding to my supervisor because I did not want him to tell the Speaker or Alderman Quinn that I was not cooperating with my work," said Hampton.
Flanked by her legal team Tuesday, Hampton said she never wanted it to come to this - a press conference and a formal complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Madigan and Alderman Marty Quinn, who she called a mentor.
Alleged harasser, Kevin Quinn, is the alderman's younger brother and was Hampton's supervisor.
Illinois State Senator and Gubernatorial candidate Daniel Biss (D) and his Lt. Gov pick Illinois State Rep. Litesa Wallace (D) call for Madigan’s removal from Democratic Party chairman:
I agree with Biss and Wallace here: Time to show Michael Madigan the red card from his state party duties.
Chicago Tribune’s Eric Zorn calls for Madigan to step down:
Madigan, the vaunted political tactician, blew this one. Hampton’s complaint came as #MeToo stories about sexual harassment and abuse by powerful men were making regular headlines. His decision on Quinn — absolve, scold, punish or fire? — needed to come quickly.
Should he resign as speaker and chair of the state Democratic party over this, as some have suggested?
No. Not every bad decision should be a career-ender.
But it adds to the reasons Madigan ought to step down. With his low approval numbers, he was already a millstone around the necks of his party’s candidates for state and in some cases local office before this story broke.
Gubernatorial candidates Biss and Kennedy call for Madigan’s resignation from his Dem party chair duties, via WTTW’s Chicago Tonight:
“Madigan isn’t trying to solve (the sexual harassment) problem, he’s trying to do political damage control,” Biss said during a press availability following a “Chicago Tonight” gubernatorial forum with the six Democratic candidates for governor.
Biss hinted that other Democratic legislators may soon follow suit.
Kennedy questioned why Biss hadn’t spoken out earlier, given that Kennedy last week called for Madigan to temporarily step down pending an investigation.
“If it is found that Speaker Madigan knew about these allegations and chose to protect his machine political allies instead of the women who were abused by them, he no longer can lead our party. We must be a party that stands up for the victims of sexual harassment and not protect the abusers,” Kennedy said in a statement last Tuesday, when former Madigan campaign worker Alaina Hampton first publicly accused a top Madigan political operative, Kevin Quinn, of sexual harassment.
I think this likely won’t be the last of the scandals involving Speaker Madigan to come out, and it should be #TimesUp on his long reign as House Speaker and as the Dem chair of the state party. He was already an albatross on his party and the candidates running as a Dem before these stories broke, and this will make it even more so. #TimesUpIL