By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – Members of the Illinois House – including the speaker – are talking about a former colleague who could be in a lot of trouble for getting caught up in sexual harassment allegations.
A member of House Democratic staff accuses Democrat Jack Franks, now the McHenry County board chairman, of sexual harassment, including stalking and intimidation.
“Our investigation proceeded at all times at the wishes of the victim,” Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) told reporters Tuesday, the first session day since the Franks story broke Friday. “Early on, we notified Mr. Franks that he should not contact our employees. Later, we made sure that the Capitol Police knew that he should not come into the Capitol building without an escort.”
Why not notify Franks’ local authorities?
“We were proceeding under the usual rules of these matters, which are: Number One, protect the welfare and the privacy of the victim. Then, at the appropriate time, we notified law enforcement,” Madigan answered. “Once we notified law enforcement, the matter was in the hands of law enforcement.”
“The speaker’s office is not an investigatory body,” said State Rep. Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville), “so they immediately should have turned it over to the legislative inspector general, the state’s attorney, or Illinois State Police, whomever has the actual investigation.”
Saying he did contact the state’s attorney, Madigan deflected that prosecutor’s criticism that his office released the search warrant served upon his office in response to an open records request. Sangamon County state’s attorney Dan Wright has filed a motion to seal in the case, but Madigan calls Wright’s concerns “a difference of opinion among lawyers.”
State Rep. Steve Reick (R-Woodstock), who represents the district Franks used to, issued a statement calling for Franks to resign his county board chairmanship.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]
