Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) has rarely ever been more disappointed in the actions of lawmakers in Springfield than she is over the way they ultimately responded to House Bill 4840.
“I thought this would be an easy bill to get out of committee,” Ives told the Prairie State Wire of the bill she argues would have given Illinois residents who file an ethics complaint with the sate inspector general more of a voice in the process. “It made complete sense to me because as it is they have no rights at all.”
To hammer home her point, Ives points to the case of community activist and government whistle-blower Denise Rotheimer, who recently testified before the House Executive Committee about her alleged mistreatment after she went public with sexual harassment allegations against Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago).
“We wouldn’t know anything about any of this without the courage of Denise Rotheimer,” Ives said. “We wouldn’t know that the inspector general position in Springfield charged to probe these kinds of complaints went unfilled for nearly three years, or that there were 27 complaints of sexual harassment filed that basically went unfilled.”
Ives said her bill was aimed at giving victims "more notification, information and participation during the investigative process,” but in the end a team of Republican and Democratic lawmakers joined forces to end its chances of passage.
“The reason they gave for shooting it down was that it had unclear language and that there is already a task force looking at the issue of sexual harassment,” Ives said. “Any questions anyone had about language could have easily been cleared up with an amendment, and task forces are known to take over a year to come up with anything. This was a bill that was ready to go now, stalling it is just politics and an excuse for doing nothing.”
To this day, Ives said Rotheimer has yet to be heard from by the task force supposedly looking into her case directly or the overall issue of sexual harassment in Springfield.
“Sexual harassment is such a hot topic nation-wide and you would think lawmakers here would want to step up,” said Ives, pointing to how back in October nearly 300 women signed an open #MeToo letter recounting their experiences of sexual harassment in Springfield.
Ives is on record in asserting the problem has been able to linger in Springfield because “of neglect by the leaders of both political parties, aided by the obliviousness of Gov. (Bruce) Rauner.”
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