Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – After a legislative inspector general’s report about former State Rep. Harry Benton (pictured) – accused of sexual harassment – came out Friday afternoon, it did not take House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) long to weigh in.

“I believe Speaker (Emanuel “Chris”) Welch (D-Hillside) should resign,” she said during an online news conference Friday. “I believe Gov. Pritzker should call for his resignation, and every House Democrat now has a choice: they can stand behind Speaker Welch, or they can stand for the integrity of the Illinois House, but they cannot do both.”

Welch removed Benton from the House Democratic caucus and stripped him of his committee assignments early this year, though Welch reportedly knew of the allegations that Welch sexually harassed a then-staffer in 2023. Welch is also reported to have acted in what some would call an inappropriate fashion by – when Benton’s staffer was an intern in the speaker’s office – inviting her to meet in a bar and using emojis to like her social media posts.

At a separate news conference Friday, State Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore), who chairs the Legislative Ethics Commission, said this is merely the latest chapter in a long-running series. “We have had a persistent problem in the state of Illinois of having public officials disappoint the public trust that is put into us by voters.”