PLAINFIELD, Ill. (WLS) — Efforts are now moving forward to fill the seat of former state Rep. Harry Benton, after the Plainfield Democrat resigned last week in the wake of an ethics inquiry that legislative leaders said uncovered “outrageous and unbecoming behavior.”
Benton’s resignation came two days after Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch publicly urged him to step down over ethics violations that have not been released to the public. In a letter, Benton said he would leave the legislature and planned to remove his name from the November ballot.
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“It was in the report that his behavior was outrageous, unethical and unprofessional,” Welch said. “That was enough for me to make the determination that he should resign.”
Welch said multiple victims came forward to him in February with concerns about Benton, adding that the internal review process worked the way it was designed to work.
“They trusted us to listen to them; they trusted us to have procedures in place that would protect them, protect their confidentiality, and we had a process in place that guaranteed due process of the accused,” he said.
Democratic officials in Will and Kendall counties will select a replacement to represent the 97th House District, which is considered one of Illinois’ more politically competitive districts. Because of the weighted voting process, Will County Democratic Party Chairman Billy Morgan has enough voting power to make the decision himself.
“We need someone who will be pragmatic and effective in Springfield,” Morgan said. “They need to be somebody who understands how to get things done, and someone who’s a real fighter for the 97th district.”
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Morgan said he has created a website for prospective candidates and noted that several people have already expressed interest. The legislative inspector general, meanwhile, has until the end of July to deliver a final report to the Legislative Ethics Commission, which will decide whether to make all, part or none of the findings public.
Morgan said he believes the report should be made public.
“I think the voters deserve all the answers that they can get,” he said.
He added that Benton’s departure was necessary.
“At the moment, I think that we’re in a very kind of bittersweet period of time where I think it was the right decision for him to resign. It was the right decision for him to step aside from the ballot,” Morgan said.
Candidates have until next Monday at 5 p.m. to apply for the open seat, and Morgan expects a selection to be made within 30 days. Benton did not respond to a request for comment.
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