Will County Gazette

Mickey Straub wants the appointment of a legislative inspector general to be only the first step in a major overhaul in the Illinois Capitol.

“Since the last legislative inspector general left the position in December of 2014, almost two dozen complaints of abuse and harassment went unaddressed and uninvestigated,” Straub posted on Facebook. “This appointment is long overdue and shows a clear failure of leadership in both parties starting with [House] Speaker (Mike) Madigan.”

The Legislative Ethics Commission unanimously voted on Nov. 4 to name Julie Porter, a former assistant U.S. attorney, as the new legislative inspector general. The move comes in the wake of a House hearing on sexual harassment and allegations against Sen. Ira Silverstein (D-Chicago).

Mickey Straub

Straub, the mayor of Burr Ridge, is challenging House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Spring) in the 82nd District.

Straub previously told the Will County Gazette that he believes the fallout from the suspect handling of the situation could come to break Madigan’s stranglehold on Illinois.

“I think this could be a smoking gun — enough to finally bring down the Madigan regime after all these years,” he said. “It was only after this complainant spoke out publicly that her complaints were taken seriously. It was only after these complaints were made public that our leaders started to step up and take action to investigate complaints of harassment and abuse.

"It was only after these complaints were made public that our leaders decided to fill the vacant spot of Illinois legislative inspector general.”

Straub said that while he realizes it might take Porter awhile to figure things out, he is calling on her to release copies of all the unaddressed cases.

The 82nd District covers parts of Cook, DuPage and Will counties, including Darien, Homer Glen, Lemont and Willowbrook.