Illinois Home Democrats will not work with public relations agency SKDK resulting from revelations of a “blatant battle of curiosity” in a sexual harassment and retaliation case, Illinois Home Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch mentioned. .
Ted Shorter/AP
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Ted Shorter/AP
Illinois Home Democrats will not work with public relations agency SKDK resulting from revelations of a “blatant battle of curiosity” in a sexual harassment and retaliation case, Illinois Home Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch mentioned. .
Ted Shorter/AP
The highest Democrat within the Illinois Home of Representatives mentioned he and his colleagues had been reducing ties with the general public relations agency SKDK after studying the corporate did not disclose a transparent battle of curiosity within the 2018 sexual harassment and retaliation scandal.
Emanuel “Chris” Welch, Speaker of the Illinois Home of Representatives, made the announcement after NPR reported that SKDK helped advise a strong Illinois politician on how to answer a sexual harassment retaliation lawsuit. SKDK was concurrently working with a #MeToo advocacy group supporting the defendant within the lawsuit.
“The blatant conflicts of curiosity and conduct on this case ship a horrible message to victims and survivors that they can’t even belief the individuals who declare to be their biggest supporters,” Welch mentioned in a press release to NPR. “We discover this to be very irritating and disqualifying for us.”
Welch’s choice was first reported by Capitol Fax, a publication protecting Illinois politics. In his feedback to Capitol Fax, Welch particularly referred to Anita Dunn, who at the moment serves as a senior White Home adviser to President Joe Biden.
Dunn can be a co-founder of SKDK – the D stands for “Dunn” – and was the managing director of the corporate on the time. Dan personally led the agency’s “disaster communications” work in response to the harassment scandal, which earned the agency greater than $200,000 from 2018 to 2019 in keeping with marketing campaign finance information.
“We won’t do enterprise with SKDK or Ms. Dunn sooner or later,” Welsh instructed Capitol Fax.
In previous marketing campaign cycles, Illinois Democrats have paid thousands and thousands of {dollars} to SKDK to assist with TV adverts. Nevertheless, Welch has not labored with Dan personally previously.
“Though this error in judgment occurred greater than 5 years in the past, we perceive the choice made by Democrats within the Illinois Home of Representatives,” SKDK spokesman Mike Chen mentioned in an emailed assertion. He added: “We’re pleased with the work we have now carried out to assist survivors, and we are going to redouble our efforts to revive belief.”
Welch’s choice comes as Illinois Democrats put together to host the Democratic Nationwide Conference and Biden’s re-election marketing campaign in Chicago in 2024.
As NPR reported final week, Dunn offered paid “disaster communications” help to former Illinois Home Speaker Michael Madigan after he was sued for retaliation towards a sufferer of sexual harassment. Madigan has not personally been accused of harassment.
On the identical time, Dunn’s firm, SKDK, was serving to the lady who sued Madigan, a political marketing campaign employee named Alaina Hampton, by means of the corporate’s partnership with the anti-harassment group Time’s Up Authorized Protection Fund.
SKDK by no means disclosed that they labored for Madigan, Hampton mentioned. Hampton solely found this reality when it was revealed by means of proof offered throughout an unrelated federal corruption trial. The Time’s Up Authorized Protection Fund additionally mentioned SKDK did not disclose their work for Madigan, and mentioned they shared Hampton’s frustration with the corporate.
After initially defending its actions, SKDK issued an apology and mentioned Madigan’s illustration was a “mistake.”
Dunn at the moment works within the White Home and is broadly thought of a part of Biden’s interior circle. She beforehand referred NPR’s inquiries to SKDK.
Illinois State Rep. Kelly M. Cassidy, a Democrat who represents a district in Chicago, instructed NPR that she first alerted the Home Speaker to experiences of SKDK’s obvious conflicts of curiosity and urged him to chop ties with the corporate.
She mentioned it was the correct transfer to “make sure that our distributors adhere to our values as Democrats.”
Cassidy referred to as SKDK’s actions a “direct betrayal” of Hampton.
“A intestine punch would not do it justice,” Cassidy instructed NPR.