State Senator Scott Bennett says he looks forward to serving on a new Senate Task Force on Sexual Discrimination and Harassment Awareness and Prevention. He discussed his appointment to that task force on WDAN Radio’s Newsmakers program, noting that several ‘’very brave women have stepped up.’’
‘’When you look at Springfield in particular,’’ said Bennett, ‘’it kind of is, I think, the last kind of bastion of ‘Old Boys Club’. And I’m sure Washington, D.C. has a similar problem. You have a lot of usually older men in power and you have a lot of young staffers – both male and female – but more female in the last couple of decades. And you have a little bit of recipe for disaster when you have legislators – in particular – that think they’re above our normal rules, and that rules don’t apply to them,’’ said Senator Bennett.
And the Senator added that he thinks the best place to begin the process of looking into sexual discrimination and harassment is in the Senate.
‘’In the Senate we have a female Chief of Staff, a female Budget Director. You know, I think there’s a lot of very strong female personnel that have worked their way up from the intern level. And I think they’ve seen it themselves, and I think they’re very interested in making sure that this does not happen to the next generation that comes after,’’ added Senator Bennett.
Senator John Cullerton appointed Senator Bennett as one of ten Illinois Senators who will serve on the new task force. And Cullerton says he looks forward to the task force making some effective recommendations.
