A former employee of the Illinois Treasurer's Office filed a federal lawsuit Feb. 10 against Treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Dan Rutherford, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The employee is Ed Michalowski, who said in the lawsuit that Rutherford made sexual advances toward him on several occasions, including once grabbing his genitals at Rutherford's home in Pontiac. Michalowski resigned from his post as Rutherford's director of community affairs and marketing last week.
Rutherford's chief of staff, Kyle Ham, is also named in the suit, which says he ignored Michalowski's harassment claims. The suit says that Ham mentioned he had been harassed as well.
Michalowski said he was also forced to make phone calls for campaign contributions while on the Treasurer's Office's time.
Rutherford attempted a preemptive move against the suit Jan. 31, when he called a press conference to announce that individuals, whom he would not name at the time, were trying to shake him down for $300,000.
The candidate would not then mention the nature of the allegations, but tried to link them to the campaign of one of his rivals, venture capitalist Bruce Rauner. Michalowski's attorney, Christine Svenson, had done some work for the Rauner campaign, but she claimed it only entailed reviewing an office lease. Michalowski is going through a divorce, but Svenson told Chicago Sun-Times that he is not motivated by money.
In a Jan. 2 interview, Rutherford told Windy City Times that he did not expect the events to sideline his campaign. "The campaign is going wellit's pretty obvious that it had been going so well, because now we're at that season in which you're going to try to take out your opponent and destroy them," he said.
Chicago Sun-Times' story can be read here: www.suntimes.com/25506138-761/former-employee-alleges-illinois-treasurer-dan-rutherford-sexually-harassed-him.html .