NBC Chicago's Mary Ann Ahern stands poised to drop a bomb on a "leading lawmaker" in the Illinois General Assembly come Thursday at 1pm.  As if Michael Madigan and his fellow Democrats needs yet another sex harassment scandal.

After all, Madigan himself has a bunch of allegations levelled against his office staff.  And then there's our old friend Ira Silverstein, who tried to get friendly with a female lobbyist using his position and power.  He sent hundreds of pages of sexually charged Facebook messages to a young female.  Just guessing, but Mrs. Ira Silverstein probably would not have approved. 

Voters in Silverstein's district decided that sleazeball was not a resume enhancement and sent his packing during this year's primary election.  Don't feel badly for him.  He'll get a nice retirement on the public's dime.

But now, on Thursday, another scandal stands ready to break wide open. 

In the meantime, you can expect that Michael Madigan and almost all of the Democrats will support gun control measures in an effort to keep the sexual harassment scandals off the front pages of the state's newspapers.  Oh yes, and a handful of Republicans like Minority Leader Jim Durkin, Peter Breen, and Michael McAuliffe to support imposing Chicago-style gun control upon all of Illinois' residents.

Here's the NBC story excerpt:

On the final day of the legislative session a female activist is expected to accuse a “leading lawmaker” of abuse during a press conference in Springfield. 

The 1 p.m. Thursday press conference will include statements from the unnamed accuser and Denise Rotheimer, who has authored several bills connected to victims of crime. 

Rotheimer, who was the first to step forward to accuse a lawmaker of harassment, naming Sen. Ira Silverstein during a sexual harassment hearing last year, said she has been in contact with the alleged victim who will step forward. She called the accusations “a game changer” in the discussion of abuse at the state capitol. 

Rotheimer would not say if verbal or physical abuse was involved, only saying “it doesn’t matter which it is – the culture in Springfield needs to change and nothing has happened” since she first spoke publicly in October. 

There, Rotheimer said Silverstein used "power" and "mind games" against her and made comments about her appearance. The Inspector General for the General Assembly ultimately ruled that while Silverstein made inappropriate "teasing and flirtatious" comments toward Rotheimer, he did not sexually harass her. 

Going back to the wayback machine, here's the original story about Silverstein:

Denise Rotheimer testifies before an Illinois House committee in Chicago Tuesday on a sexual harassment bill to be introduced next week. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times

Advocate ignites harassment hearing, accuses senator of ‘mind games’

Chicago Sun-Times

Allegations against a Democratic state senator — and the loopholes that currently exist when it comes to reporting sexual harassment within state government — set an explosive tone as Illinois House members advanced a bill on Tuesday to target the rampant problem.

Denise Rotheimer, a victim rights advocate running for state representative as a Republican, testified before a House committee that state Sen. Ira Silverstein, D-Chicago, used “power” and “mind games” with her as she tried to advance legislation to help crime victims pay for legal care. She told the Sun-Times on Monday that Silverstein called her late at night frequently, constantly sent Facebook messages and met her to talk about the bill in unusual places, such as Millennium Park and an ice cream parlor.

She also accused Silverstein of killing her bill when he thought she had a boyfriend. Rotheimer said she felt like she had no control. Rotheimer provided the Sun-Times with hundreds of Facebook messages on Monday, which showed the two shared constant communication for several months.

…Silverstein said the behavior she described is “not in my blood.”

Yeah, that behavior is not in his blood.  It's in his pants.

We can't wait til Thursday!