Rep. Mary Flowers Removed from House Leadership, Banned From Caucus Meetings
Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago), the longest serving member of the House, has been removed from House Democratic leadership and banned from House Democratic caucus meetings.
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Multiple Democrats confirmed Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago), the dean of the Illinois House, was being removed from her position in House leadership and has been barred from attending Democratic caucus meetings.
Flowers, who was elected to the House in 1985, is serving as Deputy Majority Leader, the fourth highest ranking Democrat in the chamber.
We’re told House Speaker Chris Welch informed Democrats of his decision Tuesday.
Sources indicate Flowers had made repeated “outbursts” in Democratic caucus meetings, often adding further drama to already tricky debates. We’re also told Flowers had been admonished for the way she treated staff, including comparing the appearance of a House staffer to Adolf Hitler.
Attempts to reach Flowers Tuesday evening were unsuccessful, though she did speak to our friend Alex Degman from WBEZ.
“This is so petty it’s ridiculous,” Flowers told WBEZ, accusing Welch of not following established protocol. “There’s a process. There’s an [Office of Executive Inspector General] process, and whoever my accuser is, is supposed to go fill out a form.”
House Rules, by the way, shows members of leadership serve at the pleasure of the Speaker:
[Leadership] appointments are effective upon being filed with the Clerk and remain effective at the pleasure of the Speaker and Minority Leader, respectively, or until a vacancy occurs by reason of resignation or because a leader has ceased to be a Representative.
A spokesperson for Welch did not return a message seeking confirmation of the action or a statement.