Democratic Rep. Amy "Murri" Briel took the first few minutes of her town hall Thursday night at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of DeKalb to talk about her family's farming roots in Ottawa. She described her district's map, which includes portions of DeKalb and LaSalle counties. She then introduced her husband, who was sitting in the audience.
Still in her first term representing Illinois' 76th District, Briel shared that her family includes three sons and three dogs. "The whole family is neurodivergent — spicy as heck," she told constituents gathered in the room.
As she went through her office's accomplishments, she paused with emotion when talking about her father as she outlined her legislative work with veterans during her freshman term.
As she opened the floor to questions, her chief of staff reminded the audience to focus exclusively on questions related to state issues rather than political topics.
Questions ranged from where she stood on budgeting for water and soil conservation districts to whether she would support either repealing or heavily amending the SAFE-T Act.
Then, near the end of the Q-and-A, a member of the audience asked whether allegations he had heard and read about regarding sexual harassment within her office were true.
"I am actually perfectly fine with you asking that question," she told him. "I'm happy to be able to talk to you guys and let you know the situation and what occurred."
Her former deputy chief of staff, who has publicly identified herself as Laura Jackson, released a nearly 45-minute video this summer in which she outlined several claims against Briel.
The video was produced by a Republican consulting group that has worked with Briel's GOP challenger, Liz Bishop. Jackson's allegations included claims of drug use during Briel's first campaign and later within the office, as well as accusations that Briel made sexual advances toward her.
"She was upset that she didn't get a position that she thought she was entitled to," Briel told the audience. "That started a lot of different issues that persisted for 3 1/2 months."
Briel said she tried to work on the tension with human resources, but Jackson was eventually fired.
She explained that about a week and a half later, she received a call from Legislative Inspector General Michael McCuskey.
"He asked to sit down with me and do an interview," Briel said. "And I was like, 'For what?'"
Briel said McCuskey told her who had brought up the allegations because Jackson did not want it to be a confidential investigation.
"He proceeded to ask me questions detailing every allegation that she made," Briel said. "I was floored, stunned, and that was a year and a half ago."
Briel said that as the legislative inspector general was asking questions, she had emails about work performance and interactions that had been witnessed, and she provided potential witness contact information. Briel told the audience that in mid-May 2025, McCuskey approached her as she was coming out of a meeting and told her the claims had been "unfounded."
"So it was relief, but it was still raw," Briel said.
After the town hall, Briel spoke with reporters, including WNIJ.
Briel told reporters that she hasn't seen the full video from Jackson but said she has been given the highlights and that she vehemently denies the claims made in it.
When asked if she had talked directly with Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch about the incident, she said she had.
"I called him right away, as well, and he understood," she told reporters in DeKalb on Thursday night. "He knew about the incident when it had been brought up, because they get reports."
She said Welch told her he wasn't worried about it.
Welch has been under fire for his handling of a separate harassment case filed against a lawmaker from within his party. Former Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, was found to have violated state law by committing two acts of sexual harassment.
Briel told reporters that she uses cannabis to control pain in her spine and that she also has a prescription for Adderall, but continues to deny that she encouraged use of those drugs among her staffers.
Briel told reporters that she uses cannabis to control pain in her spine and that she also has a prescription for Adderall, but continues to deny that she encouraged use of those drugs among her staffers.
Briel said she is also aware of additional claims alleging she was verbally abusive. She said they came from people she described as consultants.
"We did joke that he was the 'token man' because our entire campaign was run by women," Briel said. "So when you're talking to guys, sometimes it helps to have a guy talk to a guy. So he was our 'token man.' That we would joke about."
She also responded to an interaction with a consultant who Briel said was "infantilizing" her.
"He was treating me as if I was a child and not competent," she told reporters Thursday. "I felt the way that he was addressing me was ableist."
When asked about her decision to step down from the newly formed Workplace Culture and Accountability Working Group, Briel continued to deny the allegations made against her but said she didn't want to take focus away from the group's work.
"People are still going to believe that," she said. "They're going to catch the sound bite. They're going to catch the clip. They're going to want something salacious. And so if I'm working on that, every time we do something it'll come up, 'Well, you're an abuser. Oh, you're a sexual harasser.' So why would I put my colleagues in a vulnerable position when they're doing really amazing work?"
Briel said the legislative inspector general told her she would receive a letter confirming that the claims made against her were unfounded. She thinks she received it but added that she hasn't been able to find the letter.
Legislative Inspector General Michael McCuskey resigned earlier this week. The Legislative Ethics Commission has appointed David Risley as acting legislative inspector general effective Oct. 1.
Briel faces Bishop again in the Nov. 3 general election. Briel won the 2024 general election with 50.63% of the vote to Bishop's 49.37%, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections.
Copy Edited by Eryn Lent
