Democratic Rep. Amy "Murri" Briel took the first few minutes of her town hall on Thursday night at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of DeKalb to mention 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, she 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 though her office's accomplishments, she paused with emotion when talking about her father as she outlined her legislative work with veterans in 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, she was asked by a member of the audience if 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 and what occurred."
She described her relationship with her former deputy chief of staff, who has publicly identified herself as Laura Jackson. 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 with ties to Briel’s GOP challenger, Liz Bishop.
The video includes accusations of drug use in Briel's first campaign and later within the office. Jackson also accused Briel of making sexual advances towards 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 and a 1/2 months."
Briel says she tried to work on the tension with HR, but that Jackson was eventually fired.
She explained that about a week and a half later, she received a call from the 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 McCusky 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 says as the Legislative Inspector General was asking questions, she had emails about work performance, interactions that had been seen and provided potential witness contact information. Briel told the audience in the middle of May of 2025, the Legislative Inspector General approached her and told her the claim 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 says 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 is a regular cannabis user to control pain in her spine and that she also has a prescription for Adderall, but continues to deny that she encouraged drug use among her staffers or provided drugs as an incentive.
Briel says she is also aware of additional claims that have been made alleging she was verbally abusive towards who 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 who she described as a consultant who Briel says was "infantilizing" her.
"He was treating me as if I was a child and not competent," she told reporters on 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 says the Legislative Inspector General told her she would receive a letter confirming that the claims made against her were unfounded, and that she thinks she received it but adds that she hasn't been able to find where she put the letter.
Legislative Inspector General Michael McCuskey resigned earlier this week. It comes as House Republicans question how his office handled harassment complaints against lawmakers.
Briel faces one of the more competitive House races in the state. Briel narrowly defeated Bishop in 2024. They face each other again in November.
