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Durbin Restricts Duties of State Director After Investigation

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) has fired a part-time aide and restricted the duties of state director Michael Daly following an internal sexual harassment investigation into the two aides’ relationship.

Durbin spokesman Joe Shoemaker told the Associated Press on Thursday that Durbin has fired Kathleen Rooney and eliminated Daly’s supervisor duties as a result of the investigation.

Daly will, however, remain a “top adviser” to Durbin, Shoemaker said.

Although there was no evidence of an affair, it did expose lapses in judgment, Shoemaker said. “The judgments he made were not in keeping with what he wants out of a key employee,” he told the AP.

The investigation was started after Shoemaker read Rooney’s new book of essays, “For You, For You I Am Trilling These Songs.” In the book Rooney describes her relationship with Daly, writing, “Once upon a time there was a girl in unrequitable love (but not unrequited) love with her boss.”

Although Rooney was given the option of resigning, she declined, prompting Durbin to fire her, according to news accounts.

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