Chicago Public School’s internal watchdog is defending his office’s decision to re-open, and then subsequently close, an investigation into misconduct allegations against Board of Education president candidate Hilario Dominguez weeks ahead of the historic election.
An attorney representing Dominguez’s accuser this week called for an independent investigation into the allegations and the manner in which CPS Inspector General Philip Wagenknecht’s office handled the case. On Thursday, 16 Chicago alderpersons signed an open letter demanding the same.
But Wagenknecht on Friday said the investigation was conducted pursuant to his office’s standard practices and procedures, and that “in no way was this investigation rushed or concluded prematurely.”
“The OIG is an apolitical office that serves as the independent watchdog for the Chicago Board of Education,” Wagenknecht said. “No one outside this office has influence over how OIG investigations are handled, and there were no external efforts to influence this matter.”
Dominguez, the former deputy political director for the Chicago Teachers Union, is one of three candidates running to become the Chicago Board of Education’s first-ever elected president in the Nov. 3 election.
But he came under fire early this month after the Chicago Tribune reported that Wagenknecht’s office had reopened a past investigation into Dominguez’s alleged interactions with a minor high school student in 2017 while working at the Resurrection Project nonprofit.
The woman who made the allegations against Dominguez has remained anonymous but has spoken publicly about the investigation.
She was 17 years old and participating in the Resurrection Project’s summer program where Dominguez was working as a coordinator.
She claimed that on one occasion, Dominguez was driving her to an event when he began asking her, “what kind of guys are you into,” according to her interviews. In a second incident, Dominguez approached her at the Resurrection Project’s office and allegedly grabbed her by the waist, picking her up off the ground and pressing the girl’s entire body up against him, she said.
Dominguez has repeatedly denied those allegations, which he said we first brought forth during his unsuccessful aldermanic campaign in 2019.
On Wednesday, Dominguez released a letter from the CPS Office of Student Protections and Title IX, which stated that its investigation was concluded after there was “no actionable finding of sexual misconduct.”
He said this marks the fourth time he has been cleared of the same allegations following a previous inquiry by the OIG, the Resurrection Project’s investigation, a community accountability process and now the latest OIG finding.
According to the investigatory report from Wagenknecht’s office obtained by WTTW News Friday through a Freedom of Information Act request, the OIG’s initial investigation began in 2022, but due to a heavy caseload, it wasn’t concluded until this past June.
After learning of that conclusion, Dominguez’s accuser reached out to the OIG’s office to report that she was unaware any investigation had been ongoing until receiving a letter informing her that inquiry had been closed.
Wagenknecht’s office still sought to meet the woman to gather her firsthand account after previous attempts to reach her were unsuccessful, and she met with the office for an interview on Sept. 22.
The OIG then spoke again with Dominguez and obtained additional documents. According to the report, a secondhand description of the allegations from the Resurrection Project’s records “raised the possibility that there could be evidence to corroborate the allegations, even years later,” such as electronic messages or eyewitness testimony.
“However,” the report states, “after conducting these follow-up steps — considering description of the allegations along with documents from both parties — the OIG has determined that there is insufficient evidence to substantiate the allegations under a preponderance of the evidence standard …”
The report states that the accusations the woman laid out during her OIG interview were “narrower” than what had been outlined in the Resurrection Project’s investigation, and “cannot be factually corroborated under the circumstances.”
Text messages showed that Dominguez and the woman attempted to meet up in 2022 for a “restorative conversation,” but that meeting never materialized. In those messages, the report states Dominguez referred to the allegations as “baseless, horribly imaginative and wild rumors,” and that the woman “never contradicted him.”
According to the report, the investigation was reopened only after the woman reached out to the OIG and “expressed a willingness to participate in an interview,” thus rendering the initial investigatory report incomplete.
Wagenknecht’s office wrote that while the “political backdrop” of the upcoming election is relevant, it “should not distract from the question at the heart of this investigation.”
“The upcoming election was not a factor in the OIG’s decision to reopen this case,” the report states. “The OIG would never have refused to take a statement from the alleged victim of sexual misconduct under these circumstances.”
After the investigation was reopened, Mayor Brandon Johnson — himself a former teacher and CTU organizer who has expressed support for Dominguez — said that with the election approaching, Wagenknecht’s office had “an additional duty and responsibility to have those answers before the public with great urgency.”
In their letter, the Chicago alderpersons claimed the latest investigation was “tainted from the start” and that Wagenknecht’s office “rushed a finding to meet the deadline he publicly demanded” while “sending a devastating message to every girl weighing whether to report abuse.”
A spokesperson for Johnson on Friday denied any allegations of interference, saying they mayor’s office never contacted the OIG during its investigation or “make any attempt to influence the investigation.”
“The Mayor’s Office respects and adheres to the independence of the OIG,” the spokesperson said.
Wagenknecht on Friday said the decision to close the case came only after “considering the evidence and, in particular, the information the OIG received from the alleged victim in September of this year,” adding that “the OIG determined that the evidence was not sufficient to find that Dominguez engaged in sexual misconduct.”
He also denied any outside influence on his office’s investigation.
“The OIG is statutorily independent from the operations of the Board,” Wagenknecht said, “and, in practice, has demonstrated robust independence through our numerous public corruption investigations over the years, several of which have involved high-level officials.”
WTTW News education reporting is supported, in part, by Press Forward Chicago.
