Members of the Indianapolis City-County Council are taking steps to form a special commission in the wake of allegations against Thomas Cook, the mayor’s former chief of staff.
In a statement attributed to council president Vop Osili, vice president Ali Brown, Democratic Majority Leader Maggie Lewis and 14 other Democratic councilors, lawmakers announced plans to create a branch of human resources that is separate from the mayor’s administration that would explicitly handle sexual harassment and other discrimination related complaints.
They also plan to create a commission that would “engage subject matter experts to evaluate the city’s current policies, identify gaps, and implement best practices that will foster a culture of safety, respect and accountability.” They also want to revise city code to include all city-county employees in an annual mandatory sexual harassment training, which is currently only required for city and county elected officials, councilors and supervisory-level employees of city and county government.
The statement made no mention of investigating the allegations against Cook, who has not been charged with a crime.
The six Republicans on council were not included in the statement, but they issued a statement Aug. 8 expressing a willingness to work with Democrats on council to introduce a resolution at the Aug. 12 council meeting to create an investigative committee into the allegations.
Councilor Jesse Brown, a Democrat who is calling for the mayor’s resignation, was also not listed. When asked to comment, Brown said he was not asked to sign it. He also referred Mirror Indy to his Aug. 8 statement.
Councilor Ron Gibson, a Democrat, declined to sign on to the letter. He told Mirror Indy that he wanted to give the mayor’s office “the room to get this started.”
Gibson declined to say whether he agreed with the council’s recommendations.
“I think first, I need to see what the city plans to do going forward before we rush into trying to run the administration,” Gibson said. “I want to hold the administration accountable for what their plan is to turn this around and make sure it never happens again.”
The announcement comes two days after Mirror Indy published an investigation that detailed a yearslong pattern of abuse of power by the mayor’s former right-hand man. The mayor knew about allegations regarding Cook’s behavior toward a former deputy campaign manager as early as 2017 and kept Cook on his 2023 campaign even after a relationship with a second subordinate came to light in 2020.
[In new letter, 2 women demand changes from Hogsett administration]
Caroline Ellert and Lauren Roberts, two of the women interviewed as part of a Mirror Indy investigation, said they plan to attend the Aug. 12 City-County Council meeting to see if the mayor responds to the allegations. They sent a letter to Hogsett and Osili on Aug. 8 calling for significant changes to the city’s system for reporting sexual harassment — some of which overlap with the council’s stated plan of action.
The Office of Finance and Management-Human Resources Division sent a memo Aug. 5 to all city-county employees encouraging them to come forward to report incidents of harassment, but some members of the council told Mirror Indy they were frustrated with Hogsett’s handling of the allegations against Cook.
The memo said that the city’s human resources department reports to the city controller, and the controller reports to the mayor. Ellert, Roberts and members of council want the city to establish an independent, third-party entity that employees can turn to in the event of sexual harassment or abuse in the workplace.
Public officials respond
Since the Mirror Indy investigation was published Aug. 7, several public officials have come forward to respond to the allegations. IndyStar first published the allegations July 19.
Jennifer McCormick, the Democratic nominee for governor, issued a statement Aug. 9 that was critical of the Hogsett administration’s handling of the allegations against Cook.
“Mayor Hogsett’s apparent failure to address these issues appropriately highlights a systemic problem that demands a systematic solution,” McCormick said. “The women involved were let down by both individuals and the system, and their pain must be acknowledged. Both parties have issues of sexual misconduct that demonstrate the importance of transparency and accountability in leadership.”
In a statement to Mirror Indy, Marion County Democratic Party Chair Myla Eldridge praised Ellert and Roberts for coming forward and sharing their stories.
“I look forward to reforms our elected leaders will put in place to ensure this never happens again,” Eldridge said.
She stopped short of criticizing the Hogsett administration for its handling of the allegations.
Peter Blanchard covers local government. Reach him at 317-605-4836 or peter.blanchard@mirrorindy.org. Follow him on X @peterlblanchard.
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