Some members of the City-County Council are dissatisfied with the investigative report. Now the question is: What are they going to do about it?
Most immediately, they must decide whether to pay an out-of-state law firm what it is owed for investigating the Hogsett administration’s handling of harassment allegations against Thomas Cook, the mayor’s former chief of staff.
They must also decide whether to bring the firm to the City-County Building to answer questions about why it omitted some information from its report, such as text messages between Mayor Joe Hogsett and two young female subordinates, or why the firm didn’t exercise its subpoena power to question Cook.
And they must decide whether to push the firm to hand over all documentation related to the investigation.
Those are just some of the options under consideration by the councilors following an eventful week that saw additional calls for the mayor’s resignation and Council President Vop Osili ordering sheriff’s deputies to remove Lauren Roberts from a council meeting.
Next up: The council’s Administration and Finance Committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 17, to consider whether or not to pay Fisher Phillips an additional $300,000 it is owed for the investigation. The meeting is open to the public.
Councilor Frank Mascari, a Democrat who chairs the committee, said Roberts and any other victims of alleged harassment will also be given as much time as they need to speak.
Roberts, at least, is done talking with councilors.
“It’s not physically safe for me in that building,” said Roberts, who worked on Hogsett’s first mayoral campaign, “and (the council) had so many opportunities to listen to me, going back to May of 2017, and I have done more than enough trying to be heard.”
To pay or not to pay
Some councilors aren’t ready to cut the check, which would bring the total cost of the six-month investigation and 55-page report to around $450,000.
The Fisher Phillips report concluded that Hogsett followed the law while also raising questions as to why the mayor allowed Cook to remain in his role for 68 days — and to resign — after a human resources investigation recommended he be terminated.
The funding appropriation would still need the full council’s approval.
Councilor Michael-Paul Hart, who leads the six Republicans on council, said in a recent news conference that the expense “should be reimbursed from the mayor,” either through the mayor’s office or his campaign.
Councilor John Barth, a Democrat and one of 12 councilors on the Administration and Finance Committee, said in a statement last week that he supports withholding the money until the law firm attends a council meeting to answer questions.
Barth wants to know why the law firm omitted text messages Hogsett sent to Roberts and former city staffer Caroline Ellert, which the women described as making them feel uncomfortable. Hogsett told Mirror Indy that the “casual conversation style” in the messages is a reflection of the “24-hour endeavor” of governing and campaigning, and that it was never his intention to make anyone uncomfortable.
The release of the text messages has some councilors calling for the firm to appear before the full council to answer questions.
“There’s still so many unanswered questions I have that I hope they can come before us, and I expect that they will, to answer those questions,” said Councilor Nick Roberts, a Democrat, in a video message last week.
Similarly, the six Republicans on council have asked Crista Carlino, a westside Democrat who chairs the council’s investigative committee, to schedule a public hearing where Fisher Phillips can answer questions from councilors.
The full report
Some councilors believe that the investigative committee is entitled to receive all documentation related to the law firm’s probe.
“My understanding is we should receive not only a report but the work product,” Hart told Mirror Indy. “Whatever text messages, emails, reports that the investigative law firm went through — my understanding is that the investigative committee can have those documents.”
Councilor Jesse Brown, a Democrat, told Mirror Indy that while he doesn’t oppose receiving that information, he also doesn’t see the benefit.
“The raw files won’t include anything from Cook, as Fisher Phillips didn’t subpoena him,” Brown said. “Councilors should stop delegating away their political leadership to the flawed Fisher Phillips report and should simply do the right thing.”
When asked to clarify what that meant, Brown said the council needs to call for the mayor to resign, elect a new council president and “center survivors.”
Brown is one of three councilors who have urged the mayor to resign for his handling of the harassment allegations. On Friday, the Indianapolis Business Journal’s editorial board called on Hogsett to step down after the mayor was forced to cancel a press conference on a new homelessness initiative due to the ongoing controversy.
The editorial came four days after Roberts’ ejection from the June 9 council meeting. Osili, a Democrat, later expressed “regret” at that decision and said he “should have shown a sensitivity in that emotionally charged moment.”
Roberts told Mirror Indy in an interview last week that she doesn’t support releasing all documentation, saying it would be “putting survivors back in the line of fire.”
“Asking for even more when we have already bled out so much for this thing … is very wrong, and I personally am not going to voluntarily participate in any investigation going forward,” Roberts said.
Hogsett told Fox59’s Russ McQuaid last week that he doesn’t support releasing additional documentation.
“I have never supported releasing confidential documents for information that has been obtained with anonymity and confidentiality surrounding it,” Hogsett told the TV station.
The Administration and Finance Committee meeting is set to begin at 5:30 p.m. in Room 260 of the City-County Building.
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
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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