A week after calling for Mayor Joe Hogsett’s resignation — and for leadership change on the City-County Council — Crista Carlino issued a written apology.
Carlino had been facing the prospect of being kicked out of the council Democratic caucus, according to three councilors familiar with the inner workings of the caucus. But her apology and resignation from leadership on three council committees — which she says she did on her own accord — appears to have enabled her to keep her position within the caucus.
But the political drama isn’t over.
Ali Brown, the Democratic vice president of the council, appeared on The Black Briefing podcast this week, where she excoriated Carlino — saying that Carlino unfairly placed blame on council leadership for the outcome of an investigation into the Hogsett administration’s handling of harassment allegations.
Brown also said that Carlino “weaponized her tears against people because she failed as a committee chair to do her damn job” in overseeing the investigation.
Brown told Mirror Indy that the interview was conducted before Carlino issued her apology, but that she stands by what she said in the hourlong conversation.
After the podcast aired, Carlino spoke to Indy Politics’ Abdul-Hakim Shabazz to say that Brown was resorting to “unfounded personal attacks” against her.
“It’s unfortunate that people have to hit below the belt and get personal, and that’s not something I’m willing to do,” Carlino said. “That’s why I expressed my deep sadness with the display that Brown put on that podcast.”
And despite the apology this week, Carlino told Mirror Indy that she is standing by her call for the mayor’s resignation, and for Brown and Council President Vop Osili to step down from council leadership.
She said her regrets centered on the way she issued the calls — namely, in a public forum without giving her fellow councilors forewarning.
“My apology to my colleagues was genuine. I didn’t give all of them the courtesy of a heads up, when it came to calling for our council leadership to step down,” Carlino told Mirror Indy in written remarks.
What’s going on?
The back-and-forth comes as several members of the council — and members of the public — are questioning whether the council’s harassment investigation went far enough.
Both Carlino and Brown agree that the harassment investigation was flawed. But they differ on the reasons why.
While Carlino chaired the investigative committee, she said she was not granted the authority to direct the scope of the probe, which she said became too narrowly focused on Thomas Cook, the mayor’s former top aide who was accused of sexual harassment and abuse of power.
Brown, however, contends that Carlino failed to exercise her power as chair of the committee.
“They could have called Thomas (Cook), they could have called the mayor, any of these people up there, in front of the committee to answer to them in a public forum, and the committee never did that, and that to me is beyond upsetting,” Brown said on The Black Briefing podcast. “We gave subpoena power. They should have exercised it.”
The final report from the law firm hired by the council, Fisher Phillips, did not include late-night text messages sent by Hogsett to former campaign worker Lauren Roberts and former city staffer Caroline Ellert, nor did it dive into any other sexual harassment accusations made against other city employees.
What’s next?
The ongoing spat between the two councilors is the latest example of how the sexual harassment scandal plaguing the Hogsett administration is creating divisions on council.
Four councilors — three Democrats, one Republican — have called for Hogsett’s resignation. But Carlino went a step further when she called for Osili and Brown to step down from their leadership posts. Previously, only Jesse Brown, an eastside Democrat who was expelled from the caucus earlier this year, called for Osili to step aside.
Ali Brown says she is hopeful that the council can move forward with recommendations made in the harassment investigation, which included reforms to protect city employees.
“We have to figure out what we can do, and we have to take those action steps and move forward,” Brown told Mirror Indy. “That includes setting policies, looking at how we handle (council) appointments and personnel, and strengthening (human resources) for the employee, not just for the enterprise. This is about protecting the people who work here.”
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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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