This story was updated at 1 p.m. Aug. 29 to include new comments from Mayor Joe Hogsett’s spokesperson.
For the first time in 16 days, Mayor Joe Hogsett publicly addressed allegations of sexual harassment and abuse of power against his former top aide.
But he only gave journalists five minutes of his time.
After giving a speech Aug. 28 to celebrate the opening of an apartment complex on the south side, Hogsett walked outside to the sidewalk, where he was peppered with questions about his handling of allegations against Thomas Cook, his former chief of staff who worked on Hogsett’s three mayoral campaigns.
The questions primarily centered on the decisions made by Hogsett since first learning about Cook’s alleged treatment of a former subordinate on Hogsett’s first campaign for mayor.
Lauren Roberts, who worked as a deputy campaign manager, described feeling trapped and victimized by Cook’s behavior while working on that campaign in 2014 and 2015. Cook has not been charged with a crime.
She tried to report the behavior to Hogsett and other top city and campaign officials in 2017, but said Hogsett never returned her emails. The Hogsett administration, meanwhile, has maintained Cook was reprimanded following an investigation in 2017.
When asked Aug. 28 why Roberts wasn’t contacted about that investigation in 2017, the mayor said that “she was.” He did not elaborate.
Roberts again told Mirror Indy this week that she was never contacted about an investigation.
“I have no record of an email, text, phone call, nothing,” Roberts said. “He needs to provide documentation if he wants to stand by that statement insinuating that I am lying.”
When asked to clarify the mayor’s Aug. 28 comments, a spokesperson later told Mirror Indy that Roberts was contacted by the Indiana Democratic Party twice in 2017.
It’s unclear what communications the spokesperson is referring to specifically. Mirror Indy is aware of two emails sent by the party’s executive director at the time, neither of which mention an investigation.
When asked for further clarification, Hogsett’s spokesperson declined to comment further. Hogsett also has previously declined several Mirror Indy interview requests and has not answered several questions.
The spokesperson also said that someone from Hogsett’s campaign contacted Roberts in 2018. Again, it’s unclear what specifically the spokesperson is referring to.
In July 2018, more than a year after Roberts first emailed Hogsett to discuss Cook’s behavior, Roberts sent another email to Hogsett. That time, she received an email back from Tenley Drescher-Rhoades, the campaign treasurer for the Hogsett campaign.
Again, there was no mention of an investigation or reprimand. Further, that correspondence occurred in 2018 but Hogsett has maintained the first investigation into Cook’s behavior occurred in 2017.
Mirror Indy sent a public records request for Cook’s personnel file more than a month ago but the Hogsett administration has not fulfilled it so far.
Hogsett brings Cook back despite past behavior
The Hogsett administration has also said that Hogsett asked Cook to resign from city employment in 2020 because of a separate inappropriate relationship with a subordinate that has been characterized as consensual.
Asked on Aug. 28 why Hogsett still allowed Cook to return to the mayor’s 2023 reelection campaign, Hogsett said he “didn’t know anything about 2018 or 2019 until October or September of 2023.”
By that, it appears the mayor was not referring to Cook’s alleged treatment of Roberts during the first mayoral campaign or the inappropriate relationship in city hall in 2020 — both of which the mayor has acknowledged knowing about.
But in 2023, he learned of yet another example of Cook’s alleged pattern of sexual harassment and abuse of power. That time, it involved a former city staffer named Caroline Ellert.
Hogsett said he removed Cook from his 2023 campaign after an investigation into Ellert’s concerns.
Prosecutor addresses allegations
Earlier in the day, it was thought that Hogsett would make an appearance at a meet-and-greet with almost every other county elected official on Lugar Plaza — right outside of the City-County Building where Hogsett works.
Hogsett’s name and face appeared on the center of a flier advertising the event, but a spokesperson for the mayor said that Hogsett was never scheduled to make an appearance. Instead, she said, the mayor’s neighborhood advocates were there on his behalf.
When asked why Hogsett’s name and face were on the leaflet, the spokesperson said that the flier was not created by the mayor’s office and that his picture appearing on it was due to “an oversight.”
One of the officials who was at the event, however, was Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears, who was asked whether his office was looking into the allegations against Cook.
Mears would not confirm or deny if his office has received a criminal complaint about Cook.
“The thing I would say about that is we always receive information. Certainly, allegations can come to us in numerous forms, or certainly, if that information ever makes its way to our office, we’re going to work through that process,” Mears said.
When asked if that meant his office hadn’t received a complaint against Cook, Mears said that he “wasn’t necessarily saying that.”
Mears continued: “All I am saying is we are going to work through any information that’s presented to our office. In certain situations, there’s different dynamics where people don’t want to necessarily work through the traditional criminal justice process for a variety of reasons, but we are always going to be there for victims, we’re always going to listen to victims, and if we can be of any assistance, we will be.”
After the allegations against Cook came to light in investigations published by Mirror Indy and IndyStar, Hogsett issued an executive order requiring all city-county employees to take sexual harassment training. It was previously only required of supervisors. He also said the city plans to roll out an anonymous reporting tool for employees.
Those were two of the demands made by Ellert and Roberts in an Aug. 8 letter they sent to Hogsett and CIty-County Council President Vop Osili.
Meanwhile, the City-County Council is preparing to launch an investigation into his administration’s handling of the allegations. The council is expected to take a final vote at its September meeting.
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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