This is part of Mr. Clean, a series that focuses on ethical concerns within Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration. It was reported in a collaboration between Mirror Indy and IndyStar and is not available for republication in other media. For questions, see Mirror Indy’s content republishing guidelines.
Mayor Joe Hogsett is refusing to say whether he’ll hold accountable lobbyists who failed to disclose their activities in violation of the law — despite a campaign promise to go after lobbyists who skirt the rules.
IndyStar/Mirror Indy asked Hogsett’s administration for the last three years of lobbyist reports filed by some of the city’s most prominent law firms and lobbying shops.
That’s when the city discovered dozens of missing reports.
Lobbyists are legally required to report annually which agencies they lobbied, the topic discussed, and whether city officials or employees were provided entertainment, meals, travel expenses or other gifts. Those disclosures allow members of the public to see who may be influencing their elected officials.
But in the course of fulfilling the news outlets’ request, the city found that lobbyists for nearly two dozen companies and nonprofits had failed to file reports as required by city law, according to Dawn Olsen, spokesperson for the Department of Business and Neighborhood Services.
At least one attorney — who at the time worked for Barnes & Thornburg — appeared to engage in lobbying activity but did not report it, according to records provided by Olsen. A spokesperson for the law firm said the person was working in an administrative role for the company and that “we haven’t missed anything.”
Another company, Salesforce, appeared to have missed filing multiple years of required disclosures, according to the city’s data. The California-based company — with a tower in downtown Indianapolis — filed those reports with the city on Sept. 9, days after being asked by reporters about the discrepancy.
IndyStar/Mirror Indy reached out to each of the companies with missing reports. Many did not reply, including two lobbyists from one of the city’s biggest law firms: Joe Smith Jr. and A. Scott Chinn from Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath.
Those that did respond said they were working with the city to report the necessary information or had not lobbied during the years in question.
City code requires anyone who lobbies the city to register within 15 days of making contact with a city agency. Many lobbyists opt to register if they believe they will lobby that year. In January of the following year, they must file a report describing their lobbying activities — even if they didn’t end up doing any lobbying. Olsen said some lobbyists were unaware of that requirement.
Lobbyists who fail to file these reports face penalties under city code. Failing to file multiple reports could lead to a lobbyist being blacklisted from lobbying or contracting with the city, consequences the Hogsett administration advocated to be written into city code during his first year in office.
But the mayor has refused to answer questions about whether lobbyists who broke the rules would face the penalties he advocated for.
A promise to crack down on lobbyists
During Hogsett’s first campaign, taking on lobbyists who violate city rules was one of eight ethics promises he outlined. The Democrat said he would not only strengthen disclosure and gift-reporting regulations, but also “establish strict and meaningful enforcement, penalty and contract debarment provisions for violations.”
The promise to crack down on lobbyists also served as a thinly veiled criticism lodged at outgoing Republican Mayor Greg Ballard, who faced ethics-related criticism during his time in office.
“Citizens have a right to know when their elected and appointed officials are being lobbied by special interest groups,” Hogsett said at the time. “Under the city code, publicly available registration information and lobbyist gift reporting is nearly non-existent. In five years under the current registration and reporting system, only two gifts have ever been reported by a lobbyist, and no major enforcement actions have ever been undertaken.”
But a review of publicly available records shows that, under Hogsett, no lobbyists reported providing gifts to local public officials in 2024 and 2025. Lobbyists are required to report gifts, including meals, travel and entertainment, worth $25 or more.
As for enforcement, the mayor refused to answer questions about whether his administration has taken any action against lobbyists since he took office in 2016.
Indianapolis takes a narrow view on what counts as lobbying. It’s meant to address any action made to “promote, delay, oppose, or otherwise influence an agency action.”
But there are several exclusions, including talking to public officials about economic development incentives. Public or private testimony also isn’t considered lobbying if it’s been solicited by a city agency.
The ordinance exempts some gifts from reporting requirements, too. For example, city officials don’t have to report meals and entertainment when those gifts are given to “benefit the city or county related to an economic development effort.” And the city’s top lawyer can waive reporting requirements if a gift was made in “the public interest.”
Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen who helped craft federal lobbying and ethics reform legislation, said cities tend to be less willing or able to enforce lobbying laws compared with states and the federal government. But he said the city of Indianapolis could be doing a better job of getting lobbying firms to file the required disclosures.
“Immediate debarment is sort of a draconian solution, but it is a solution that the enforcement agency should use to coerce the lobbyist into complying with the disclosure law,” Holman said.
He said meals, entertainment and other gifts often carry “a lot of influence.”
“If you’re the recipient of wining and dining, you’ve suddenly created a friend in that lobbyist, and that lobbyist … (is) pursuing the interests of whoever is paying them,” he said.
It’s unclear exactly how long lobbyists have been sidestepping the city’s reporting requirements.
While the city provided lobbying data for four years between 2022 and 2025, it’s unclear if there are other missing reports from previous years since Hogsett took office in 2016 or from Ballard’s time in office.
Meanwhile, the city is trying to gather the missing records, Olsen said.
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Emily Hopkins is a senior reporter at Mirror Indy. You can reach them by phone or Signal at 317-790-5268 or email at emily.hopkins@mirrorindy.org. Follow them on most social media @indyemapolis or on Bluesky @emilyhopkins.bsky.social.
Contact investigative reporter Hayleigh Colombo at hcolombo@indystar.com or follow her on X @hayleighcolombo.
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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