Chaos erupts over sexual harassment allegations at City-County Council meeting

By Danielle Zulkosky

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    INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — One of the women who last summer accused a top aide of Mayor Joe Hogsett of sexual harassment was forcibly removed in a chaotic fashion by sheriff’s deputies on Monday night from an Indianapolis City-County Council meeting.

A former campaign staffer for the Democrat mayor, Lauren Roberts was the first woman to come forward to share her experience being sexually harassed working under former Hogsett campaign manager Thomas Cook.

Roberts spoke to the media and supporters outside of the City-County Council building after she was removed from the meeting. “If I could tell my younger self what Joe Hogsett and his former campaign manager were about to put me through, I would tell her to run away and don’t look back.”

Roberts tried to speak directly to the council about her experience at the meeting, but Council President Vop Osili instructed the deputies to remove her for speaking off-topic. She spoke during a public hearing for a proposal that included funds to pay a Chicago law firm, Fisher Philips, which recently presented its report on an investigation the allegations of harassment.

“It is never a pleasure to escort someone from our room but we have a sense of order here and we have rules that we have followed for a very long time and others have had to abide by those,” Osili said. “When someone indicates or says they will talk for as long as they like it’s not something this council can stand with.”

Additional women came forward with allegations of harassment within city government this week.

Katie Carlson detailed her experience in a post on Facebook on Saturday. She did not name Thomas Cook or any other individual in her post.

Maggie Adams-McBride shared her experience in a Facebook post on Monday.

They join the original three women, Roberts, Caroline Ellert, and a third unnamed woman.

Adams-McBride resigned from the Hogsett government because of workplace harassment and a toxic culture.

The council created an investigative committee last year to look into the allegation of harassment. That body hired the law firm that investigated the claims.

Councilor Crista Carlino chaired the committee. After June’s explosive council meeting she was asked if the committee would hear from the law firm again.

“I am absolutely open for follow up and we are continuing those conversations to debrief the investigation and the report that came out,” Carlino said.

Carlino said it would cost taxpayers additional money but said it was “absolutely” worth it.

She was also questioned about the texts the accusers said were left out of the Fisher Phillips report.

“It depends on why they were not included in the report and I look forward to hearing that rationale,” Carlino said. “Whether it was the decision of the law firm or if it was by request of the survivors, which I believe is something they should respect if it was something they didn’t want disclosed at the time. And of course they can reserve the right to change their mind and share it at a later date.”

Carlino was asked if she was concerned about the content of the text messages.

“It definitely gives me pause but in reflecting on the nature of the relationship, the employment status at the time. I’m not privy to those personal interactions, I don’t know what their friendship was like so I can’t deem it personally inappropriate or appropriate not knowing the ins and outs of that relationship,” Carlino said. “But as someone who serves part time, works campaigns, evening text messages with staff unfortunately have to happen. We pull late nights. But the content of those, especially around the poetry gives me great pause.”

Osili was asked “is there anything to see here” following the release of the law firm’s report.

“At this moment in time I don’t know that there is something to see but as our statement did say we are open if something does come forward,” Osili said.

Councilors had a lot to say on the issue before the meeting. So far, only two councilors have called for Hogsett’s resignation: Democrats Andy Nielsen and Jesse Brown.

Carlino was directly asked about calling for Hogsett to resign.

“I have not called for it at this time but I am deeply considering it,” Carlino said.

Council President Vop Osili said he would not call for Hogsett’s resignation.

“We don’t have enough that says it rises to that level [of resignation],” Osili said.

Fellow Democrat Ron Gibson reaffirmed his support for the mayor in a statement issued Monday. “I stand firm that I believe that everything was handled properly and that anything at this point is nothing but political gain.”

Republican Minority Leader Michael-Paul Hart spoke to the media before the council meeting. He said it’s not within his power to compel the mayor to resign. “What’s in our control is making sure we are looking at the data. The legislative body here can’t impeach a mayor. We have no ability to do that. So, I don’t want to mislead the public. I want to show the public what we can do, which is make sure we keep that committee going. Get the information from Fisher Phillips that we don’t have and analyze it ourselves.”

The proposal to pass funding to pay for the investigation into the harassment was sent back to a committee so, councilors said, accusers can speak at that time.

The following is the full statement Lauren Rogers shared with media after she was removed from the council meeting:

My name is Lauren Roberts.

I worked for Joe Hogsett’s first mayoral campaign from November 2014 until I quit in June 2015, and I’m the first survivor who tried to come forward about Thomas Cook beginning more than eight years ago in May of 2017.

I live in Denver. I took time off work and crowdfunded from friends, family, and community members in order to be here today.

This moment is the first time that you, the Council, are actually listening to me.

And that’s shameful.

This council’s Democratic caucus members, with the exception of your now-former member, Councilor Jesse Brown, have silenced and refused to listen to me outside of manipulative back-room conversations intended to manage survivors and keep us out of the way of your political agenda.

As recently as a few minutes ago, I again had to learn from the media about Council Democrats’ statement and proposed next steps.

Council President Vop Osili, Vice President Ali Brown, Ethics Committee Chairwoman Jessica McCormick, and, most recently, Investigative Committee Chairwoman Crista Carlino’s actions tell me that you have always been less interested in getting to the truth and holding abusers accountable than protecting your own power and abusers like Joe Hogsett.

Meanwhile, the Republican members of this Council continue to use survivors and our stories as a political football, exploiting us just as much as the Democrats to further your own agenda and accumulate power.

Aside from the fact that this is exploiting us, I certainly do not consent to being used as a talking point by politicians who support an adjudicated rapist in the White House.

Until you, the Republican councilmembers, are ready to support and protect all survivors — which includes undocumented survivors, transgender survivors, Black and Brown survivors, Indigenous survivors, Palestinian survivors, survivors who need abortions, and the women raped and abused by Donald Trump, just to name a few — I disrespectfully request that you keep my name and my story out of your mouths.

I am 37 years old. I grew up in Fort Wayne, went to high school in Carmel, and graduated from IU’s Kelley School of Business in Bloomington.

As a college senior, I interned for Senator Evan Bayh in Washington, DC, and held full-time policy roles for other US Senate Democrats in my early 20s.

When I joined Joe Hogsett’s first campaign for mayor, I was 26, idealistic, and felt a sense of duty to be a positive force in my community.

Despite holding more progressive views than he did, I believed in Joe Hogsett, and I thought the work mattered.

I share these details so that you might realize that my background was not unlike many of yours when I joined Joe Hogsett’s campaign as Deputy Campaign Manager in 2014.

If I could tell my younger self what Joe Hogsett and his then-campaign manager Thomas Cook were about to put me through, I would tell her run away and don’t look back.

The abuse from Hogsett and Cook was horrific to go through.

But the aftermath is what has stolen the last 10 and a half years from me.

From the first moment I tried to report in 2017 to right now, I have been forced to carry the burden of what was done to me, of a path I did not choose.

Since going on record in the press with two other survivors last summer, at every step in this process of you, the council — even when your intentions may have been noble — have perpetuated the harm that survivors continue to experience.

I am certain that your carelessness and refusal to find the truth about our cases in a trauma-informed, survivor-centered way have discouraged other survivors from asking for help or coming forward to report.

Earlier today, for example, Councilor Barth called for the release of text messages that we survivors turned over to attorney Danielle Kays and her team at Fisher Phillips in the spring, in hopes that the firm would properly investigate.

Of course, we all know now that Council’s investigation from Fisher Phillips was a nearly half-million-dollar political performance and extension of abuse at the taxpayers’ expense.

Nevertheless, at the time, we survivors participated voluntarily, but not without sacrifice.

Over the last 10 months, we survivors have paid a price with our time, our money, our health, and our wellbeing.

It was excruciating for me to relive Cook and Hogsett’s abuse as I wrote and pulled together 49 pages of a statement and documentation, something I chose to do when it became clear that Danielle Kays and her team at Fisher Phillips would not agree to record interviews, would not agree to confidentiality, and would not answer any of the questions posed through our lawyer about the investigation’s scope or timeline.

I was also alarmed to learn that we would not be interviewed under oath.

After the report was released last month, I was even more disgusted that the committee chose not to use its subpoena power to compel Thomas Cook to testify.

As another survivor and I told the Star last week, Fisher Phillips’s report made glaring omissions in favor of the mayor’s version of events, made sloppy errors with basic facts that we backed up with overwhelming documentation, and frequently— in the most misogynistic way— characterized survivors’ statements as “claims” while the mayor’s were treated as “facts.”

Meanwhile, the Hogsett administration retained Faegre Drinker to the tune of $40,000 taxpayer dollars to respond to the investigation.

It’s not lost on us that the Faegre attorney on hand for Hogsett was Matt Giffin, former Corporation Counsel to the mayor.

Hogsett’s former special counsel, Tim Moriarty, who is married to Councilor Brienne Delaney, now holds a partner stake in the firm.

Of course, Faegre enjoys plenty of public contracts with the City of Indianapolis and makes sizable political donations to Hogsett and many of you on this Council.

This is certainly not a coincidence.

So, after all this—

Why would any other survivor trust the leaders of this city after what they’ve seen my friend and I go through, especially as two white, cisgender women who at one time had direct access to the mayor?

The many survivors with less power and privilege are certainly not going to have faith in this system or process.

Survivors, whistleblowers, City workers, and campaign staff who speak out about abuse are not the problem for the Democratic Party, for this administration, or for this council.

Abusers are the problem, and your constituents cannot afford for you to spend another moment wringing your hands or claiming that your role is limited to policymaking.

Your positions are not neutral.

Had you acted on this months ago, other leaders might have felt empowered to speak up and commit to the much-needed reforms not just in this building, but in campaign infrastructure.

Instead, we keep seeing you, the Council, make empty statements and treat us, the survivors simply trying to be heard, like troublemakers at every turn.

Shame on you.

Joe Hogsett cares only about protecting his own ego, holding onto his power to bully the people around him, and keeping his corporate donors happy.

Indianapolis deserves a mayor who will show up and fight for public schools, for unhoused neighbors, for undocumented folks, for our most vulnerable community members.

But instead, he’s choosing to fight against survivors, whistleblowers, his own workers, and those who support us.

Joe Hogsett is corrupt, abusive, and unfit to be mayor in any circumstances.

But he is especially unfit at this time when every US city urgently needs leaders with strong moral character to protect us from the rising fascist takeover of our federal government.

Unfortunately for Joe Hogsett and for those of you on this Council who continue to protect him for your own benefit, our group of survivors, whistleblowers, and community members who support us is growing.

And we’re made up of seasoned communications professionals, community organizers, fundraisers, and activists.

We know what we are doing.

We are very good at this.

We are Joe Hogsett and his allies’ worst nightmare, and we are not going away.

Stand on the right side of history with us.

Demand that Hogsett resign.

The following is a statement from the Indianapolis Democratic Caucus:

The residents of Indianapolis deserve a city government that is accountable, honest, and reflective of the community’s highest aspirations. Public trust is a sacred obligation continuously earned through principled moral leadership and responsible governance. The Mayor’s past and recent conduct has compromised that trust and weakened the moral authority of the office. His actions are inconsistent with the ethical expectations we hold for ourselves and one another as stewards of this great city’s future. We reaffirm our dedication to ethical leadership and call on the Mayor to reflect deeply on the gravity of this moment.

In the coming weeks, we will introduce a proposal that will review the following recommendations: Create an independent Ad-Hoc Inspector General as needed to investigate policy violations involving city-county elected or appointed officials. Establish an Independent Human Resources Board, replacing the current Human Resources Division and forming a Human Resources Division led by a Human Resources Officer. Remove the Office of Equal Opportunity from within the Office of Corporation Counsel and make it an independent agency with expanded jurisdiction over all city-county employee complaints Update all anti-harassment, anti-discrimination, retaliation, and non-fraternization policies, including the associated reporting systems. Revamp training programs for leadership and staff to ensure effective implementation and compliance with workplace conduct policies. Track training completion for all elected and appointed officials and City-County employees, with mandatory training for new hires within the first 10 days of employment.

As Democrats, we believe our city’s character begins with its leadership and a firm commitment to justice, equity and good governance.

In the event that additional information comes to light during this ongoing investigation that negatively bears on this situation, our Council remains committed to taking whatever additional steps may be necessary to do the right thing.

The following is a statement from Democratic Indianapolis Councilor Ron Gibson.

“After reviewing the final report produced by Fisher Phillips for the City-County Council’s investigative committee, I remain steadfast in my support of Mayor Hogsett’s leadership.

Fisher Phillips did exactly what they were hired to do: they reviewed all evidence provided within the scope of the investigative committee’s authority and authored a report that included all the information they deemed relevant given their significant expertise. That report was clear: Mayor Hogsett followed all applicable law and policy whenever an issue was reported to him. To claim otherwise is to use this process for political gain in a way that does not benefit the residents we were elected to serve.

I am committed to continuing the work with Mayor Hogsett and my colleagues on the Council to improve workplace policies and create the safest workplace possible for all the public servants who serve our city.”

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