The first member of the Indianapolis City County Council is calling on Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett to resign in the wake of sexual harassment allegations against former Chief of Staff Thomas Cook.
Cook is accused of grooming and sexually harassing young women who worked under him. Complaints dated back to 2017. Cook was reprimanded and disciplined three times.
New reporting by Mirror Indy shows the Mayor knew of the allegations but kept Cook around despite being aware of repeated allegations.
In a Facebook post, Jesse Brown, a socialist who ran as a Democrat, called for Hogsett to step down.
Here is what he wrote…
Three weeks ago, the IndyStar broke the story of how Thomas Cook, Joe Hogsett’s right-hand man, sexually abused multiple subordinate city employees before finally being dismissed. As today’s Mirror Indy article makes clear, Joe Hogsett knew about Cook’s predatory behavior by May 2017 (at the latest), yet he continued to employ and empower Cook for six more years. As a direct result of Hogsett’s complicity, Cook went on to sexually abuse at least two more subordinate City employees.
Any reasonable public official would recognize his culpability in these abuses. Any good public official would make sure that such abuses never, ever reoccurred. Instead, even in the last few weeks, Hogsett has circled the wagons, refraining from public comment and insisting that any questions must be directed towards his attorneys. When Councilors demanded a meeting with Hogsett to have their questions answered, only Hogsett attorneys and a silent, junior staffer attended the call.
Even now, weeks after news of Cook’s pattern of predation broke publicly, Hogsett has not implemented a clear and confidential process for reporting sexual harassment, nor has he provided sexual harassment training for all City employees. (Clear reporting mechanisms and universal training are considered bare minimum measures to prevent sexual harassment, as Hogsett and his lawyers are certainly aware.) The City’s current policy is to provide only supervisors with sexual harassment training. This means that subordinate employees—the employees most vulnerable to abuse—are kept in the dark about the City’s harassment policy and reporting mechanisms.
It’s one thing for the Mayor’s chief of staff to use his power and position to sexually exploit his direct reports; it’s another for the Mayor to allow it to happen again, and again, and again.
Cook has lost his position—good. Hogsett should, too.
Time and time again, constituents have warned me about the perils of speaking out about the administration. I’ve heard from multiple constituents that even mild critiques of the Hogsett administration have resulted in their employers calling them to explain that the Mayor’s Office wanted them silenced or fired. But I don’t have a job that is easily threatened or a boss to lean on. I work for you, my constituents, and that’s why I’m authoring this letter.
If we can’t prevent or stop top-level City officials from abusing and exploiting staffers, what hope do we have of solving the many challenges facing our City and its residents?
There’s just too much at stake.
A better world is possible, but it starts with transparency and accountability.
Hogsett must resign from his position as Mayor of Indianapolis.
Hogsett cannot be recalled, however state law does have a mechanism for sitting mayors to be impeached.
