Sources are telling Indy Politics that Indianapolis City-County Councilor Crista Carlino was removed from the Democratic caucus this evening.
Carlino, who represents District 11 and chairs the council committee investigating the mayor’s office, recently urged Mayor Joe Hogsett to resign. She also called for Council President Vop Osili and Vice President Ali Brown to give up their leadership roles. Carlino argued that the investigation into the administration’s handling of former chief of staff Thomas Cook was too narrow and failed to hold top officials accountable.
That public statement was widely seen as a direct challenge to party leadership. According to my sources, Democratic leaders decided Carlino had gone too far and voted to remove her from the caucus during a closed-door meeting Tuesday night.
Indy Politics was told the caucus vote was overwhelming, with members indicating that Carlino had offered no evidence to support her claims of undue influence on the investigation — nor had she raised those concerns internally with the council before making her statement.
We’re also told Carlino was given the opportunity to acknowledge she was wrong and retract her statements, but she refused to do so.
She is the second Democrat to be removed from the caucus in recent months. Jesse Brown was also expelled earlier this year and the third Council member to call for the Mayor to step down. Councillors Josh Bain, and Andy Neilsen, all of whom have previously issued public statements demanding that Mayor Hogsett resign.
Democrat Jessica McCormick was leaning towards calling for Hogsett to step down.
