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Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett used Monday night’s City-County Council meeting to apologize to three women who have accused Thomas Cook, Hogsett’s former top aide, of sexually harassing them.
But that didn’t stop the Democratic-controlled council from allowing the immediate introduction of measures that would potentially let a committee investigate the Democratic mayor’s response to the women’s allegations and upgrade the city’s sexual harassment policies.
Two of the women, Caroline Ellert and Lauren Roberts, were in the audience, sitting just behind the mayor as he spoke Monday night.
Roberts directly confronted Hogsett about Cook’s behavior in 2019, according to recent reports by The Indianapolis Star and Mirror Indy. At Monday’s council meeting, Roberts held a sign that read, “2017 investigation? Prove it,” referring to the Hogsett administration’s insistence that there was an investigation into Cook’s alleged harassment in 2017. Roberts, however, has said she was never interviewed.
Hogsett said Cook’s conduct was a “betrayal of the trust placed in him as a public official, a betrayal of my trust, and most importantly, a violation of the city’s responsibility to ensure safety and well-being for all employees.”
“To former city of Indianapolis employee Caroline Ellert and former campaign employee Lauren Roberts, who I believe are with us tonight, I want to tell you both and the third anonymous individual who also shared her story, how sorry I am for the harm that has occurred, and I apologize profoundly,” the mayor said.
Cook resigned from the city in 2020 and joined a local law law firm, following a second reported inappropriate relationship with a subordinate employee. Cook continued to work for Hogsett’s campaign in an unpaid capacity until December 2023.
Cook has not responded to IBJ’s request for comment. However, he issued a statement to the Star.
“Dating back a decade, I had consensual relationships that violated a trust placed in me,” Cook said in the statement. “At no time did I seek to use my professional position to further those personal relationships. That being said, I understand these situations have raised legitimate concerns and I apologize to all those involved.”
Hogsett, a Democrat, has been criticized for knowing about the harassment accusations and not doing enough to stop repeat incidents. He said Monday he “fell short in two important respects.”
“First, I regret that the two women who spoke up about this did not feel heard for far too long,” he continued.
Roberts interjected: “We weren’t heard.”
Second, Hogsett said, the women didn’t feel they had a safe, confidential way of reporting. He said he has “studied” a letter from Ellert and Roberts over the past several days. That letter calls for changes to the city’s sexual harassment policies to assist survivors and mandate training for all employees. He said his administration is proposing changes based on the recommendations.
The Democratic-controlled council unanimously voted to suspend the rules to add a proposal to the agenda with upgraded sexual harassment policies. Immediately after that, Republican Brian Mowery moved to suspend the rules to add a proposal that would create a committee to investigate the mayor’s response. That motion passed 22-3, with 16 Democrats joining the six Republicans in voting in favor. Voting against the motion were three Democrats: Vice President Ali Brown, Ron Gibson and Jessica McCormick.
Brown told reporters following the meeting that she doesn’t disagree with the intent of the Republican-led proposal to create an investigative committee but that she disagrees with focusing the probe on just one person and one situation.
She and McCormick also explained their ‘no’ votes in a statement, saying the GOP proposal “too narrowly focused on the actions of a few individuals” and had a limited scope that would not result in meaningful protections for city employees.”
Marion County Republican Party Chair Joe Elsener released a statement applauding the decision by most Democrats to join in support of adding the proposal to the agenda, even though it was merely a procedural vote.
“As leaders, we must come together in a bipartisan effort to make sure city-county employees and taxpayers are never failed in this same manner ever again. True change cannot come without accountability, and we are looking forward to working with our counterparts on the other side of the aisle to bring accountability.”
Both proposals were sent to committees and did not receive a vote Monday evening. Both were assigned to the Rules and Public Policy Committee, which does not currently have a scheduled meeting within the next month.
New council proposals
The Democrat-led proposal authorizes the Rules and Public Policy Committee, led by President Vop Osili, to evaluate and make changes to the city’s processes regarding sexual harassment allegations.
The proposal authorizes the committee to consider the following measures:
- Creating a separate branch of human resources from the mayor’s administration that explicitly addresses sexual harassment and other discrimination-related complaints.
- Creating a commission that engages subject matter experts to evaluate the city’s current policies, identify gaps, and implement best practices that will foster a culture of safety, respect, and accountability. This includes but is not limited to the use of the Employee Assistance Program.
- Modifying Revised Code Section 293-304 to include all city county employees in an annual mandatory sexual harassment training.
The proposal was introduced by McCormick and Ali Brown.
The Republicans’ proposal, introduced by Mowery, seeks to create an investigative committee to further probe the allegations as well as the mayor and his office’s handling of the situation.
The committee could subpoena witnesses and documents in its investigation with the goal of producing a report explaining any evidence of wrongdoing and proposals to prevent similar events in the future.
It was also referred to the City-County Council Rules and Public Policy Committee.
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