Hogsett administration investigation nears key benchmark

Attorneys from the law firm hired to investigate the Hogsett administration’s handling of harassment allegations are expected to submit an interim report to the Indianapolis City-County Council next week.

That will mark a key benchmark in what will likely be a long, costly process.

Councilors authorized an external investigation in August after three women came forward with harassment allegations against Thomas Cook, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett’s former chief of staff. The council formed a council investigation committee, which then hired an independent law firm to investigate the administration’s handling of the allegations.

Attorneys with Atlanta-based Fisher Phillips must submit a report documenting what they’ve discovered to the council by Feb. 28. The committee will meet Wednesday to hear from the law firm, but the report might not yet be ready, Councilor Crista Carlino, who is chairing the investigative committee, told IBJ.

Initially, the Feb. 28 deadline was intended to be the midpoint of the seven-member, bipartisan investigative committee’s work. It has not yet scheduled meetings beyond Feb. 26, but Carlino says meetings will likely continue.

She warned that people should not expect the report to be a “tell-all.” Instead, she said, it will likely be a high-level recap of the steps Fisher Phillips has taken so far. She expects it will also include findings such as how many investigations the city’s human resources department conducted and what disciplinary actions the administration took.

“Once that report is submitted, I think the committee will know as well our role in the second half, or the second phase, of this work,” she told IBJ.

Attorneys from Fisher Phillips did not respond to requests for comment.

There is no official deadline for the completion of the investigation. However, Carlino told IBJ that the council must balance the need for a thorough, independent investigation with the costs. While the council is paying attorneys from Fisher Phillips, the Hogsett administration is paying additional attorneys from Indianapolis-based firm Faegre Drinker to help with the discovery process.

“Attorneys are not cheap, and really, damn good attorneys are certainly not cheap,” Carlino said. “And so this investigation costs taxpayer dollars, the retention of the Faegre firm by the administration is costing additional taxpayer dollars… the last thing that we want to see, you know, is excessive spending when we have so many needs in our city.”

Cook has not been charged with a crime. He has acknowledged “consensual relationships that violated a trust placed in me” but said he did not seek to use his professional position to further those relationships.

Hogsett’s legal team adds two more

Brandon Beeler, corporation counsel for the city of Indianapolis, reported to the committee on Jan. 29 that the additional workload Fisher Phillips’ discovery process required the administration to pay additional attorneys.

Beeler told the committee that city attorneys—who make up the Office of Corporation Counsel—lacked the bandwidth for the investigation and did not have the technology that a large law firm, like Faegre Drinker, has to provide discovery.

A publicly available contract directs two Faegre Drinker attorneys to assist in providing documents to Fisher Phillips. Additionally, the attorneys might give legal advice to the city and represent city-county employees in any negotiations or litigation related to the probe.

The pair of attorneys, Matt Giffin and Daniel Pulliam, are paid $650 and $670 hourly. The contract caps the total cost at a maximum of $40,000.

That expense adds to the total cost of the process. A bid packet from Fisher Phillips lists six attorneys on the investigation. Their pay spans from $295 hourly to $595 hourly.

The administration is also paying $151,874 over three years for an anonymous online workplace harassment reporting platform called Speakfully.

During the Jan. 29 meeting, Human Resources Director Twana Ellis told the committee that the platform had received 13 submissions since it launched Jan. 10. Beeler said the submissions are a mix of “concerns” and “complaints.” He characterized “concerns” as minor reports that might not violate policy.

Law firm, city attorneys collaborate for extensive discovery

Beeler said the city gave Fisher Phillips the first batch of documents it requested on Jan. 16. He expected that Fisher Phillips would receive email correspondence it had requested around the first week of February. Fisher Phillips requested emails containing about 20 or so search terms. Carlino asked that Fisher Phillips include the search terms as part of the interim report.

Carlino told IBJ that Fisher Phillips might not be prepared to present a report Wednesday. She attributed that to the lengthy process of sifting through the documents and emails.

“I wish there was more of a sense of urgency there, but I would rather take care to gather the best information, the most information we can and do it in a sensitive way that does protect those who may be, ultimately, a victim in this circumstance,” she said.

Still, Fisher Phillips will present key points of the report at a public meeting. Carlino said the report will be public, aside from information protected by the attorney-client privilege or that identifies victims.