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Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett on Wednesday released his first campaign advertisement in his race against Republican Jefferson Shreve.
The second-term mayor’s ad focuses on his efforts in public safety. Shreve has not yet advertised during the general election cycle, but will within the next week, his campaign told IBJ.
The 30-second video, titled “Jonas,” touts the recruitment of 700 officers and a $72,000 starting salary for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department during Hogsett’s tenure as mayor. The department is currently about 250 officers short of the 1,843 budgeted positions, with Hogsett announcing the salary increase in late May.
“With the recent announcement of the next phase in his anti-crime strategy, it is clear that Mayor Joe supports our police department and has the plan to make Indianapolis a safer city for all,” Hogsett campaign manager Blake Hesch said in a press release announcing the ad.
In response to the video, Hogsett’s opponents pointed toward IMPD’s continued staffing woes. Shreve’s campaign said the ad is “designed to be misleading.”
“It has been widely reported, even by the IBJ, that Indianapolis has the budget to hire nearly 300 more police officers. Yet, the force remains woefully understaffed,” Shreve spokeswoman Sarah Holsapple said in a written statement.
“It is also deceptive to tout hiring 700 officers without mentioning how many you failed to retain,” the statement said. “And the ad asserts our city’s police are some of the highest paid officers in the Midwest—this is suspect at best as Indy doesn’t even rank in the top 100 cities for police compensation. At a time when crime rates are higher than ever, we should be supporting IMPD officers, not using them for political gain.”
The Marion County Republican Party called the video “election year deception.”
“On the same day that businesses in Broad Ripple are announcing they have to close up shop early because the mayor can’t keep the streets safe, Joe Hogsett is releasing his first ad and it’s based on a lie,” Joe Elsener, chair of the Indy GOP, said in a statement. “While the mayor is touting his record of hiring new police officers, the fact is under his lack of leadership ,IMPD is facing a massive recruitment and retention problem.”
Shreve, who spent at least $1.2 million on ads in the primary, has yet to go on air for the general election. But that will change soon: the campaign spent $603,000 on an ad to run from July 3 to July 16, Holsapple told IBJ.
The new ad, created by Democratic agency Putnam Partners, is more evidence that public safety and crime will be a key issue in the mayoral campaign.
The incumbent mayor has been criticized by his opponent for IMPD’s staffing shortage and not hiring a director of public safety. Hogsett recently announced a multifaceted plan targeting gun violence in Indianapolis. The plan includes a city ordinance regulating firearms that would require a shift in the state preemption law.
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Shreve should save his money to move!!! He could never win!!! Just wasting Money cloutchasin!!
First of all, most employers are having a recruitment and retention problem, not just IMPD. That would be an issue no matter who is mayor, unless the department is able to offer exceptionally attractive pay. That, of course, might require higher taxes, and Republicans make that option either politically suicidal or legally impossible. Second, Republicans at the state level are working overtime to prevent local jurisdictions (especially those run by Democrats) from creating local solutions to their problems. Local governments have to jump through hoops to restrict the presence of guns in public places such as Broad Ripple, thanks to state laws usurping local authority. Heck, state Republicans are even trying to prohibit Indy from enacting pedestrian safety measures to try to curb a documented problem of people hit by right-turning vehicles downtown. It’s the Republican way — create problems (such as the flood of unregulated guns on the streets), prevent Democrats from trying to solve those problems (such as common-sense local gun restrictions that most people favor), then blame Democrats for the problems. Rinse and repeat.
IMPD starting salary is over 70k & total compensation package year 1 is over 120k if they stay long enough to get their pension (first year annualized benefits over the 15 years required)
Lol….
Like Dem solutions are working? NOT
Hogsett’s Prosecutor Ryan Mears is more concerned with social justice than
criminal justice.
The surge in shootings and murders were before any gun laws were changed
The cities where BLM/Antifa were the most active and violent, are having a
difficult time recruiting and retaining police officers. Indianapolis included.
The libs will never learn as their only reactions to problems is blaming Republicans. How convenient.
I have always been proud to be from Indy and a graduate of IPS. But the last few years have been devastating to our fair city and much of the luster is gone. I fear it may never regain that luster, pride, and wholesome image that we once enjoyed. The lack of leadership is apparent and if voters do not make a change in the next election, then they will get what they deserve. Common sense is not so common.
Republicans ran Marion County exclusively for 40 years and ran it into the ground. We have taxes that go exclusively to big business due to Republican legislation, we don’t get our fair share of road funding due to Republican legislation, and we can’t even address basic violent crime and traffic safety because of Republican legislation. What on Earth are you even going on about? How about you own your party’s actions?
Crime in this city is a Dem problem.
Indy looked a lot better downtown when the R’s were in charge.
Yeah…except when Republicans at the State-level pre-empt Indy from doing anything meaningful to address the problem (particularly gun violence and poverty).
You can drop the bad-faith arguments; they’re super transparent and don’t work on me.
A R, +1.
Your arguments are lacking and don’t work on me either.
Congrats!!
Here’s the kicker: I referenced things that actually happened. You didn’t.
Lol….
What actually happened was that shootings and murders are at record levels
since the Hogsett Administration took over.
Before the gun laws were ever changed.
Hogsett threw IMPD under the bus after the riots. You think IMPD
has forgotten that???
Downtown was safer and cleaner before the Dems and their social justice
warriors took over.
Why complain about Rs and Ds when Joe Hogsett has presided over city-county government for eight years. He has a record to run on, let him be accountable to it. A good start is the persistent conflict between Hogsett and the legislature when the Mayor proposes ordinances that contradict state law. The state legislature established the framework for local governments throughout the state. The Indiana Code specifically states, in common language, that issues/topics covered in the Indiana Code are the authority of the state and if there is contradictory language between state law and local ordinance, the state law prevails. Past mayors have developed legislative agendas and collaborated with the state on solutions. Hogsett has worked in the Governor’s Office, Secretary of State and is an Attorney, but he doesn’t get this?
Of course, when Joe Hogsett hired a consultant from New York to assist him in developing and executing his crime strategy for Indianapolis, his intentions were obvious. This was not an ordinary consultant. This is one with experience. Experience that told us Joe Hogsett is the most anti-police mayor Indianapolis has had in generations. Consultant X did not only defund a NJ police department, she de-legitimized the police union and civilianized a majority of the department’s positions. Why hire a consultant with experience this radical unless Hogsett holds this as his vision for the IMPD?
By the way, the New Jersey town is working hard to undo the damage left behind by Hogsett’s consultant.
Let’s not forget, in the aftermath of a police action shooting, Hogsett and his police chief changed department policy to allow them to dox the officer involved. Is this how the mayor shows his support for the police?
KimalieW.
+ 1
Well said.