Hogsett says he asked Cook to lead last campaign without knowing every allegation

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett on Wednesday said he was unaware of more recent sexual harassment allegations against his former chief of staff when he brought him on to lead the mayor’s 2023 reelection campaign.

The mayor also disputed a former campaign staffer’s assertion that she was not contacted as part of a 2017 investigation performed by an outside law firm to look into her harassment claims.

The comments marked the first time since allegations against his former top aide came to light that Hogsett took questions from the media on the topic. The mayor previously made a public apology to three women who accused former chief of staff and campaign leader Thomas Cook of inappropriate behavior, but he did so without taking questions.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday at the grand opening of an apartment complex south of downtown, Hogsett said he asked Cook to lead his campaign in late 2022 before he was aware of allegations against Cook that took place after 2017.

Cook began working for Hogsett in 2011 when Hogsett was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. He led Hogsett’s mayoral election campaign in 2014 and 2015 and was appointed chief of staff in 2016.

Lauren Roberts, a former deputy campaign manager for Hogsett, claims Cook began sexually harassing her in 2014 when they worked together on the mayor’s campaign. She left the campaign in June 2015, but said she began contacting Hogsett and other city officials in mid-2017 about Cook’s behavior.

In October 2017, Cook was reprimanded and prohibited from having romantic relationship with co-workers, according to the city.

However, another female city employee said Cook had a physical relationship with her in 2018 and sexually assaulted her in 2019 after she left her city job. Another romantic relationship between Cook and a subordinate co-worker was reported in 2020.

Cook resigned from his job as chief deputy mayor in December 2020, according to the city, after he violated the prohibition on romantic relationships with subordinates.

“I didn’t know anything about 2020—I didn’t know anything about 2018 or 2019 until October or September of 2023,” Hogsett said Wednesday.

When asked for clarification about the statement, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office referred to an earlier statement from city attorneys that referenced “new allegations of inappropriate conduct with a subordinate co-worker, first reported to the administration in 2023.”

Hogsett told reporters that in September 2023, Cook “was given the opportunity to no longer work on the campaign, and the contracts that he had obtained in his private-sector employment practice were canceled.”

Cook worked at law firm Bose McKinney & Evans until July 19, when his employment ended the same day as the IndyStar published a story detailing the allegations against him.

Hogsett contested a claim that investigators the city hired in 2017 to investigate Cook did not reach out to Roberts about her claims.

Roberts said she confronted Hogsett personally about his top aide’s behavior in person in 2019, but maintained that she was not contacted for the investigation.

She held a sign at a budget hearing early this month that read, “2017 investigation? Prove it.”

“She was” contacted, Hogsett told reporters Wednesday, adding, “I respectfully disagree [with Roberts].”

IBJ was unable to reach Roberts for comment.

Cook has not been charged with a crime. In a statement, he has acknowledged relationships that he called “consensual” but that “violated a trust placed in me.”

According to a statement from city attorneys provided to IBJ last month, the 2017 investigation stemmed from “inappropriate romantic advances” Cook made toward a coworker on the Hogsett campaign in 2014.

The allegations were first reported by IndyStar and Mirror Indy. Since then, Hogsett has signed an executive order to mandate harassment training annually for all employees. The previous policy required the training just during onboarding for employees who aren’t supervisors. The city also has launched an anonymous online reporting portal.

Hogsett told reporters he personally has completed the training every two years of his eight years as mayor, as is required.

Through a proposal passed out of committee on Friday, the Hogsett administration might undergo a formal investigation intended to overhaul the city’s handling of sexual harassment allegations. The full City-County Council will give a final vote on that proposal Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. in the City-County Building Public Assembly Room.