First Republican Indianapolis council member joins calls for Hogsett to resign

Indianapolis Star

3 days ago

A Republican on the Indianapolis City-County Council has joined other calls for Mayor Joe Hogsett's resignation, following an investigation into the handling of sexual harassment complaints by his former top aide and the revelation of the mayor's late-night, personal text messages to two younger women.
Joshua Bain, who represents the south side of Marion County, is the first Republican on the 25-member Democrat-led council to call for Hogsett's resignation. Democrat Andy Nielsen and Democratic socialist Jesse Brown previously called on Hogsett to resign.
"Calling for resignation is not something I do lightly," Bain said in a statement June 10. "But the weight of these failures — ethical, personal, and professional —demands accountability. Immediate change in leadership would be right for Indianapolis."
The call from Bain follows an explosive City-County Council meeting on June 9 in which Lauren Roberts, who is one of three women who accused Hogsett's former right-hand man Thomas Cook of harassment and abuse, was forcibly dragged out of the council chambers by sheriff's deputies as she tried to make a statement to council members about her experience and the subsequent investigation.
Though the calls for Hogsett's resignation are growing, it's not up to the City-County Council whether Hogsett stays in office. An impeachment process exists, but is largely controlled by the Indiana General Assembly. Recall elections also don't exist here.
However, losing support from the council where there is a Democratic supermajority could make it more difficult for the mayor to govern.
It already appears to be impacting his schedule. Hogsett had been scheduled to attend a press conference June 10 to announce a city housing initiative called "Streets to Home" but that event was canceled.
More: 'We won't allow facts to be buried': Hogsett investigative report omissions raise concerns
The Council's Democratic caucus released a statement yesterday stating they were let down by the mayor's behavior but stopped short of calling for a resignation.
But the statement added "the mayor's past and recent conduct has compromised (public) trust and weakened the moral authority of the office." Democrats called for the city to implement several reforms, including establishing an independent human resources board to replace the city's current human resources division.
The council's Republicans are also demanding that the council take several additional action steps, including an oversight hearing, more documentation from the law firm that conducted the investigation and a public addendum to the report that includes any evidence omitted from the official version.
So far, just one member of the council, Democrat Ron Gibson, has released a statement in staunch support of Hogsett.
IndyStar's recent reporting revealed the mayor's late-night personal texts to younger women made them feel uncomfortable, they said, and they shared those texts with Fisher Phillips investigators who were probing the Cook allegations as evidence of a troubled workplace culture under Hogsett.
No mention of the texts appeared in the final report, IndyStar reported last week, even though they directly contradicted some of the report's conclusions.
After the June 9 meeting, where dozens of people came to protest Hogsett, another Democrat on the council, Crista Carlino, said she was "deeply considering" calling for Hogsett's resignation.
'As someone who serves part-time, runs campaigns, evening text messages with staff are things that unfortunately have to happen," Carlino said. "We pull late nights. But the content of those, particularly around the poetry especially for a married man, gives me great pause.'
Hogsett was married at the time the messages were sent but got divorced in 2023.
In his call for the mayor to resign, Bain said there was a "troubling and growing pattern" of issues with the mayor, including a "lack of response" during the 2020 protests in downtown Indianapolis.
"That lack of leadership left a lasting mark — on our downtown, on our public trust, and on our ability to move forward as a united city," Bain said.
More: Can Indiana mayors be removed from office? There's a law, but it's rare, experts say.
Fallout from the City-County Council meeting in which Roberts and her supporters were forcibly removed from the chambers continued the next day.
Before the meeting, Hogsett had been scheduled to attend a press conference June 10 to announce a city housing initiative called "Streets to Home."
On the day of the press conference, Hogsett's administration decided to "postpone" the meeting to an undetermined date "in light of recent events, in order to keep the focus on supporting our unhoused neighbors."
Faith leaders criticized that decision and said they had suggested that someone else from the mayor's office represent the administration "out of concern for the tone, perception and effectiveness" of the event.
"Last night's events at the City-County Council meeting deeply unsettled many in our community and cast a shadow over the important progress we are trying to make through the Streets to Home initiative," according to a statement from Rabbi Aaron Spiegel, Pastor David Greene and Rev. Gray Lesesne.
The Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis and the Baptist Ministers' Alliance also released a statement on June 10 criticizing the "disturbing revelations about sexual harassment, retaliation and silencing of victims at the highest levels of city government."
Removing Roberts from the council meeting was "further traumatizing a woman who had the courage to speak truth to power."
"We say with one voice: You cannot protect future victims by abandoning those already harmed. You cannot legislate equity while practicing erasure. You cannot call yourself a public servant and privately shield misconduct," the statement read.
Email IndyStar Reporter Jordan Smith at [e-mail]. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09.