Democrat City-County Councilor Calls on Joe Hogsett to Resign

INDIANAPOLIS–Indianapolis City-County Councilor Andy Nielsen is calling for Mayor Joe Hogsett’s resignation following a third-party investigation that found the Mayor legally compliant in instances of sexual harassment.

The investigation was launched after former staffers accused Hogsett’s former chief of staff of sexual harassment.

Nielsen, who served on the investigative committee, stated that the Mayor’s decisions showed a lack of judgment and disregard for ethics, leading to a call for his resignation. Mayor Hogsett has not responded to the renewed calls for his resignation.

Hogsett released the following statement on Monday:

“While we don’t always agree, one thing the City-County Council and I do agree on is the importance of continually improving City policies and training; a bipartisan commitment I reaffirmed in a letter to the Council President and Committee Chair last Friday, May 30. Within 24 hours, I also instructed the Office of Corporation Counsel (OCC) to review all relevant materials on the range of work Thomas Cook was engaged with during his final months of employment with the City, which will be made available to the Council and the public in the next few days. OCC is beginning to look into what would legally need to be done to implement the recommendations put forth by the Council’s law firm, Fisher Phillips, to further strengthen the processes available to protect all employees in the City-County enterprise. I ask that the Council work with my office to schedule a productive and open dialogue about all the measures proposed in the final report as soon as possible,” said Hogsett.

Cook is accused of sexually harassing multiple women while working for Hogsett.

The report raises “serious concerns” as to why Cook remained in his position for 68 days after human resources acted on the acted on the allegations, Neilsen says.

The investigation showed that Hogsett’s repeated choices to keep cook “demonstrated a profound lack of judgement and disregard for fundamental ethics,” Neilsen argues. “These decisions knowingly put peoples in harm’s way and eroded trust in institutions that we should and must hold to the highest standard. I am incredibly disappointed by this poor leadership.”