Foust: Special Prosecutor Should Investigate Hogsett

INDIANAPOLIS — The Republican candidate for Marion County prosecutor believes there should be an investigation into Democratic Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett.

According to reporting from IndyStar and Mirror Indy, Hogsett’s campaign routed donor wish lists to the City-County Building and helped insiders chase taxpayer contracts. Hogsett said a criminal investigation into him is “not needed,” calling it “performative.”

There have also been calls, including from members of the Indianapolis City-County Council, for the mayor to resign over his handling of sexual misconduct allegations in his office.

On WIBC’s “The Hammer and Nigel Show” on Wednesday, Philip Foust said the public deserves to know that allegations against the mayor have been looked at properly.

“It’s the prosecutor’s job to handle these without any bias, fear, or favor,” Foust said. “Unfortunately, Ryan Mears has placed his office in a complete catch-22.”

Foust believes Mears has ambitions to be mayor of Indianapolis someday after his reelection campaign for prosecutor this year. He wants Mears to make his plan for the future known and then step aside so a special prosecutor can come in and conduct a formal investigation of Hogsett.

“Because of the appearance of impropriety, which is the standard here, he (Mears) needs to step back; that way, either decision to go forward or not, people will feel confident that it’s being handled properly,” Foust explained.

The Delaware County Commission, with support from the sheriff and prosecutor, recently declared a vote of no confidence in Mears, joining other Indiana counties, cities, towns, mayors, and police leaders who have already done the same. Commissioners cited an increase in crime in their area that involves people from Marion County who were released from prior convictions.

“If he (Mears) understood and remembered what his job truly was, then that would matter to him,” Foust added. “It would hurt any self-respecting prosecutor to get that sort of criticism from our surrounding counties.”

Foust also reiterated a point that he previously made on “The Hammer and Nigel Show,” which is that Marion County does not have an overincarceration problem, but a repeat offender problem.