Indy leaders under pressure after reports of misconduct from Mayor Hogsett’s former aide

Calls for transparency and accountability are growing after recent local news investigations unveiled misconduct from Mayor Joe Hogsett’s former right hand man.

Three women went public with their stories, describing sexual harassment and predatory behavior by Thomas Cook, the mayor’s former chief of staff.

Two of those women, Caroline Ellert and Lauren Roberts, have gone on record about their experiences with Cook. They released a letter this week and urged stronger abuse prevention policies and an independent reporting system.

Roberts reported the harassment in 2017, including direct communication with Mayor Hogsett, but Cook kept his job and allegedly continued the behavior. Roberts had left the Hogsett campaign in 2015 because of Cook's actions. Ellert said she experienced the same type of harassment in the years that followed. 

Both women say they did not have a good way to report the behavior through the city's chain of command.

“Systems should protect workers when individuals do not or cannot," they stated in their letter. "It is undeniable that the campaign and the City’s current sexual harassment policies and reporting systems failed at multiple levels.”

Ellert and Roberts wrote about measures they believe should be implemented, including an independent audit of how pervasive the problem is, reporting and response gaps. They also said better training and trauma care should be provided through city government.

A number of city-county councilors this week responded to the investigative stories, published by Indy Star and Mirror Indy within weeks of each other.

The City-County Council's Democratic leadership, including President Vop Osili, Vice President Ali Brown and Majority Leader Maggie Lewis, along with 14 Democratic councilors, released a statement and said they will take action.

"We are focused on implementing improvements that will bring greater accountability for all leaders, whether elected, appointed, or hired," the statement said.

Proposals outlined include the creation of a separate HR branch to handle sexual harrassment and other complaints.

In another statement, all six Republican councilors said they would work to introduce a resolution for an investigative committee on the matter.

Democratic Councilor Jessie Brown called for the mayor’s resignation. He wrote that Hogsett should step down because he continued to employ and empower Cook after he was aware of his behavior.

“As a direct result of Hogsett’s complicity, Cook went on to sexually abuse at least two more subordinate City employees. Any reasonable public official would recognize his culpability in these abuses. Any good public official would make sure that such abuses never, ever reoccurred,” Brown said.

Brown said Hogsett did not attend a call with councilors to discuss the issue.

At an ethics committee meeting last night Democratic Councilor Jessica McCormick expressed disgust and said this type of behavior is unacceptable.

Democratic candidate for governor Jennifer McCormick also released a statement.

"Mayor Hogsett’s apparent failure to address these issues appropriately highlights a systemic problem that demands a systematic solution," McCormick said. "The women involved were let down by both individuals and the system, and their pain must be acknowledged."

Reporting found that Cook was disciplined three times over the years before he was allowed to resign. Hogsett then brought Cook back to help run his 2023 re-election campaign.

A city ordinance does require sexual harassment training. A letter was sent to city employees this week regarding the need to have up-to-date training.

—CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said that Roberts worked for the adminstration and left in 2019. That was incorrect. Roberts worked for Hogsett's campaign and left in 2015.