We Are All Survivors of Hogsett’s Administration

Friends and Constituents,

Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration is crumbling.

Alarming numbers of high-ranking positions sit empty or have seen recent vacancies.

The Mayor’s own Action Center has formed a union, sick of the poverty wages they were paid for years and years on end.

Supporters of public education are increasingly sharing their outrage about the “Indianapolis Local Education Alliance” that I wrote about last week.

But when the story is written about the end of the Hogsett administration, history will remember the final meeting of the Investigative Committee as the last straw.

Multiple former staffers of Joe Hogsett sat front and center at the committee meeting, holding up signs reading “Hogsett HR is a JOKE”, “Protect Workers, Not Joe”, and “The Abuse Hasn’t Stopped.”

Lauren Roberts, one of the leading whistleblowers about Thomas Cook’s abuse and the administration’s refusal to hold him accountable, called in via FaceTime to protest the silencing of survivors and the committee’s choice to refuse to release the full report to the survivors prior to the end of the meeting.

Since that meeting, Lauren released all 49 pages of the written statement she provided to investigators, including an absolutely damning timeline.

Lauren brings all the receipts, including a particularly creepy and gross text exchange with Joe Hogsett himself.

Lauren’s well-documented testimony makes it clear beyond any shadow of a doubt that Joe Hogsett had every opportunity, for nearly a decade at this point, to make things right. At every opportunity, he failed to do so.

Mayor Hogsett’s misleadership and protection of Thomas Cook has had a horrifying and life-altering impact on survivors, shown in painful microcosm by Lauren’s story.

But at the end of the day, this isn’t just about Thomas Cook, and it’s not just about the staff members of Joe Hogsett’s campaign and administration.

It’s about all of us.

As the survivors’ signs warned us, abuse is continuing and even escalating.

As the high-level vacancies in the administration warn us, honest and smart people are being pushed out of public service. Others continue working for poverty wages out of their service to the city - but are treated as disposable.

As our own eyes and ears warn us when we look around the city - we see contempt for the public, active hostility towards democracy and transparency, and an utter failure to fulfill even the most basic city services.

These things are linked. When leaders become autocratic and silence any dissent, surrounding themselves only with yes-men, they fail to deliver effective policy.

Just like with Donald Trump’s clumsy and self-defeating DOGE and tariff work, Joe Hogsett’s vision has been incoherent and ineffective. Staff people are forced to worry more about being screamed at or threatened by the Mayor or his deputies than about serving constituents.

As more and more media stories come out about the administration, more and more staff people are speaking out publicly about the abuse and harassment they’ve experienced.

At least one whistleblower reported harassment in 2025, but was bullied into quitting her job rather than being protected. Her harasser was not approved by the City-County Council, yet still stayed on staff in a leadership position for months, continuing her abusive pattern of behavior.

The founders of the United States understood that powerful executive branches of government would always tend towards corruption and dictatorship. This is why they pushed for strong co-equal branches of government. Congresspeople do not receive their paychecks or their authority from the President - and that’s by design. The legislative branch is totally independent of the executive branch, and thus has power to hold the executive branch accountable.

I’m incredibly proud that another local legislator has shown the courage to demand a stop to the abuse of power that Mayor Joe Hogsett has demonstrated. Councilor Nielsen has used his bully pulpit in the most powerful way he could. I believe that other Councilors are soon to follow his lead.

Monday, June 9th is our next City-County Council meeting. As usual, I plan on meeting with constituents and supporters before the meeting starts, as part of the People’s Caucus.

I challenge readers to come join me in the Public Assembly Room before the meeting. Bring a sign letting the other Councilors know that you will support them in joining me and Councilor Nielsen, and encouraging them to use their elected positions to do the right thing.

We deserve city leaders who stand up for transparency, accountability, and democracy. Let’s encourage our Councilors who insist on this as well.

In love and solidarity,

Jesse