Ethics in Government

Jul 26

Friends and Constituents,

What can we expect of our elected officials? How can we trust that they are operating in the best interest of the general public? Who watches the watchmen?

This week, let’s talk about ethics.

Watch the video, then keep reading.

Constituents of Councilor Ron Gibson attempted to file an ethics complaint against him back in April based on his poor treatment of constituents and a perceived conflict of interest, based on his unwillingness to vote the way the vast majority of his constituents wanted him to. Last month, eastside residents attempted a similar complaint against Councilor Michael-Paul Hart based on his self-employment as a consultant and his employment at a firm, SHI, that does substantial business with the City of Indianapolis’s Information Services Agency.

These constituents found that there were very confusing and overlapping processes in place to report unethical behavior - but none of them were available to constituents to use.

The City of Indianapolis has a whistleblower portal - and when constituents used it to file complaints, they were told their complaints were forwarded to “the appropriate parties.”

But the portal cannot be used to file complaints about Councilors.

After the hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars spent investigating Thomas Cook and Joe Hogsett’s abuse and harassment, the City of Indianapolis also created an anonymous workplace concern portal.

But this, too, does not cover constituent complaints against Councilors. And although 13 complaints had been filed in the first few months of the portal’s existence, the Council and the public have received no updates or reports on any action taken as a result of this portal.

Mayor Joe Hogsett has appointees who work on a City Ethics Commission - which states on its website that it “reviews economic statements of interest filed by officials”.

But this Commission never meets, its members are not actually confirmed by the Council, and members of the Commission didn’t even know they were appointed.

The State of Indiana employs a Public Access Counselor, whose job is to investigate and review whether government officials are abiding by all laws about proper disclosure and transparency.

But under MAGA Governor Mike Braun, this person’s investigations and responses have been so slow as to be worthless.

So the constituents reached out to the City-County Council Ethics Committee - only to find out that we only allow complaints to be filed by other Councilors, not by constituents.

I asked constituents on Facebook and at a few meetings what ethics reforms they’d like to see their Councilors held to as public officials. They came up with a massive amount of requests, and I felt that as Councilors we should respond to them.

That’s why this week I attended the Ethics Committee as a guest to read through this list of constituent recommendations so we as the Council could adopt as many of them as possible.

When our Mayor has been the subject of a three-part major investigative journalism story about the perception of corruption within his administration; when multiple past Chiefs of Staff of the Mayor have springboarded into highly lucrative careers with former vendors of the City; when the Indiana Secretary of State created a six-figure job for his brother-in-law and bought himself a new luxury SUV; constituents are demanding transparency and accountability from their government.

We won’t stop fighting until the corruption is all dragged out of the shadows and burned away with sunlight.

Help me keep fighting - chip in a few dollars to help this people-powered campaign fight against the corporations buying off the rest of our politics.

In love and solidarity,Jesse

Ethics post:

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1502348061333875

Ethics committee video:

https://indianapolis.granicus.com/player/clip/26108?view_id=3&redirect=true

City Whistleblower Portal:

https://www.indy.gov/activity/whistleblower-reporting

Ethics Complaint overview WTHR Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DZgyhlBFCs9/

Speakfully portal: