Are council Democrats at an ‘impasse’? If so, how do they move forward?

Indianapolis City-County Building (IBJ photo/Mason King)

Three Democratic city-county council members are calling on Mayor Joe Hogsett to resign in the wake of an investigation into how his administration handled sexual harassment claims against his former chief of staff and campaign manager. One was nearly ousted from the Democratic caucus after a public call for leadership to step down. Another stands by Hogsett completely.

Infighting within the Democratic majority of the Indianapolis City-County Council has spilled from closed-door meetings and private conversations into the public.

Crista Carlino called the current situation among the 18-member Democratic Caucus “an impasse” on Wednesday in a three-page letter. In it, Carlino apologized to leadership for the manner in which she called for change in leadership during a committee meeting last week.

She said the caucus has failed to hold itself accountable and that, instead, “deflection and false accusations have become the rhetoric.”

“This is not who we are,” she wrote.

Carlino clarified in an interview with Abdul Hakim-Shabazz on Thursday evening that she released the statement to fulfill a “24-hour ultimatum” to maintain her spot in the caucus.

Some observers see Carlino’s statement as proof of a sort of reconciliation and the strength of party politics compared to personal politics. And several councilors say the group isn’t as divided as it may seem. They say beyond the typical tug-of-war on policy priorities with the administration, councilors are united as a public-facing target for critiques of the administration.

“We need to be talking about the city budget and where we’re going with that … ,” Council Vice President Ali Brown told IBJ. “And instead, I have to sit here and talk about the mayor’s fucking text messages. It’s ridiculous.”

Councilor Ron Gibson has been a clear outlier in his support for Hogsett. Still, he echoed sentiments from councilors who have been more critical of the third-term mayor in saying the governing body needed to find a way to move forward.

Gibson, who was an at-large councilor from 2000 to 2007 and was elected to his current District 8 seat in 2023, said this week’s events have required councilors to ask themselves, “Are we too much in the weeds here and not being able to get things done for our constituents?”

Laura Merrifield Wilson, an associate professor of political science at the University of Indianapolis, said the caucus could be coming back together. She said Carlino’s statement showed a “falling in line” with the institution of the party. She said that showed an emphasis on the idea that the party comes before individual arguments or accusations.

A longtime Democratic politician who previously served on the council agreed that it’s evidence that the situation is cooling.

Joanne Sanders was an at-large councilor from 2000 to 2011. She said the caucus does not seem to be any more divided than it has been in the past and that internal conversations likely led to Carlino’s apology and whatever steps come next.

“I trust that reasonable people will prevail, and they’ll find a path forward,” Sanders said.

But Councilor Jesse Brown, an elected Democrat who was expelled from the caucus earlier this year, said the only appropriate way forward is a change of leadership for both the council and the Mayor’s Office. He reiterated Carlino’s earlier statement that Ali Brown and Councili President Vop Osili need to step down.

“It sucks for the party, and it sucks for taxpayers and voters that all of this is being aired out in public,” Brown said. “I think that’s a direct result of bad leadership decisions.”

Hogsett, Osili and Ali Brown have all said they have no intentions of leaving their current positions.

Changing dynamics

Sanders, who is now retired from a career primarily in organized labor, breaks with the existing council on how she would have handled this situation. From her perspective, the creation of the Investigative Committee went beyond the council’s responsibilities. She understands, though, that councilors—some of whom now do the job as their only work—saw an issue and wanted to address it. 

In fact, the council’s decision to authorize the investigation is another example of the majority caucus’s increasing willineness to break with the Mayor’s Office or push different policy priorities.

The council has blocked two of Hogsett’s nominees for leadership positions in just the past year. And some councilors were able to secure funding in a spring addendum to the budget for their priorities, rather than focusing on the mayor’s priorities—although that vote was overshadowed by Osili’s move to have a woman at the center of the investigation forcibly removed from the council’s chamber.

At a May 13 meeting, Democratic Councilor Dan Boots called the $27.2 million allocation “the first time in at least my six-year tenure where the council has input and asserted its priorities.” Those priorities included funding for forest preservation through the city’s stormwater fund and for the city’s efforts to eliminate road deaths.

Even Republicans have taken notice of the increasing split.

Minority Leader Michael-Paul Hart said he started to notice some dissent on the Democratic side against the Hogsett administration’s decision last year. It’s seemingly helped his six-member caucus gain more traction.

He also gave kudos to Democrats—particularly Councilors Andy Nielsen and Boots—for the work they did to incorporate constituent feedback into that package. 

“They’re participating in a way that represents the legislative body, the way that I think it’s been designed,” Hart said. “I think it’s been helpful for Republicans to get their say in as well.”