Councilor Carlino walks back accusations against leadership, acknowledges ‘responsibility for not doing more’

City-County Councilors Crista Carlino, Vop Osili and Ali Brown

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a statement issued by the City-County Council’s Democratic Caucus late Wednesday that said Councilor Crista Carlino is still a member of the caucus. 

Democratic City-County Council member Crista Carlino said Wednesday afternoon that she would resign her role as chair of the council’s Investigative Committee, which oversaw a look into the Hogsett administration’s reaction to sexual harassment allegations made public last year.

In a written statement, Carlino also apologized for what she said were “distractions and disruptions” she caused last week at a meeting of the Administration and Finance Committee when she called on Council President Vop Osili and Vice President Ali Brown to step down.

The statement comes one day after the council’s Democratic Caucus met and, by at least one account, voted to expel Carlino because of her earlier actions. Democratic Councilor Ron Gibson told IBJ earlier Wednesday that the caucus requested that Carlino issue a public apology, but at the time, she would not commit to doing so. Later Wednesday evening—after Carlino released her statement—Gibson told IBJ in a text, “More than likely, we vote to reinstate her.”

Later Wednesday, the Democratic Caucus issued a statement to say Carlino was still a member of the caucus.

“As members of the Indianapolis City-County Council, we are responsible to our constituents for maintaining the integrity of our elected duties,” the statement said. “It was recently reported that Councilor Carlino had been voted out of the Democratic caucus. Councilor has issued a statement regarding this matter and remains a member of the caucus. We look forward to our continued work alongside Councilor Carlino and supporting the constituents of District 11.”

The controversy stems from a June 17 Investigative Committee meeting where Carlino told the public that she was not the “architect” of a contract with Atlanta-based Fisher Phillips, the law firm the council hired to investigate whether Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration appropriately handled accusations that former Chief of Staff Thomas Cook had harassed three women who worked for the city, the Democratic Party or the Hogsett campaign. At that meeting, Carlino also called for the council leaders to step down. When asked specifically whether she believed Osili and Brown had been the ones to determine the scope of the investigation, Carlino did not give reporters a direct answer.

That matters because the final report from the Atlanta-based Fisher Phillips has faced intense scrutiny. Two women interviewed by Fisher Phillips told media outlets that the firm omitted details, including texts from the mayor, from its report. The firm told Carlino in a June 9 memo that those texts fell outside the scope of the investigation and clarified that the investigation focused only on allegations against Cook. Osili and Brown have denied involvement in determining the scope of the investigation.

On Wednesday, Carlino said her statements at the June 17 meeting were “misconstrued.” Carlino said she was not claiming that the pair “directly impacted the investigation” and is still not making that claim. She said she has no proof of that. Instead, she said she was frustrated that one of Cook’s accusers had been forcibly removed from an earlier council meeting at Osili’s order. But she apologized for calling out Osili and Brown during the public meeting when they had no opportunity to respond.

Carlino also said that she had worked to widen the scope of the investigation, but she said that while some changes were made, it wasn’t enough. Still, she said she takes some responsibility for the final outcome.

“My colleagues on the Council have lost faith in my leadership and are placing blame on me, and I accept that. I accept responsibility for not doing more,” the statement said. “I could have worked harder to push the firm. I could have been more vocal sooner about my concerns over the scope.”

Carlino said she is stepping down from all of her council leadership positions, which includes chair of the Parks & Recreation Committee and co-chair of the Public Safety & Criminal Justice Committee.

In her statement, Carlino also acknowledged a friendly relationship with a member of the Hogsett administration who was fired due to inappropriate conduct at the same time that the Investigative Committee was forming. Carlino said she “immediately distanced” herself from that individual. And in what seemed to be an answer to a question that has not been raised publicly, Carlino said she did not personally restrict the scope of the law firm contract to exclude the public allegations against that individual.

“I could have stepped aside when my friend was fired. I didn’t. And I should be held to account,” she said.

Carlino also said it is her “hope and intention to move forward as a member of the Democratic Caucus,” despite her apparent expulsion from the caucus Tuesday evening.

Leaders of the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis and the Baptist Ministers’ Alliance released a joint statement Wednesday evening calling the actions of the Democratic Caucus “a moral failure.”

“Councilor Carlino showed courage, clarity, and conviction when she stood up for truth and accountability in the face of credible concerns about the Mayor’s leadership and the handling of sexual harassment claims within his administration,” Rev. David Greene and Dr. Wayne Moore wrote in a joint statement. “Rather than address the concerns she raised, party leaders have chosen to punish her for speaking out.”

Statement references fired employee

The 54-page report that Fisher Phillips released in late May did not mention investigations into two prominent Hogsett administration employees outlined in a September 2024 Indianapolis Star article. The IndyStar reported that Matt Pleasant, then an administrator with the Department of Metropolitan Development, was fired on Sept. 4, 2024, after an investigation substantiated “inappropriate sexual conduct.” Pleasant did not respond to the information reported by The Star.

Carlino’s statement doesn’t mention Pleasant by name but references the date of his firing and the existence of media reports regarding his case. She calls him “a colleague and a friend,” but said the relationship was not “overly personal or inappropriate.” She wrote that she did not believe then—and still does not believe—there was a conflict of interest that required her to step down from leading the Investigative Committee.

She defended her own role in shaping the scope of the investigation, which could have included Pleasant. She wrote, “The news of firings was public, and I fully assumed those cases published in the media would be part of the investigation.”

She said she then “immediately distanced [herself] from this person in order to protect the investigation.”