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The law firm tapped to investigate the Hogsett administration’s handling of sexual harassment allegations against his former chief of staff concluded the response was legally sufficient. But at least one Indianapolis city-county councilor believes more work must be done.
Republican Josh Bain, who represents District 21 and is one of two Republicans on the council investigative committee, said in a written statement Thursday night he’ll be pushing for “clear action—not only policy changes, but a cultural shift that centers survivors, strengthens independent oversight and affirms that moral leadership still matters in public service.”
He said while the administration’s actions might have satisfied the legal standard, leadership should be measured by three standards: the legal, the ethical and the moral.
“Survivors may read this report and feel less safe, not more,” he said. “That cannot be the legacy of this moment.”
Fisher Phillips—the law firm hired to independently investigate how Mayor Joe Hogsett and his administration handled reports of alleged sexual harassment by his former chief of staff Thomas Cook—determined the response met the minimum legal standards and fulfilled the city’s human resource policies when dealing with Cook, who served in the administration from 2015 until he resigned at Hogsett’s request at the end of 2020.
The allegations were first reported to Hogsett in 2017 and 2023 and involved a woman working for his campaign and a city employee while Cook was chief of staff. In 2020, the city learned of a consensual relationship Cook was having with another city employee.
They were detailed in reports by IndyStar and Mirror Indy last summer.
Cook has not been charged with a crime. He has previously acknowledged that he had “consensual relationships that violated a trust placed in me.”
Following those reports, the Indianapolis City-County Council formed an investigative committee, which then hired Fisher Phillips.
While Thursday’s report found no legal wrongdoing, it did include recommendations for improving the city’s anti-sexual harassment policy and procedures to handle alleged violations more effectively.
It also raised questions about whether Cook should have been allowed to continue his employment in 2020 after an investigation ordered by Hogsett concluded Cook had violated the city’s Non-Fraternization Policy and a previous Hogsett directive that he not have relationships with city employees. Cook worked an additional 68 days after the investigation concluded in early November of that year.
And the report painted the Hogsett administration’s workplace atmosphere around Cook as “more of a fraternity or sorority … than emblematic of a business setting.”
It said multiple people interviewed described “overly casual and at times professionally inappropriate workplace conduct displayed by” Cook, who is identified as Respondent throughout the report, and other members of the Hogsett administration.
The report said at least two former city-county officials who attended meetings with Cook recalled him to be “confrontational, nasty, standing in too close in proximity to some female employees, and ‘pushing,’ or ‘shoving’ other employees intending to be playful.”
In his statement, Bain raised concerns about that culture.
“The report reveals serious ethical and moral failures. It paints a picture of a workplace culture defined by casual power, delayed accountability and missed opportunities to support victims,” he said.
A news release issued by the Democrat-controlled City-County Council Thursday night said the presentation concluded the committee’s work with Fisher Phillips. Now, individual council members will review the findings in greater detail. Any policy recommendations or proposed ordinance changes stemming from the report will be considered through the council’s standard legislative process, according to the release.
“It is my hope that the findings and recommendations in this report will guide meaningful reforms and help foster a safer, more accountable work environment for all City employees,” Crista Carlino, a Democrat who chairs the committee, said in a written statement.
Jessica McCormick, the District 16 councilor who is a Democrat, said Thursday night councilors had not reviewed the report ahead of a presentation by Fisher Phillips. “Decisions can’t be made tonight,” she said. “We now have the charge to do that.”
Hogsett said in a Thursday night statement that while he had not had a chance to review the full report the findings are clear that “earlier investigations and resulting sanctions were handled appropriately and confidentially.”
“It remains crucial that the City has the best system in place for reporting, investigating, and dealing with harassment of any kind,” he said, “which is why I will work with the City-County Council on how these recommendations may further strengthen efforts to create a safer, better workplace for everyone throughout the City’s operations.”
On Friday morning, a spokesperson for Hogsett told IBJ the mayor still hasn’t “fully digested” the report when asked for comment about the report’s description of workplace culture.
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Cultural Shift defined as: if someone on your staff is systematically sexually harassing your employees, that person should be fired before lunch, even if he is REALLY good at campaigning and keeping you on the taxpayer teat.
Yea, good luck with that.
If there was over $500k of taxpayer money spent to not find the mayors office guilty in anyway, I want my money back because the law firm is the only one who profited.