Leadership and Lack Thereof

Friends,

This week, two devastating news stories were published in Indianapolis about misleadership and failure.

First, a story of personal abuses and failures: the Indianapolis Star published a well-researched story about how State Senator Greg Taylor has allegedly committed sexual harassment and sexual assault on at least three people within the Indiana Statehouse. After this story was released. The Indiana State Senate Democratic Caucus re-elected Greg Taylor as their leader. A group of over 40 well-connected Democratic women has published an open letter demanding reform. I stand fully in solidarity with and support of these women.

Second, a story of institutional abuses and failures: Mirror Indy published a similarly well-researched story about how the Indianapolis Housing Agency has been failing to help keep impoverished people in their homes for decades. The Mayor refused comment for the story, and other city leaders have responded to this article by claiming that they have done all that they can do to prevent these problems, and that they aren’t the ones to blame.

Spurred by these two stories, today I wanted to talk about leadership.

With disgustingly few exceptions, so-called leaders in Indianapolis and in the Democratic Party act as though their top priority is not to do right by those they represent, but rather to protect themselves and their political careers.
Leaders within the Indiana Democratic Party and within the Senate Democratic Caucus have called me privately to insist that they had no idea about Greg Taylor’s behavior before the news story. I offended several of them by telling them point-blank, “I don’t believe you.”

As a political outsider who has only been involved in elected politics for a year, even I have had multiple lobbyists, legislative liaisons, and other Statehouse staff members who have told me that Taylor is not allowed to have female staff reporting to him because of past incidents. The same leaders who called me to talk privately told me that they wouldn’t let their own daughters work in the Statehouse or take elevators there, since it’s so well-known that sexual harassment and abuse is pervasive on both sides of the aisle. 

Even if it were true that these leaders did not receive the same information about Senator Taylor’s behavior that I did, that would not be in any way a point in the leaders’ favor. What does it say if party leaders and Senators aren’t trusted enough for women to come to with complaints?

Regardless of whether leaders knew in the past, it’s true that they know now. And after the story was released, a majority of Indiana Democratic Senators voted to elect as their leader a man who has not denied the egregious accusations made against him on the front page of the largest newspaper in the state. The only explanations I have heard from leaders center on the “need” to protect all of “our” people in leadership to avoid an even worse Republican legislature supermajority.

Similarly, the Mirror Indy article about the IHA shows politicians who knew there was a problem but who refused to address it head-on and accept responsibility. Every quoted politician spends their time claiming they have no authority to solve the problem, without ever naming the names of those who do have the authority.

This attitude is as backwards as it is harmful.

Take it from a politician: we politicians are not superheroes. We have no special skills, no unique charisma, no special intelligence or work ethic. We are regular people, whether we want to act like it or not. We are eminently replaceable, and no elected official should be protected when we are in the wrong.

I am reminded of the words of my political hero, Eugene V. Debs, about the nature of leadership:

“If you go to the city of Washington, and you examine the pages of the Congressional Directory, you will find that almost all of those corporation lawyers and cowardly politicians, members of Congress, and misrepresentatives of the masses - you will find that almost all of them claim, in glowing terms, that they have risen from the ranks to places of eminence and distinction. I am very glad that I cannot make that claim for myself. I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from the ranks.”

-Canton Ohio speech, June 16, 1918

Elected leaders should be seen as nothing more and nothing less than a tool their constituency uses, temporarily, to accomplish its desires. We leaders should wake up sweating about whether we are doing enough to keep our seats - and when we abuse our power we should be swept off the political stage as quickly as possible to make room for better leaders to follow. 

When we put our trust in elected officials to resolve matters quietly and without any public oversight, we have seen the same result over and over in Indianapolis:
Those with the least power are abused and victimized further. This looks like elderly and disabled people being forced into homelessness, and it looks like female aides being pinned to the wall by lawmakers.

Those with the most power keep their power. This looks like the same mayor who said he would fix IHA six years ago remaining Mayor after six years of failing to act, and it looks like elected officials protecting sexual abusers rather than speaking out.

The culture of silence and inaction, the culture of phone calls and backroom meetings, is killing our constituents and leading us to permanent electoral failures. 

The movement that I’m proud to be a part of is demanding an end to this abusive culture, and we will be victorious.

You have my solemn commitment: the buck stops here. 

It is my job as your representative to fix IHA and to end homelessness in our city. It is my job as your representative to put an end to the sexual abuse that is pervasive across our city and state.  If these things do not happen, it means the failure is mine. 

Until it happens, I will continue to fight as hard as I can to provide safe and respectful workplaces and safe and universal housing for all people. And I will never protect those who are not using their own seats and roles to do the same. 

I want to end with two more quotes from Debs from the same speech in Canton:
“The truth has always been dangerous to the rule of the rogue, the exploiter, the robber. So the truth must be suppressed.”

“Do not worry over the charge of treason to your masters, but be concerned about the treason that involves yourselves. Be true to yourself and you cannot be a traitor to any good cause on earth.”

In love and solidarity,
Jesse