Thomas Cook and Joe Hogsett

Friends,

When I decided to run for office at the very end of 2022, I was a total political outsider. I did not know any Councilor, high-level administrator, or elected official in the city personally. As I ran my insurgent campaign, very openly critical of Joe Hogsett and the misleadership in the Marion County and Indiana Democratic Parties, I did not quickly change that trend. It wasn’t until after I won the primary that I had any real contact with any sitting City Council member. And it was late May before, for the first time in my life, I first talked with anyone representing Joe Hogsett’s campaign or administration.

The person who approached me at a Marion County Democratic Party event was Blake Hesch, who was serving as Joe Hogsett’s 2023 re-election campaign manager. Blake was friendly and told me I should text him to talk about the November elections, as the mayor’s representative and right-hand man wanted to meet me on the mayor’s behalf. I reached out and Blake’s very first message told me that
Thomas Cook wanted to see if I would be interested in grabbing a coffee or drink.

I responded:

“Definitely interested! I’m happy to make it a priority. I have had my critiques of Hogsett but certainly want to have a good working relationship and most of all want to defeat Shreve and the Republicans.”

We set up a time to meet on May 29th. On the back patio of Chatham Tap, we had an absolutely shocking conversation.

I had done my due diligence to try to find points of connection - ways to bridge the gap and get to know this new acquaintance. I saw on LinkedIn that Cook had gone to the same law school as had my wife. Shaking his hand, I mentioned that to Thomas to break the ice.

“Oh, I’m not really a lawyer,” Thomas said.

I blinked, confused. His LinkedIn profile said he was a partner at a major law firm in town.

“No, yeah, when I worked directly for the city, I was basically a bag man for developers on the Mayor’s payroll. We figured it worked better for me to keep doing that same job, but to get paid by [the law firm] rather than Joe. I still work for the Mayor, though. Just not on the payroll anymore.”

Thomas was clearly exaggerating, in an example of his self-deprecating humor. I pointed out that the bar exam was incredibly difficult and very difficult to pass. He admitted that he had, in fact, learned quite a bit in law school. But he told me that he only really went to law school at all as a favor to Joe, and got in based on favors other people owed Joe. And now, he never needed to use his law degree or legal expertise. He just used his political connections and knowledge to help rich developers get richer.

Attempted humor or not, I found this to be an incredibly striking set of things to say to an open socialist who had been very critical of the mayor very recently.

“Well. Uh. Are the developments usually something in the public interest? Anything that furthers the public good while it makes developers rich?” I asked.

“No. Pretty much all stuff you would hate. Big corporate hotels, sports teams making a ton of money off the public, that kind of good stuff.” Thomas still was presenting no shame at all, and clearly found all of this very funny.

Thomas ordered multiple whiskeys at our early afternoon meeting on a Monday. He continued laughing about (pretend? Just kidding?) cozy deals with developers in the Mayor’s office, the way that it was a bad idea to go after Joe directly as he would hold a grudge, and tips for avoiding making Hogsett angry. He was not careful or choosy with his words, and his tone, attitude, and facial expression all showed that he had absolutely no concerns about being disciplined or judged for how he was representing the Mayor or his campaign.

This was a man in charge, totally trusted and empowered by the politician he was representing. Cook seemed supremely confident to the point of cockiness, and told me that he and Hogsett were as close as brothers. The only time in the whole meeting that he seemed one hundred percent serious was when he looked me in the eye and said “I love that man” referring to Joe Hogsett.

Today at a press conference, Mayor Joe Hogsett defended his decision to bring Thomas Cook back onto his 2023 campaign even while knowing that Cook had had sexual abuse allegations while previously serving on his campaign.

Reporters asked if during this time period, Cook wrote speeches and made policy recommendations.

“I’m sure he did.” Hogsett responded.

Reporters mentioned that Cook, by Hogsett’s description in the press conference, seemed to have been in charge of the entire campaign - which would in effect put him in a superior position to all other campaign staff and volunteers. Wouldn’t that, in turn, mean that Cook was once again put in a position to supervise young campaign volunteers - exactly what had caused such horrific results previously?

“Did you think a leopard had changed his spots?” asked Russ McQuaid. But as McQuaid asked repeatedly “Why did you allow him back in?”, Hogsett refused to answer the question.

It’s a worthy question that I sure would like to know the answer to.

Perhaps Joe Hogsett truly believes that his warnings to Thomas Cook were stern and that Cook understood clearly how serious the reprimands were. But as a person who met Thomas Cook for the first time in 2023, I sure didn’t get the impression that I was meeting with someone who had any shame about his behavior, who was taking any care to avoid mixing alcohol with campaign business, or who was at any risk of losing the trust or full faith of the Mayor.

Watch the full interview and let me know if you find the Mayor’s answers reasonable and fair. I found them inexcusable, and I redouble my call for the mayor to resign and for the investigative committee appointed this week to investigate who in the Hogsett administration, who in the State and County party, and who on the Indianapolis City Council was made aware of sexual abuse or harassment.

Twenty-five employees were so upset within the last few weeks that they reached out to speak to the media about the toxic work environment. At least six open HR investigations are ongoing within the administration, even after a senior administrator was fired for sexual harassment last week. This is a crisis of leadership. Staff members and constituents alike deserve to feel safe, and that cannot happen without both a full investigation and the Mayor’s resignation.

In love and solidarity,
Jesse