When Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett was elected in 2015, he came into the office with a reputation for public integrity.
A government accountability group even awarded him the title “Mr. Clean” for his work increasing government corruption prosecutions as a U.S. attorney.
But an IndyStar/Mirror Indy investigation found repeated instances where Hogsett ignored conflicts of interest and allowed millions of public dollars to flow to his allies with little to no public scrutiny.
Please see the following articles, photographs and videos for more.
Part 1: Hogsett ignored Thomas Cook’s secret relationship as money flowed to developers
Hogsett pledged on the campaign trail to crack down on public employees who use their position for personal gain, but allowed Cook, his former chief of staff, to cut deals involving millions of dollars of city incentives with a top city official with whom Cook had a romantic relationship. Read the story.
Part 2: Joe Hogsett allies routinely benefit from no-bid city contracts
On the campaign trail a decade ago, Hogsett said no-bid contracts should “never be the default,” but his administration routinely awards such contracts, including at least $6.5 million to the mayor’s former staffers and top campaign contributors. Read the story.
Other stories in this series
Disclose Indy: Hogsett said he would create “one-stop shop” ethics portal. Ten years later, it doesn’t exist. Read the story.
Disclose Indy: Hogsett hasn’t delivered a ‘Disclose Indy’ ethics portal. So we built one. Visit the portal.
Continuing coverage
About this series
When Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett first took office, he promised to prioritize government transparency and integrity. Ten years into his administration, IndyStar and Mirror Indy are partnering to examine whether he kept his promises.
This series grew out of the outlets’ separate 2024 investigations of Thomas Cook, who three women accused of sexual misconduct. A report commissioned by the City-County Council to investigate Hogsett’s handling of those allegations raised concerns that Cook may have violated ethics rules when he left city employment for a job with a law firm and represented both public agencies and private developers.
Lingering questions about the mayor’s role in the scandal led the two outlets to partner for an investigation that culminated in this series.
As part of our reporting, we submitted more than a dozen public records requests for email correspondence, contracts and ethics filings that were not previously available online. Some of the requests remain outstanding.
We also obtained text messages and conducted interviews with current and former city employees and people in the economic development industry, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared professional repercussions for speaking publicly.
If you have more to share, you can reach out to one of the reporters below.
Meet the team
Reporting: Tony Cook, Emily Hopkins, Peter Blanchard, Jordan Smith, Ryan Martin
Photos, videos, illustrations: Kelly Wilkinson, Brett Phelps, Brittany Fukushima, Max Gersh, Christine Tannous, Jenna Watson
Editing: Kaitlin Lange
Design, social media, engagement and promotion: Joe Mutascio, Evan Frank, Gwen Ragno, Ibby Ahmed
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Mr. Clean: An IndyStar/Mirror Indy investigation
Reporting by Tony Cook and Evan Frank, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
