Hogsett signs off on sexual harassment investigation
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Mayor Joe Hogsett signing the City-County Council proposal. Photo: Arika Herron/Axios
Mayor Joe Hogsett on Thursday signed the City-County Council proposal calling for an investigation into his office's handling of sexual harassment allegations against his former top aide and other employees of his administration and campaign.
Why it matters: Hogsett's ability to lead the city and its 7,000 employees has been called into question after local news media reported on a work environment where women say they were routinely sexually harassed by several male administrators.
- Thomas Cook, whom Hogsett asked to resign from his posts as chief of staff and later as campaign adviser, was publicly accused of harassing at least three women.
- Another city administrator was fired over similar allegations and investigations are ongoing into at least six other employees.
Driving the news: Hogsett called a press conference to sign the council resolution, then took questions from reporters for 30 minutes after several weeks of limiting his public availability.
State of play: At least one councilor has called on the mayor to resign, but when asked if he's concerned about his ability to lead, Hogsett said, "Not at all."
- Hogsett said he's dedicated to the efforts his administration has made in the past two months to make the city a safer place to work, such as reviewing the employee handbook, mandating harassment training and creating an anonymous reporting tool.
- He added that his team has reminded employees of how to access counseling through the city's employee assistance program.
Between the lines: Hogsett did not give clear answers for multiple questions, including:
- Why he hired Cook back onto his campaign — despite having accepted his resignation as his chief of staff in 2020 for violating a prohibition on romantic relationships with coworkers.
- Why changes to city policy came about only after Lauren Roberts and Caroline Ellert shared their stories about Cook's harassment with the media this summer.
Hogsett said Cook had, once back on the campaign, limited interactions with campaign staffers other than Blake Hesch, the manager.
- Cook, who said the relationships were consensual, was fired from the campaign in October after more allegations about his previous behavior surfaced.
"As mayor of the city, I do bear responsibility to make sure that we are doing everything we can to provide a safe, comfortable, equitable work environment for every employee."
Yes, but: Hogsett said the current system does not bring complaints to his attention.
- "Unless these complaints come to my attention, I, more often than not, don't know about them," he said. "That is the province of legal professionals and human resources."