Contract calls for work product to be released in Cook investigation

INDIANAPOLIS -- A close analysis of the contract the City-County Council signed with a Chicago law firm to investigate former Deputy Mayor Thomas Cook for sexual harassment indicates the raw files, "work product," generated during the probe belong to the Council.




Next Tuesday night, the Council's Administration & Finance Committee will debate whether the councilors should pay Fisher Phillips up to an additional $300,000 for billable hours on top of the $150,000 the firm has already received for generating a 55-page report that absolved Mayor Joe Hogsett of any wrongdoing in the investigation and discipline of his once righthand man.

The report found Hogsett followed city Human Resources and legal counsel procedures in determining the extent of Cook's alleged misdeeds with women in the administration and determining discipline.




The contract signed last November instructed Fisher Phillips to "examine the harassment allegations made by individuals employed by the Hogsett administration (Administration) and campaign and analyze whether proper procedures were followed."




One of Cook's accusers, Lauren Roberts, told the mayor that his then-campaign manager began harassing her in 2014 when she was hired during the run-up to Hogsett's first election.




After Cook was disciplined by Hogsett during his first term in office, he was forced out of his position as Chief of Staff and separated from city employment during the mayor's second term in 2020 when Hogsett said he learned of new allegations that violated warnings to Cook to not continually engage in such behavior.




Cook was given two months to wrap up his city projects before leaving the office as councilors have raised questions about whether he was searching for a new job while on taxpayer time and Hogsett has promised a review of Cook's actions during that lag is forthcoming.




Despite that checkered history, Cook was hired by an Indianapolis law firm closely associated with the Marion County Democratic Party and allowed to work on city-related business, possibly in violation of a one-year mandated "cooling off period" once he left city employment.




While the council contract with Fisher Phillips clearly spells out its mandate was to review the "campaign" for potential sexual harassment violations, in its report released on May 29, the firm found that both Cook and Roberts, in 2014, were not city employees, and therefore not subject to the written findings of the investigators.




Hogsett said he dismissed Cook from his unpaid advisor role in the last month of his 2023 re-election campaign when he became aware of allegations that his former aide's behavior continued in the latter stages of his city career.




As she was forcibly being ejected from City-County Council chambers Monday night when her allotted time to address the Council expired, Roberts argued that the mayor and the city had not fully addressed her complaints about Cook in a timely manner.




In her own 49-page report responding to the Fisher Phillips investigation, Roberts recounted her several attempts, including reaching out to Stephanie Hogsett, the mayor's wife at the time, to report Cook's harassment.




Councilors who have spoken to FOX59/CBS4 have indicated they would like to read the entire Fisher Phillips file, not simply the final report, to determine what was included and what was left out of the findings.




An attorney who reviewed the law firm's contract with the council said councilors have that right.




"The report is a summary of all the work done. They would have had many people looking into a lot of leads, interviewing a lot of witnesses, generating all sorts of other documents, many of which don't contain anything important at all, but some of them do," said Jeff McQuary, a criminal defense attorney who began his career reviewing government contracts in the Indiana Attorney General's office. "The contract defines works as basically everything that the law firm does, anything that it writes down, anything that it makes, any notes, any papers and then it says, 'The Council shall have free and unlimited access to the works at all times and upon demand shall have the right to claim and take possession of the works and all copies.'"




McQuary said that before the City cuts its final check to the Chicago lawyers for their time and effort, the council should demand the delivery of the work product as so delineated by the contract.




"The Council has every right to ask for that, it's surprising that they wouldn't," he said. "The contract very clearly specifies that they have access to it at any time."




While some councilors have expressed concern that should they be in receipt of the work product, perhaps including raw unverified witness accounts, and the media, a witness or a citizen would file an Open Record Act request to view the information, McQuary said the Council's Investigative Committee, an ad hoc committee chaired by Democrat Crista Carlino, could receive the files in executive session, review them, redact any unrelated or confidential information, and still release the documents for public review.




Hogsett said he spent five-and-a-half hours answering questions from the firm's investigators while Cook was not interviewed, even though the council has subpoena power.




Last fall, it was announced that the Indiana State Police would examine the women's complaints to determine if criminal charges against Cook were warranted. ISP has not announced the results of its investigation.




McQuary said the raw files from the Chicago counsel could be subpoenaed by a Grand Jury or sought by ISP as part of its probe.




During a seven-minute-long interview with FOX59/CBS4 Tuesday afternoon, Hogsett was asked if he supported releasing the work product to clear up any lingering doubts about the investigation and its findings, or lack thereof.




"No, I have never supported releasing confidential documents for information that has been obtained with anonymity and confidentiality surrounding it," said the mayor. "Now, others have chosen to reveal some of that information, but I don't support it. I support protecting the integrity of the process."








Roberts and another woman, Caroline Ellert, a former communications director in the Office of Public Health & Safety, have gone public with their allegations against Cook.




Both women revealed personal text messages from Hogsett unrelated to campaign or city business that they say left them feeling uncomfortable.




"But what about the integrity of the people involved?" FOX59/CBS4's Russ McQuaid asked. "They're saying, 'I'm willing to give up that non-disclosure. I want to see it all come out, too.' So it almost looks like you're protecting yourself as opposed to protecting them."




"No, I'm not protecting myself at all," said Hogsett. "I'm protecting the process. It calls for anonymity and confidentiality for both complaining parties as well as witnesses. If you're a witness and see something that you need to report, you don't want to read about your report in the morning paper. And that's what I'm trying to protect, the integrity of the process and the confidentiality of witnesses and survivors to come forward."




Hogsett said that despite the calls from three councilors that he step down, the mayor has no plans to resign or negotiate a public censure by the council.




The contracts can be viewed below:




Faegre-06262024-Griffin-Moriarity-2Download



Faegre-06262024-Griffin-Moriarity-1Download



Fisher-Phillips-Contract-01Download


via: https://fox59.com/news/contract-calls-for-work-product-to-be-released-in-cook-investigation/