Failure after Failure
Friends,
I hope you’re well. I’ve had a busy week since returning from a couple days in Brown County celebrating my anniversary. The heavy theme of this week has been discussing failed and absent political leadership from Mayor Joe Hogsett.
-As state legislators attack public education via HB1136, HB1002, and more, pro-charter organizations like the Mind Trust, RISE Indy, and others remain publicly silent while privately supporting the bills. Our Mayor, one of the most pro-charter Democratic mayors in the country, seems to be doing the exact same thing. Make no mistake - these organizations are attempting to kill public education in Marion County, and our Mayor is either collaborating with them or staying on the sidelines.
-As Indianapolis has experienced extremely harsh weather conditions, our Mayor has reacted far too slowly and far too little to help protect people from the immediate need to avoid freezing to death, and the mid-term need of finding housing. I was honored to speak on a panel this week on this topic. You can watch that here. The short summary is: our public housing agency is in shambles, and only the Mayor has the power and influence to save it. He simply hasn’t spent the political capital. Instead, he has asked the rich and powerful to continue giving to his own campaign. Last year he raised nearly a million dollars for his own campaign (despite not running for office and theoretically never running for mayor again). That includes $75,000 directly from the Simon family - which stands to benefit from many of the recent development decisions the City has made.
-As constituents have been injured, delayed, frustrated, and enraged by the lack of plowing of residential streets, the administration has refused to admit that their policy and decisions have been a failure. Thousands of residents have called in to the Mayor’s Action Center asking for help in the snow and ice. Trash collection has been skipped for weeks on end. IMPD officers are telling constituents they can’t effectively do their jobs due to the icy streets. Children and disabled people are falling and hurting themselves on the ice or are homebound. The vast majority of all City Councilors, from across the political spectrum, are furious about the Mayor’s refusal to work with us to help address the snow and ice. Local media has been appropriately raising the issue for weeks, and today even James Briggs, normally a supporter of Joe Hogsett’s, said that residents are leaving Indianapolis over this refusal to provide basic civic services.
I called for Mayor Joe Hogsett to resign in August of last year. In my public statement, I said
“Time and time again, constituents have warned me about the perils of speaking out about the administration. I’ve heard from multiple constituents that even mild critiques of the Hogsett administration have resulted in their employers calling them to explain that the Mayor’s Office wanted them silenced or fired. But I don’t have a job that is easily threatened or a boss to lean on. I work for you, my constituents, and that’s why I’m authoring this letter.
If we can’t prevent or stop top-level City officials from abusing and exploiting staffers, what hope do we have of solving the many challenges facing our City and its residents?”
I remain the only elected official in the state who has called for our Mayor’s resignation, despite my words being harder and harder to object to or disagree with.
We need a functioning city government, where constituents can avoid being evicted and freezing to death on our streets.
We need a functioning city government, where roads are traversable and trash is collected on time.
We need a new mayor.
In love and solidarity,
Jesse
Weekly updates coming next week!