Nevertheless, we persist!

Written By Jesse Brown

Friends and constituents,

Today I’m posting a two-for-one here on my website. I’m including both my in-the-moment email last night, as well as the follow-up email sent this morning.

My message from last night:

Friends and constituents,

Tonight, thirteen of my Democratic colleagues voted to expel me from the Democratic Caucus of the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council.

Public business should be conducted in public, rather than behind closed doors. My commitment to this principle has often put me at odds with my colleagues, including this last week, when I called for fully-funded, fully-public education, against the wishes of my Council colleagues and their Republican conspirators. My call-out of so-called Democrats Maggie Lewis, Carlos Perkins, and Leroy Robinson's subterfuge was the straw that finally broke the camel's back.

Unlike some of my colleagues, I don't hide my politics---not because of who I am, but because of who you are. Politics behind closed doors only works for those who can afford entry. My constituents deserve a city that works for them, not just the capitalists and developers. My constituents deserve fully funded, fully public education, not a scammy grab bag of charter school "choices." My constituents deserve an elected official who will fight for their interests---not someone who serves big-money donors and washed-up party bosses.

I will be fighting this decision, as it disenfranchises the voters of District 13, who saw fit to elect me, and I would welcome any and all support in that fight.

In love and solidarity,

Jesse


My message from today:

Thank you so much for the outpouring of support. Since my email and social media post last night, I have received over 50 emails, hundreds of social media posts and comments, and dozens of phone calls from outraged constituents and supporters. I’ve received a massive number of questions, and I wanted to answer them here.

What happened yesterday?

When I came to meet my colleagues in the Democratic Caucus of the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council, as soon as the meeting was called to order, thirteen of my eighteen peers voted to expel me from the caucus. Maggie Lewis, Carlos Perkins, Leroy Robinson, Vop Osili, Frank Mascari, Andy Nielsen, Nick Roberts, Ali Brown, Brienne Delaney, Keith Graves, John Barth, Rena Allen, and Ron Gibson voted to remove me from the caucus.

Why did this happen?

Taking strong, public stances against the Hogsett administration’s corruption, billionaire giveaways, and complete neglect of constituent needs had me increasingly butting up against the powerful “Democrats” who would rather work alongside Republicans at the statehouse than oppose them. I surmise that a couple of recent events spurred on my expulsion.

  • At the request of constituents, I worked with Central Indiana Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) to organize Who Owns Indianapolis?, an event to make local campaign financing transparent and publicly accessible. Over forty volunteers attended to pore over and transcribe the campaign finance reports of dozens of elected officials.

That’s three strikes—three times in a month I embarrassed the powerful by standing up for the oppressed.

Pay careful attention: we are fighting for public housing, public education, and campaign finance reform. What hope can we have for the future when the Democratic Party denounces its supporters’ demands for basic social goods and public transparency?

Okay, but come on, surely they had a reason.

That’s not technically a question, but I’ll address it. In the caucus meeting, no reason for my expulsion was stated. I was not alleged to have violated any caucus rules.

I’m happy to link to the statement the caucus shared. I would encourage anyone with further questions to follow up with caucus leadership, Maggie Lewis, and the other Democrats who voted to remove: Carlos Perkins, Leroy Robinson, Vop Osili, Frank Mascari, Andy Nielsen, Nick Roberts, Ali Brown, Brienne Delaney, Keith Graves, John Barth, Rena Allen, and Ron Gibson. All of their public contact information can be found here.

What does this mean for constituents?

The only thing I was removed from is the Democratic caucus of the Indianapolis City-County Council. I am still on the Council, and I am still a duly elected Democrat. I still serve as a precinct committeeperson in the Marion County Democratic Party. I am not going anywhere.

It is still unclear to me whether the caucus has the legal authority to remove me, but any potential legal remedies are equally unclear. My perspective, at least at the moment, is that this is a political problem that requires a political solution. If you disagree with the decision to remove me from the caucus, I encourage you to contact Maggie Lewis and the other Democratic councilors to urge for my reinstatement.

What are the consequences of removal from the caucus?

Removal from the caucus means that my colleagues decided to make official and public their stance of icing me and my constituents out from their inner politicking. The caucus meets approximately once a month to decide how it will vote on key issues on the council agenda. They are allowed to hold these meetings in the dark, removed from the eyes of the public, because of an exception in Indiana’s Open Door Law. Because I will no longer be welcomed at caucus meetings, I won’t get a say in caucus business. Caucus meetings are already tightly controlled by Democratic Majority Leader Maggie Lewis. Leader Lewis has worked hard to ensure that education policy has only been discussed for a few minutes total in the last 14 months, despite massive public debate on the topic. In addition, I will no longer receive closed-door briefings from the Hogsett Administration. These briefings offered a private venue to ask hard questions. In the future, I will need to ask any hard questions directly on the microphone in Council meetings, or in public, and my peers will no longer get a heads-up about my planned line of questioning.

Okay, that doesn’t seem so bad . . . is there more?

Based on the way Caucus leadership treated the last caucus whistleblower, Ethan Evans, it is likely that President Osili and Leader Lewis will attempt to strip me of my committee assignments. Today (February 4th) at 4:00 pm, Council President Vop Osili and Majority Leader Maggie Lewis will meet to discuss committee assignments. Although this meeting is technically public, Council leadership does everything in its power to discourage public participation, from giving no more than the legally required 48-hours notice, to holding the meeting in a tiny conference room in President Osili’s office.

Stripping committee assignments has already been used as a cudgel to attempt to force my “good behavior”. As of today, I am only assigned to three committees. As a point of reference, Councilor Carlos Perkins and Councilor Nick Roberts, also freshman members of the Council, are assigned to six committees apiece.

Removing me from my committees would not prevent me from attending committee meetings and being seated with a microphone - it’s my District’s right under law to have me there, as their duly elected Councilor. But it would remove my ability to vote in those meetings, and it would further lower my pay (according to the W2s I just received, I earned $29,829.93 last year for my work on the Council; this move would lower that substantially).

Interestingly, it appears that the reassignment of committee membership upon Councilor Rena Allen’s appointment, as well as the reassignment of committee membership upon Councilor Ethan Evans’s expulsion from the caucus, were done illegally, as no minutes exist for either of the meetings that would have been required to do so legally. But as we have seen time and time again, the rules and the law are only respected when powerful people want to.

I don’t agree with any of this! What can I do to help?

First and foremost, we must resist this disenfranchisement of the people of District 13. Please attend today’s Committee on Committees meeting (4:00 pm in the City-County Building room T441). Let President Osili and Leader Lewis know that you expect District 13 to receive a fair number of committee assignments (which would mean more assignments, not fewer).

Next, contact other Democratic City Councilors to demand that I be reinstated to the Democratic caucus. All of their public contact information can be found here.

Third, demand that the Marion County Democratic Party clarify its stance on this aberrant behavior from the Council. The party’s platform states that we support “A World Class Public Education System”. Why then is the party remaining silent while supposed Democratic elected officials are working to destroy IPS and attempting to retaliate against those fighting to save it? Ask Myla Eldridge (the current MCDP chair) and any other person seeking a leadership role what exactly they stand for. If you are a Precinct Committeeperson or Vice Precinct Committeeperson, make sure to ask the candidates for MDCP chair their stance on fighting for public education. A fake “unity” with those seeking to destroy public institutions will not inspire voter turnout and will lead to the further disintegration of the party.

Finally, join Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Join the IPS parents council. Attend City-County Council meetings. Attend IPS School Board meetings. Speak during public comment. Organize, organize, organize. As discouraging as this setback is, the level of resistance from the establishment is a testament to our movement’s strength. I believe that we will win.

In love and solidarity,

Jesse

Jesse Brown
Next

Democracy Dies in Darkness