District 12 Race May Be Inflicting Damage to Hogsett's Relationships with Council

Joe Hogsett
Photo: indy.gov

One of the rules of being a political leader is knowing when to punt.

Joe Hogsett is holding on to the ball on 4th and 15, and a near majority of the City-County Council is chasing after him.

Twelve members the Council Democratic Caucus sent Hogsett, his senior staff and candidate Jason Larrison a letter expressing support for Karla Lopez-Owens and asking Larrison to leave the race. Larrison, Lopez-Owens and Francine Lee are locked in a tight caucus battle to replace Blake Johnson on the Council in District 12.

Hogsett has backed Larrison and continues to back him despite Indy Star reporting from Amelia Pak-Harvey detailing blog posts Larrison penned several years ago. Blog posts that could conservatively be described as anti-immigrant, misogynistic and homophobic. Unbelievably, the blog still is live. You can read it here. Larrison apologized in the Pak-Harvey article calling his posts, "unacceptable."

So, if they were unacceptable, why is Hogsett continuing to back Larrison's candidacy? Why did he issue a defense in the Pak-Harvey article. I get that people change and that we aren't the people we were 10-15-20 years ago, but these posts were, in my opinion, so inflammatory that they would affect Larrison's ability to be a successful Councillor. It's also clear that the entire situation has the potential, whatever the outcome, to drive a wedge between the Mayor and his Council caucus as well as other community leaders. Why not just urge Larrison to step aside and allow Lopez-Owens or Lee to represent the district in the Council? If Larrison refused to step aside, at least the best thing politically for Hogsett would be to distance yourself from him more strongly.

The damage may already be done, though. I don't get it. I wonder what advice the Mayor is getting these days.