Indianapolis Rep. Andrew Ireland, an attorney who represents the southeast corner of Marion County, is calling on the Marion County prosecutor to investigate Democratic Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and his administration. This comes after investigations by IndyStar and Mirror Indy revealed potential wrongdoing, including the use of taxpayer money for campaign purposes.

Allegations of Wrongdoing

The investigations found that Hogsett’s campaign worked behind closed doors to advance the interests of his donors, including arranging for wish lists of donors’ preferred city contracts to be hand-delivered to the city’s then-top public works official, Dan Parker. Parker has since resigned to work for a major city contractor, which has raised alarm bells with ethics experts.

Hogsett has denied his fundraiser was involved in any contracting process and called the news outlets’ reporting ‘absurd.’ However, ethics experts have questioned the arrangement, with at least one legal expert saying it could run afoul of Indiana’s bribery law.

Ireland, a former deputy attorney general for the state of Indiana, said that the revelations by the news outlets are ‘more than enough’ for Prosecutor Ryan Mears, a Democrat who has been Hogsett’s political rival, to move forward with a formal inquiry. ‘If our prosecutor has any backbone, he should open a criminal investigation into Hogsett and his staff,’ Ireland said.

Mears did not respond to requests for interviews, but his spokesperson Michael Leffler sent a brief statement saying that the office would review the evidence and determine whether charges are warranted.

Previous Investigations

There have been recent investigations by a grand jury related to Hogsett’s administration, including an investigation into city development deals involving Hogsett’s former chief of staff, Thomas Cook. Cook has not been charged with a crime.

The call for an investigation comes as the Indianapolis City-County Council is weighing a reform to the city’s ethics code. Council Democrats announced a proposal to establish a cooling off period for senior city employees.

Original reporting: Mirror Indy — read the source article.