The Dems Deafening Silence

The Indiana Democratic Party could be setting the example on how to properly care for survivors and hold predators accountable

It has been over 48 hours since a sexual abuse victim and her supporters were forcibly removed from the chamber of the Indianapolis City-County Council.

The response from the Indiana Democratic Party has been deafening silence.

For background, Lauren Roberts attempted to address the Indianapolis City-County Council on the evening of Monday, June 9. She was speaking on a resolution to appropriate an additional $300,000 to pay an invoice from Fisher Phillips, a law firm hired to investigate patterns of sexual abuse in the the office of Mayor Joe Hogsett. Although she only spoke for approximately 30 seconds, Council President Vop Osili ordered Sheriffs to remove her and her supporters for violating the 2-minute limit on public comment.

Osili issued an apology on Wednesday, June 11.

For just a moment, let's set aside the specific individuals involved. Even if this didn't involve members of the Indiana Democratic Party, there was still a violent altercation where a survivor was prevented from speaking in front of the governing body of their state's biggest city that's run by their party. They haven’t even been able to muster a copy and paste of “we stand with survivors."

Now let’s add the specific individuals, the perpetrators and the survivors, back into the equation. It has been roughly 36 hours since Hogsett, a 3-term mayor of Indianapolis said, “I’m not resigning” to multiple media outlets in response to calls for his resignation. Survivors, members of the public, and three sitting Councilors; two Democrats and one Republican have said Hogsett should resign and there is evidence that not only was Hogsett complicit in the abuse, ignoring staffer's complaints, he also perpetrated abuse.

Aside from it clearly being the right thing to do, from a standpoint of political strategery (strategy for those of you who don’t get my 25-year-old reference) this is such a missed opportunity for Indiana Democrats.

Indiana has a real problem with elected officials who are alleged habitual predators facing no consequences. The Indiana Democratic Party had the chance to grab this story, work with survivors and change the narrative about Indiana on the national stage. They could have set an example of the minority party in a conservative state leading the way to right wrongs, ethically prioritize survivors, and hold predators accountable.

Instead, they are choosing to remain silent, choosing to stay in the comfort of the status quo while people who worked for them, people like Lauren Roberts and Caroline Ellert, who poured their professional and personal talents into their jobs are still being victimized by this spineless system.

We should definitely not hold our breath for an official condemnation or even an official statement from the Indiana Democratic Party. When the Fisher Phillips report on the investigation into sexual misconduct at Hogsett’s office was released at the end of May, there was also no statement released.

The Indiana Democratic Party has established an ethics committee designed to formalize the process of investigating allegations of impropriety. However, it is understandable that after seeing how Lauren Roberts, Caroline Ellert, and the other survivors have been treated over the past decade, people would be skeptical of any satisfactory resolution from this process.

From a voter perspective, it is also understandable for some to believe that all parties are corrupt, so why does it matter if they vote for someone like Donald Trump. Of course, I am not making any equivalence between the actions of Trump and Hogsett. I am, however, pointing out that when both parties support predators, when both parties are willing to sacrifice women for the careers of men, no one has any moral high ground to stand on.

This silence from the Indiana Democratic Party is undermining the work of all Democrats in a “red” state who are fighting like hell to improve the quality of life for all.

For more information, please read and subscribe to Lauren Roberts’ Substack, “insist on surviving.”

She is doing amazing survivor-led work, offering tools and resources, working to turn her trauma into substantive change.