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The six-member Republican caucus of the Indianapolis City-County Council this week voted to change its leadership, just seven months after January’s caucus election process.
The caucus voted to replace Councilor Michael-Paul Hart, the minority leader it selected earlier this year, with Councilor Brian Mowery in a closed caucus meeting Monday. Mowery previously held the caucus leadership post for five years.
Mowery was elected in 2016 to represent a district within Franklin Township that borders Johnson and Shelby counties. He did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.
Hart told reporters Monday that members of the caucus had “a difference of opinion on how to operate.”
“The caucus wasn’t ready to move at the speed I was moving, and so they preferred the type of pace and tempo that we had prior to my leadership,” Hart said.
The minority caucus rarely is able to influence policy while Democrats hold a 19-seat council supermajority and the Mayor’s Office. Most recently, Hart and fellow Republican Councilor Josh Bain unveiled a public safety plan that included removing city employee residency requirements and a proposal to fine parents and guardians whose children violate the city’s curfew.
The same pair of councilors worked with former Marion County Republican Party Chair Joe Elsener to launch a political action committee that would fund future Republican candidates.
Hart refuted the idea that he was “too friendly” or “too cooperative” with Democrats, which could have influenced his colleagues’ decision to oust him.
“No, I’d like to say I got things done and it was looking really good,” he said.
“I’m going to continue to work across the aisle,” he added. “It’s going to take that, we’re in the superminority.”
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