Looking forward to spending more time in Carmel and Hamilton County. . .
By STU CLAMPITT & ISAAC TAYLOR
On Friday, Congresswoman Susan W. Brooks (R-Ind.-05) announced her decision to retire from Congress at the end of her fourth term on Jan. 3, 2021. She issued a statement to her supporters, which you can read at this link and on Page 2 in the Saturday, June 15 edition of The Hamilton County Reporter.
She took some time to talk to The Reporter about her service in public office and her plans for the future.
Rep. Brooks has always been in favor of term limits and her decision to leave at the end of her fourth term is an action that underscores her beliefs.
“I think eight years is the right amount of time in my life,” Brooks said. “With what we have been able to accomplish it just feels like the right time. I do this analysis after every election when I have the conversation with my family as to whether or not we want to go for it again. I have had a very productive and good run and it feels like the right time to close the chapter.”
When asked if she would continue to live in Carmel after 2020, Brooks responded with an enthusiastic, “Oh yes! I love living in Carmel and I love living in Hamilton County.”
Brooks lived in Marion County for 21 years before moving to Carmel in 2008.
“Marion County and Hamilton County is home and has been since I lived in Indianapolis in law school in 1982,” Brooks told The Reporter. “I am looking forward to spending more time here and that is a big part of the decision.”
In the last 22 years of her career, 16 years have been spent in public service.
“People often think ‘she’s only in her fourth term or seventh year,’ but I was U.S. Attorney from 2001 to 2007,” Brooks said. “It was an incredibly busy time, after 9/11, to be U.S. Attorney. Then I was deputy mayor for Steve Goldsmith in 1998 and 1999. He was one of the most innovative mayors in the country and that was like this [being a member of Congress], a kind of 24 hours a day, seven days a week job. I’ve been doing this for a very long time and I’m ready to spend more time at home, to have the flexibility to travel and visit my children and family across the country.”
Brooks decision to run for U.S. Representative for Indiana’s 5th District came on a very significant day in her life.
“It was June of 2011 on our 25th wedding anniversary,” Brooks said. “We are coming up on my 33rd here.”
Brooks has been one of Indiana’s most prolific legislators. She has authored eight laws – seven that have been enacted and an eighth awaiting the President’s signature, including comprehensive legislation to address substance abuse, a bill to offer more mental health support to first responders, reforms to protect young amateur athletes from sexual assault and abuse, and most recently, the reauthorization of the Pandemic All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act to strengthen our national biodefense. No House member from Indiana in recent history has seen more original legislation become law.
Brooks is also the first woman from Indiana ever to chair a House Committee. As Chairwoman of the House Ethics Committee, she led the first overhaul of Congress’s response to sexual harassment in the workplace in nearly 25 years
Brooks says she has no plans to run for any local office, as she truly wants to close the public service chapter of her life.
“I am closing the chapter on public service and elected office,” Brooks told The Reporter. “My role in the future will be first and foremost will be to ensure that we hold this seat in Republican hands. The district has been Republican for decades and a lot of good things have happened with Republican leadership in Hamilton County. But I am also the recruitment chair for the National Republican Congressional Committee. So I am coaching, mentoring and finding candidates across the country. Now I will get to spend more time doing that.”
When asked what she would like to finish before she left office, Brooks had a long list of projects and legislation that she will work to complete by the end of 2020.
“In terms of legislation, we have a few bills that we have already introduced that I would love to see passed,” Brooks said. “One I introduced last Congress that did not get much traction, but I’m hoping it does this Congress, is the Red Flag Law. I introduced that bill with Rep. Ted Deutch, who represents Parkland, Fla. We actually introduced that bill before the Noblesville [West Middle School] shooting. It gives law enforcement the ability to remove guns from the hands of someone who is a danger to themselves or others. I think Red Flag Laws are very important.”
Brooks would also like to see the City of Fishers used as a template for mental health services across the country.
“I don’t think we put enough focus on mental health issues in the country,” Brooks told The Reporter. “I just had Mayor Fadness in this week to visit me in D.C. because they have a model for cities for how to bring mental health initiatives into schools and law enforcement agencies – they cover all the training that is necessary and reducing the stigma of mental health. I’d love to find way to take what they are doing in Fishers and replicate that around the country.”
To date she and her office have worked on more than 4,000 cases for 5th District residents, helping constituents do everything from complete foreign adoptions to getting the recognition and resources they’ve earned from federal agencies. Her work has been recognized by the Alliance for Biosecurity, the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of American, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the Consumer Technology Association, the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, the Richard G. Lugar Excellence in Public Service Series, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Indiana Reserve Officers Association, among others.
Brooks wanted to thank her team in both her Carmel and Anderson offices for making her seven years serving as U.S. Representative such a success.
“I am incredibly proud that when I travel the district I am regularly complimented on my team and how engaged we are,” Brooks said. “I can’t pick one piece of legislation because they are all important to different constituencies and groups. But I am very proud that we are view as an office that listens to diverse points of view and that we are a compassionate and caring office. That isn’t me – that’s the people who work in my Carmel and Anderson offices and the manner in which they have conducted themselves in these last seven years and will until we finish. People have been very pleased with the way we have represented and been responsive to them – even though we might not always agree.”
The next person to fill Rep. Brooks seat in Indiana’s 5th U.S. Congressional District will come from anywhere in an area that includes all of Hamilton, Madison, Grant and Tipton counties, and portions of Boone, Marion, Howard and Blackford counties. Cities and towns include Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield, Atlanta, Arcadia, Sheridan, Cicero, Pendleton, Alexandria, Anderson, Elwood, Chesterfield, Frankton, Lapel, Summitville, Tipton, Kempton, Marion, Gas City, Converse, Fairmount, Jonesboro, Swayzee, Sweetser, Van Buren, Upland, Hartford City, Dunkirk, Greentown, and portions of Indianapolis and Zionsville. (Graphic provided / Wikipedia.org)