Indiana in need of reputational management and new leadership

I am a lifelong Republican and I grew up in Indianapolis, where I had an ideal childhood riding bikes and attending public schools before heading to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

My great-grandmother, Cecil Murray Harden, was Indiana’s first female congresswoman, and the only one until 2013. She was from Covington, Indiana and served five terms in Congress from 1949-1959. Cece passed away when I was a little girl, but she always served as a role model as a strong and determined woman, and a person of great principle and integrity. My brother, sister and I grew up hearing stories about her and we took turns going to vote with my parents each Election Day.

{mosads}Once I graduated from Purdue, I headed to Austin, Texas to work on Governor George W. Bush’s presidential campaign in the press office. I was fortunate to work in the White House as my first ‘real’ job, as a press aide to Mrs. Laura Bush in the East Wing. Later I worked on Capitol Hill as a communications director for a new member of Congress from Indiana’s second district, Chris Chocola, before I was recruited back to work with the Bush team for the 2004 re-election campaign. I traveled with the First Lady and handled media and press for the duration of that memorable and successful campaign.

I now have a bipartisan communications firm in Washington, DC, with a business partner who spent years working for Democrats on Capitol Hill.  I have spent my entire career working in Republican politics, public relations and communications, and focus on reputational management, public affairs and crisis communications for corporate clients.

You do not have to work in public relations to spot a crisis. It is clear Indiana has been facing an enormous one all last week, past a boiling point.  It has been hard not to follow the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), approved lrecently by Republicans and Gov. Mike Pence. This ‘religious freedom’ act was a huge, horrendous step back for Indiana based on the misguided, faulty leadership of Pence and a few in the state legislature – that is now bringing the worst possible kind of attention to the state.  

The Indiana I know is not unwelcoming or unaccepting of others.  Stamping a name like ‘religious freedom’ on a bigoted and backward piece of legislation does not make it acceptable, and the citizens of Indiana know it.  The businesses and the sports teams who have made Indiana their home base for decades decried this bill for good reason, as it is crystal clear what it stands for – discrimination.

Unfortunately, this act will have devastating, lasting results for Indiana’s reputation, even with the last minute attempt to correct it. Businesses based in Indiana and those who would even consider coming to the state will now think twice, as will people considering moving to the state. 

Pence has led Indiana in the wrong direction. Indiana voters would be wise to remember this fiasco at election time and choose a new leader. Indiana is a great state and deserves more. 

Siciliano is a public relations specialist. She grew up in Indianapolis and has worked as a media spokesperson and press secretary on both George W. Bush presidential campaigns, in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the White House.