Gail Riecken – Profile

Gail Riecken is a hometown girl with a career of servant leadership possessing an ingrained need to work with people and for people for the betterment of the community and region that she comes home to everyday.

As a young girl growing up in a household that encouraged volunteerism and public service, Gail Riecken, earned pocket money by babysitting and working as a camp counselor. Her German roots made their way to America like many through the gates of Ellis Island. The strength of Gail’s grandmother was tested early in her American life by having all of her possessions stolen shortly after immigrating and by losing her husband to a mining accident. That strength seems to have manifested itself in Gail who has risen from being a schoolgirl at Evansville’s Bosse High School to become a successful entrepreneur and eventually to the office of Indiana State Representative for District 77.

While other elected officials are hiding from their records Mrs. Riecken is standing proudly on hers. As a professional woman from a family that has seized opportunities, Gail believes that one of government’s highest duties is to assure that everyone has an opportunity to achieve whatever they aspire to. One of her mantras is “it is better to teach people to fish than it is to give them a fish”. She also recognizes that the current economy has created situations where many people are at risk through no fault of their own. This recognition led her to embrace the opportunity to effect legislation to help people to save their homes from foreclosure and to enhance neighborhoods by mitigating abandoned property issues. Another saying of Gail’s is that “when neighborhoods succeed, communities succeed”.

Gail’s community involvement resume is quite comprehensive and includes direct involvement with children’s welfare programs, women’s groups, the arts, family support initiatives, and environmental concerns. This community devotion is reflected in Gail’s legislative actions to reform the administration of Medicaid to increase transparency and accountability while preserving benefits, by advocating for new law for women owned and minority owned businesses (MBE & WBE) and by authoring a bill to add certain rights of child and “endangered adults”.

Finally, Gail has taken a courageous and politically unprecedented stand in challenging the Vectren Corporation’s recent request for a rate increase during a recession. Riecken is emphatic in her assertion that “Vectren’s direction is absolutely not in the best interest of Vectren’s customers”. Evansville recently lost Legacy Plastics to Henderson due in large part to the 100% difference in electrical service rates. Gail’s recognition that both the people of Southwest Indiana and the economic development efforts spent for the betterment of the business community are blunted by the fact that Vectren’s rates are the highest in the State of Indiana and among the highest in the country. As your State Representative, Gail Riecken will continue to strive to create a balance between life and business to enable both to prosper in this place that she has proudly chosen to call home for her entire adult life.