By Mary Beth Schneider
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS— I’ve never believed it true that “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”

But it is true that events can give you a keener appreciation of what was lost.

On Nov. 27, we lost William Ruckelshaus, an Indianapolis native who was the first director of the Environmental Protection Agency and who famously resigned rather than carry out President Nixon’s order to fire the independent prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal.

His death came only a day after the United Nations issued a harrowing report warning that the world is whistling past its own graveyard, with unprecedented cuts in greenhouse gas emissions needed to stave off catastrophic consequences of climate change.

And it came in the midst of impeachment hearings that show President Trump, like President Nixon, has used his office as a political weapon and engaged in a cover-up to hide the truth from the American public.

If ever we needed a man of Mr. Ruckelshaus’s caliber, it’s now.

I will never forget the so-called “Saturday Night Massacre.” I was in college, majoring in journalism while absorbed in the daily nightmare of news stories showing our country led by a criminal. The news that Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General Ruckelshaus had resigned rather than obey Nixon’s order to fire Archibald Cox was shocking and reassuring all at once. You knew the nation was in crisis; you also knew there were still good people who put country over party, principle over politics.

Where are they today? Where is U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks, the Carmel Republican who was an able U.S. attorney and knows evidence when she sees it? Where is Sen. Todd Young, who as a U.S. Marine knows about honor? It’s not that I expect them and others to necessarily support impeachment, but is speaking out against presidential abuse of power too much? Are words of censure out of line when they’re aimed at someone from your own party?

State Sen. John Ruckelshaus, the Indianapolis Republican who is William Ruckelshaus’s nephew, told me that “he never looked at himself as a hero.”

In fact, when Ruckelshaus tried to put together an event honoring his uncle three years ago, he was told: “Bill doesn’t want any awards. He doesn’t want any accolades.”

While I think he defined the word “hero” if the only thing he’d ever done is resign rather than take part in obstruction of justice, John Ruckelshaus said his uncle viewed his role in Watergate “as just something that evolved, and it’s there and it’s a time that he just stood up for principle, which he would have done and I would have done and we all would have done etcetera.”

If only. Too many people then and far too many now aren’t standing up for principle at all. It’s why there was applause when career foreign service diplomats like Maria Yovanovitch and Fiona Hill testified in Trump’s impeachment inquiry about the abuse of power they witnessed and rebutted the false narrative that Ukraine, not Russia, has been meddling in our elections.

William Ruckelshaus seemed to see his resignation as just a day at the office, the work that had to be done. In fact, John Ruckelshaus said, his aunt, Jill Ruckelshaus, recalled him simply coming home and saying: “Well, I just resigned.”

He was proudest not of that, but of his work at the EPA. It’s work he continued throughout his life. He returned to the EPA for a second stint as director under President Reagan to restore trust after Anne Gorsuch, mother of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, was held in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over documents about toxic waste enforcement. Ruckelshaus was greeted by thunderous applause from thousands of EPA employees, The New York Times reported, and a signed that read: “How do you spell relief? Ruckelshaus.”

Saving the environment was a mission Ruckelshaus took so seriously that in 2016 he supported Hillary Clinton for president, saying Trump showed “profound ignorance of science” and calling climate change, which Trump called a hoax, “the singular health and environmental threat to the world today.”

John Ruckelshaus said he consulted his uncle this summer as he weighed running for Congress in the 5th district, being vacated by Brooks. His uncle’s advice that crystallized the choice that led to his decision to stay in Indiana: “If you want to play politics, go to D.C. But if you really want to help people and effect changes in lives stay in your state.”

I’m glad, though, that William Ruckelshaus went to Washington not to play politics and by doing so, made a difference in people’s lives. We need more people who do the same.

Footnote: Mary Beth Schneider is an editor at TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalists.

By Tracey Horth Krueger
and Rima Shahid

Too afraid and embarrassed to scream. Thought it was my fault.”

Written in hurried but elegant cursive on a slip of paper, those brief bursts of words—like the others in italics below—tell the story of one Indiana woman’s sexual assault. At the same time, they represent the experiences of far too many Hoosier women. Even as they are being victimized, they’re embarrassed. Even as they want to scream in terror, they’re silenced by fear. Even as someone takes advantage of them, they feel they are at fault.

This happens more often than you’d think: One out of five Hoosier females has been sexually assaulted. And our daughters? Indiana ranks fourth highest in the nation for the number of reported rapes among high school girls.

If you do the math, that means we should see more than 650,000 sexual assaults reported each year. But we don’t, because 85% of sexual assaults are not reported. Why? Because victims feel they will not be believed or they will be blamed. Time after time, victims are asked, “What were you wearing?” and “Were you drinking?” They are quizzed about their sex lives. Their memory or interpretation of events is challenged. Meanwhile, the perpetrator is seldom asked the obvious question: “Why do you think it’s OK to rape someone?”

The truth is, addressing sexual violence is tough. As a society, we don’t like to talk about sex – we find it embarrassing and improper – let alone sexual violence. But we can’t keep quiet any longer. We must talk about this difficult topic, because our silence is robbing women of their freedom from fear, and our unwillingness to hear their pain affects their lives every day.

“I left that job because management and HR didn’t believe me.”

Having seen the state resist for too long traditional efforts to drive change, a coalition of Indiana individuals and organizations is using art and community action to ensure that women’s voices are heard and change is achieved. Women4Change and the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault are leading this yearlong creative initiative called El Tendedero/The Clothesline Indiana.

Based on an art installation first presented by artist Monica Mayer in Mexico City in 1978, El Tendedero/The Clothesline incorporates the power of stories shared on postcards.

“I was never told coercion was not consensual.” 

We invite survivors from across the state to share your stories if you are comfortable. Your voices have power and perhaps El Tendedero/The Clothesline offers the opportunity to be heard.   Survivors can anonymously answer one or more questions on pink postcards that will be hung on clotheslines at a variety of events, including at the Indiana Statehouse on March 5. Postcards include such questions as “Have you ever experienced sexual violence or harassment? What happened?” and “Where do you feel safe? Why?”

You can also share your stories digitally at https://www.women4changeindiana.org/the-clothesline.

Our goal is to let women know that we hear them, and we aren’t going to ignore what’s happening to them. At the same time, we want to equip and inspire women – and all Hoosiers – to learn who represents them in the Indiana General Assembly and then to engage with those representatives and encourage them to support initiatives to reduce and prevent sexual assault.

“Being resilient does not mean I’m immune to the pain.”

The emotional impact of the stories shared through El Tendedero/The Clothesline will help lawmakers see that they need to address this issue. They need to help sexual assault survivors understand that they are not at fault. And they need to assure those who have experienced sexual assault that we, as a state, will not stand by silently as they suffer and struggle. We hear them, even when they can’t scream.

FOOTNOTE: Tracey Horth Krueger is the chief executive officer of the Indiana Coalition to End Sexual Assault (ICESA) and Rima Shahid is executive director of Women4Change Indiana