Brooks faces crowd of constituents

Jan. 19--The temperature slowly rose in the small, downstairs room at the Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Library in Zionsville Tuesday evening, as more and more people took seats in chairs and on tables and pressed up against walls.

Nearly 200 people came to the library to speak one-on-one with U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks (R-District 5), the incoming head of the House Ethics Committee, about issues ranging from climate change, jobs, President-elect Trump and the Affordable Care Act.

Brooks, who hosts similar "Connect with your Congresswoman One-on-One" events in various locations throughout the year, said that the Zionsville crowd was the largest she'd seen. Staffers ran out of sign-up sheets and had to print new ones by hand as a line snaked out of the packed waiting room.

Brooks stayed at the library until about 8:30 p.m., two hours later than the event was scheduled to end, Brooks' communications director Kristen Johnson said. Attendees tallied up to 184 by the end of the night.

The main topic of the evening was the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, Brooks said in an interview with The Reporter.

Ellen Corcella, a chaplain at Methodist Hospital, said that she feared for many patients who depend on ACA coverage to get treatment.

"I go in to see some very ill people," Corcella, a former lawyer, said. "A lot of the people I see are young women who would not be able to be in treatment without the ACA. And they are very sick.

"I understand the repeal. It's the replacement that worries me. There has to be a replacement."

Corcella went into her session with the congresswoman with Paulette Berger, a retired teacher, who said that many people she knows would lose their insurance without the ACA.

The women talked with Brooks for several minutes about the ACA, but did not feel afterword like they'd heard anything specific or new about a replacement plan.

"I think it was still not specific enough," Berger said of Brooks's response to her concerns. "I don't see the comfort for the people who are anxiously wondering what's going to happen to them."

Corcella said that she tried to press the congresswoman to go into details, but that she didn't have enough time. Each constituent was given between two and three minutes before being ushered out the door and into the children's area of the library.

"She was working hard through personality to persuade," Corcella said. "After railing against this for eight years ... it's not like it comes as a surprise.

"I appreciate that she was here to talk to us, but it doesn't relieve my concerns about the lack of details."

About an hour into the event, Brooks said that she had already heard from people with pre-existing conditions worried that they would lose their coverage if the ACA were repealed.

"That is something we're very committed to trying to make sure that stays in any future plan," she said.

The crowded waiting room was filled not only with worried individuals, but with large groups, some united by social media activism and others by formal organization, such as a branch of the Citizen's Climate Lobby.

Boone County Voices for Change, an online group with more than 700 members, had about 50 people attend the event, said group founder Jan Hornaday. The members went in individually, in ad hoc groups, or with committees organized on social media by interest and topic.

Hornaday herself went in with a small group of men, women and a teenager who belong to BCVC.

"We met with her to introduce her to our group and give her an idea of what we were about," Hornaday said. "We wanted to let her know we're going to stay engaged and want to be involved in the process along with her."

The congresswoman's staff members trolled the crowd with clipboards and pens, speaking with people still waiting their turns and with those who had already finished speaking with Brooks. The staffers were there to get more in-depth with people and take down personal requests that the office might be able to explore deeper, such as immigration or social security issues, Brooks said.

By the end of the night, everyone who signed up and stayed had a chance to speak either with Brooks or a staffer, Johnson said.

But many took to social media to voice frustration with the format of the event, the long wait time, and the fact that some people were not able to speak with Brooks. Several suggested a town hall style meeting instead of the brief individual discussions, while others objected to the way Brooks' social media posts portrayed the event.

Many commented back that the majority of people who attended were not interested in learning more, but in hearing details on how House Republicans would successfully replace it without stripping many Americans of health care options.

According to a report issued Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office, 18 million Americans are insured under the ACA.

Hornaday said that she was happy that Brooks came to Zionsville, and would welcome more opportunities to speak with Brooks and voice concern about topics ranging from the ACA to the environment.

"BCVC welcomes any opportunity to engage with elected officials and (our) members would attend a town hall meeting," she said.

Aside from health care, Brooks said that she also heard concerns about climate change, jobs, positions for women and ethics.

Carmel resident Mary Strinka was the first person to speak with the congresswoman. She arrived almost two hours early for the event, at 3:15 p.m.

Strinka said that she was concerned with governmental ethics and the way Brooks, the chairwoman of the House Ethics Committee, would handle her position.

"I want to know, in her position on ethics committee, that she will investigate misbehavior in the executive branch as much as she would have if this was the beginning of a (Hillary) Clinton presidency," Strinka said.

During their session, Brooks assured Strinka that she would, and Strinka assured Brooks that she would be calling her office weekly to make sure that that promise was upheld.

The next Connect with your Congresswoman event will be held from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Feb. 4 at The Anderson Impact Center, 630 Nichol Avenue, Anderson.

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