Continuing to follow his passion for historical research, Fort Wayne city councilman Geoff Paddock has a new book out, chronicling the accomplishments of 15 dedicated Hoosier leaders, all women, titled Indiana Political Trailblazers.
No stranger to the author’s table, Paddock considers this volume an informal sequel to Indiana Political Heroes, a work he published in 2008 about eight Hoosier lawmakers who had inspired him when he was growing up.
His hope is that this new study will provide an inspiration for girls and young women to enter an honorable field and participate themselves—at least by voting and hopefully by running for political office.
WBOI’s Julia Meek discusses the project’s scope and purpose with Paddock as well as the many important “firsts” his roster includes.
Purchase a copy of Geoff Paddock's Indiana Political Trailblazers here.
Event Information:
A limited number of signed copies of Paddock's book will be distributed AVOW's Annual Gathering at Indiana Tech
Friday, August 7.
Here is the transcript of our conversation:
Julia Meek: Geoff Paddock, welcome.
Geoff Paddock: Nice to be with you, Julia. Thanks for having me.
Julia Meek: We’ve got to say congratulations on your new book. You call it a sequel to your title, Indiana Political Heroes so, what exactly motivated this she-roic volume?
Geoff Paddock: Yeah, thank you for asking. So, this book is called Indiana Political Trailblazers, and it's about all women in politics and government in the state of Indiana.
Some were in Congress and the state legislature, a mayor or two, appointed officials, a judge, a U.S. attorney, a number of people that I really admired over the years.
And many of them that I at least met or got to know some, and so I decided I would put pen and paper together and try to write about them.
Julia Meek: Now, political history is obviously your passion. What compels you to write about it?
Geoff Paddock: You know, this really is a labor of love, Julia. I mean, I just felt...my mother was a great motivation to me.
Her name was Kathleen Fryback Paddock. She was born way back in 1922, and she was kind of a trailblazer herself. And I saw her working hard. She and my dad were a good couple, and they raised two good boys.
And my mother worked hard. And I saw sometimes her not achieve quite the success that maybe a male counterpart would have seen, and that made an impression on me.
So as I grew older, I wanted to write about some people that perhaps hadn't been talked about as much in Indiana history as I would like to see, and try to do justice to their careers, and also to write about a number of people who were first in their fields, and so that's what we came up with.
Julia Meek: So, narrowing your list of trailblazers, Jeff, you selected 15.
Geoff Paddock: Yes.
Julia Meek: What were your criteria there, and were there plenty to choose from?
Geoff Paddock: I think there might be more to be honest with you, Julia. These are people I admired. Like I say, many of them I had met or spoken with or had contact with.
The one I'll say, in the interest of full disclosure, Congresswoman Jill Long Thompson is someone I worked for over two years many years ago, and a number I had met in various positions.
But I felt, because they were many of them first in their fields, that's kind of what I was looking for. Not maybe the first in a field, although some were.
But many of them, as you know, Hillary Clinton would like to say, you know, breaking the glass ceiling in politics.
And many of them did, and you know, were first nominees for U.S. Senate and governor, a first U.S. attorney, a first judge, a first attorney general, and so on and so forth.
Julia Meek: Now, getting into your presentation, it's alphabetical. Why do you go that route versus chronologically?
Geoff Paddock: Well, that's a good question, and I just kind of felt that I really didn't want to show a favorite or maybe even a partisan favorite.
Some, actually the very first couple or two or three, I think, off the top are Republicans. But I wanted to, I think kind of hold the reader's attention in that regard.
Try to keep it relatively short and brisk but talk about the main components of each individual's strengths and why I felt that they were worthy individuals to write about.
The moderate, I would say that's what I was looking for too, Julia. The folks that we would consider more moderate by today's standards in politics.
And I think that frankly, the American people and the folks in Indiana are kind of aching to see a return to more moderation in politics and government. And I think these individuals exemplified that trait.
Julia Meek: Your roster is certainly fair and balanced, much like you are, Geoff.
Geoff Paddock: Well thank you.
Julia Meek: Was that hard to maintain as you made your list up, or was it a natural reflection of the trailblazers in our state history?
Geoff Paddock: You know, you're working with a publisher on this, and you want to meet the expectations of the publisher.
But again, I'm, I'm wanting to be very strong and set in my ways a little bit to say these are the people I really want to write about.
But yeah, I think we had to probably draw the line on a couple and not able to get them in. And I also wanted to make sure that this was a pretty even split.
I thought that might be more appealing to a publisher, to a bookstore, and maybe the general public. You know, I am a Democratic elected official.
I think I'm fairly well known to be moderate, bipartisan, consensus building, and try to work both sides of the aisle, so to speak, here locally.
And these are individuals that I saw doing that. And again, we had an almost even split with eight Democrats and seven Republicans.
And of the 15 chapters, I wrote 14 of them, and because of the generosity of the author of Julia Carson, who's Ray Boomhower of the State Historical Society, we were able to include that in this work because I thought what he wrote was exactly what I wanted to say about her, and so I appreciate that.
But I wrote 14 of the 15, and hopefully we did mark those appropriately.
Julia Meek: Having read the book, certainly good job there, Geoff. And diving into that research when you went there, what did you find you already knew versus what you needed to dig deeper for?
Geoff Paddock: Well, you know, it's always what you learn after you think you know everything. [both laugh] That’s more important in life, I think.
So, you know, a lot it's different. than it was when I wrote my book, Indiana Political Heroes, 20 years ago. I mean, so much is now available on the internet and online.
And so, as you start digging and you find so many things, you know, some of these folks appeared on National Public Radio. Some of them appeared on PBS.
So, there are records back there that I certainly was able to look at that that are available to the general public, but what I tried to do is make sure that I quantified that, denoted it properly, and gave the credit where this information came from.
But yeah, I really think as you get started on something like this, you think this can go on and on further. And I wanted to be succinct.
I wanted to be, I think, fair with each individual, but point out in 2500 to 3500 words, I think per chapter, the important things that they had accomplished.
It was also nice to be able to talk to folks that I know and get some quotes for some of these chapters. And we tried to be fair.
We tried to be balanced. We tried to bring out all the important parts on each individual and present it fairly. I
Julia Meek: It is well done, and I'm not going to ask you if you have a favorite. How could you have just one? But I will ask: Is there someone or something in this book that will be forever in your heart?
Geoff Paddock: Well, I think there's so many here. You know, Sarah Evans Barker, the first woman to be appointed a federal judge from the state of Indiana, Virginia Dill McCarty, the first woman to be appointed a U.S. attorney
.
Pamela Carson who was the first African American woman to be elected state attorney general on the Democratic ticket in 1992.
You know, Jill Long Thompson, I mentioned, ! worked for her. She was the first woman to be nominated for the United States Senate and then later for governor.
And while she was not successful, she was a very esteemed member of the United States Congress, and of course, also served in the cabinet under President Clinton and President Obama.
So, you know, you get into these, and you really, really start to find that we had a number of extraordinary women, both Democrats and Republican, who served our state, and one until just recently here in 2021, and that was Congresswoman Susan Brooks, and I just admire all of them.
So many of these, like I say, Julia, were first in their fields and helped, you know, at least put some cracks, as we say, in that glass ceiling for a future generation of female candidates, I think.
Julia Meek: Then it sounds like it's actually the power and the strength represented here as a whole that is going to be forever in your heart.
Geoff Paddock: I think so. And again, these are the individuals. You know, all of these folks just you know stellar credentials and careers, and all of them put their hearts into serving our state and some our country, and certainly our cities and towns.
All of them probably gave back so much more to the individual posts that they held than they received in compensation.
And again, individuals beyond reproach, individuals who were trailblazers, individuals who helped put a lot of cracks in that glass ceiling.
And again, I think more moderate consensus-building Democrats and Republicans that Americans are aching to see again come forward.
You know, as we were talking offline, Julia, I mean, probably 40% of folks now consider themselves independents, and so to see that pathway forward, I think both parties need to see more moderation. And these folks exemplified that in their era.
Julia Meek: And that is another important statement this book makes, idea that it raises, and maybe even a hope that it will grow.
Geoff Paddock: Yeah, you know there are a lot of folks that are in politics today, I think Mayor Sharon Tucker is a good example here locally of someone who is considered to be a moderate person who can work with both sides of the aisle.
And you know she's got a tough job being any, any mayor, but a Democratic mayor with a Republican-controlled city council, and still able to do a lot of good things for our community and put together good, solid operating budgets for our city.
So that's one example, as I see in present, and I'm sure there are others that will come forward here to lead us in the near future.
Julia Meek: Here's hoping, and I am curious, Geoff, how does Indiana compare with other states in female politicals and influencers, and how fast are the numbers increasing, would you say?
Geoff Paddock: Well, I'm sorry to say, Julia, that I think the numbers are decreasing. You know, I think if you go back to the peak here in the 80s and 90s, you see a lot of individuals that were in office.
And Sue Ellen Reed elected as the first female to be the superintendent of public instruction and serve with both Republican and Democratic governors.
So, we were probably at a point where we were maybe even a little bit ahead of the game back in the 1990s, up to that point or so, and now maybe slipping back just a little bit.
And politics has gotten so much more partisan, I think, on both political parties, if I may say such a thing.
And so I'm hoping that this book might influence women, maybe some men who see bipartisanship as a, as a way forward to come forward and offer themselves in politics and say, you know, we see such polarization, particularly in Washington, but some in Indianapolis.
We don't it in Fort Wayne because we can work together here, but we need individuals coming forward to go to Washington, to go to Indianapolis, to kind of break that threshold and to bring more compassionate and I think bipartisan government back to the table.
And I hope a lot of those are women. But again, we've seen I think a decrease, unfortunately, in my view, Julia, since I think the peak here, particularly in the 1990s, with a number of these individuals who were in office.
Julia Meek: Well, in that case, then would you speak to the hope that we are having right here, right now, and the message that you're sharing about the importance of keeping that going forward? Why is it critical?
Geoff Paddock: Yeah, I think less people, unfortunately, see politics as an admirable profession, less than we saw when I was growing up.
And I'm hoping that when you read about some of these folks, it might inspire individuals to come back and say, you know, I like what Marvella Bayh and Jill Ruckelshaus did.
And I like the fact that we had Julia Carson, who was working across the aisle to get things done in Washington and for our state of Indiana.
And I'd like to be a part of that too, and see if we can kind of, I say, end the threshold of of too much partisanship in Washington.
And frankly, some a little bit on the extremist side, if I may say such a thing. So, I'm hoping more individuals of a moderate nature will see this as a way forward.
And if I could just add, you know, so many of these individuals showed such strong leadership, and again, you know, the ability to, to cross the aisle.
Julia Meek: Okay, so if there is maybe an unspoken thread running through here, or an important silent message, something that is understood but not actually said, what would it be?
Geoff Paddock: To, I think kind of end the breakdown that we've seen. Others have said this, but I think it's true. When we don't see much going on.
Sometimes our governmental system, particularly in Washington, seems to be broken. Seems to be shut down.
Nothing seems to be moving in the direction that a lot of folks would like to see. It's hard to pass a budget now. We go into extra sessions, whatever, continuing resolutions, I think is what they're called.
It used to not be that way. It used to be that Republicans and Democrats would sit down and craft something and get the votes to do it and have compromise.
So that's a key thing I think too, Julia. It's, it's seeing both sides, the advantage of working together and seeing that both sides have something to offer that we saw back in an earlier time that we just don't see right now, and that I hope a future generation might look to these leaders and say these are individuals that did act in that fashion, and we need to have that restored, particularly in Washington.
Julia Meek
What do you say to young voters or soon to be young voters about the balance of well, everybody working together, but also the men and women and everybody out there working on it?
Geoff Paddock
I think it's a, it's an admirable profession. It's an honorable profession to say I want to get involved in public service of some kind.
You know I serve on the city council, Julia, and I serve on a body with nine individuals, and I would say all nine of us, I'll include myself in this, are people of goodwill.
And we don't always agree on things, but we kind of roll up our sleeves and go to work and make sure the city runs on time, right?
I mean, you know, we've got to have police officers and firefighters, and we've got to pick up the trash. We've got to have clean water.
We've got to dispose of our waste properly, and we've got to grow our city.
And I think we do that in a pretty well-not some bumps along the road here and there--but that's the kind of example I would like to hope that younger people, particularly women that read this book say, you know, that's an honorable profession.
I'd like to get involved more in that, and perhaps even try to go to Indianapolis and do it, or Washington D.C. where it's really needed.
Julia Meek: Amen, and very noble goal there. And last question: truly, as a source of inspiration, Jeff, what do you think this new volume tells all of us about the shape of Indiana's political future, based on it’s she-roic past?
Geoff Paddock: Yeah, it shows that we had a tremendous amount of good leadership from a lot of women in office.
A few of these, like Marvella Bayh, Jill Ruckelshaus, their husbands were key figures, but they had careers in their, in their own way, and separate from their husbands, and made a name for themselves that I think is important.
And so, you know, my hope is that again we look at this and we see that this is an honorable profession. This is something that we can really make a difference in, particularly on the local level.
But we need more of that, I think, in Washington, and that I hope younger women might say this is a a good way to go. These are role models.
These are individuals that you can emulate that put their country first. I think their state, their cities, and were able to accomplish a lot for their individual positions.
So that's my hope here, that moderation returns, consensus building returns. We see Democrats and Republicans who want to come forward and the future generations that want to work together and solve problems and try to move things forward.
And I hope that folks who read this, particularly young women, might be inspired to take that kind of a career and at least carry the torch to that next level.
Julia Meek
Geoff Paddock is a member of the Fort Wayne City Council with a new book out called Indiana Political Trailblazers.
Thank you so much for sharing your story of this enlightening slice of political history and future, Jeff. Continued success on that journey.
Geoff Paddock: Julia. It has been a pleasure. I thank you so much for the opportunity to be with you, and I really appreciate this. Thank you.
