Where They Stand: Indiana House District 60 candidate Brittany Carroll

Editor’s note: Republican Brittany Carroll is one of two candidates for Indiana House District 60. The district covers portions of Johnson, Monroe and Morgan counties. A Where They Stand interview with Carroll’s opponent, Republican incumbent Peggy Mayfield, will run in Friday’s Daily Journal. The Q&A below includes answers by Carroll in her own words. It has been edited for length and grammar.

Two candidates are seeking an open seat for Indiana House District 60 in the Republican primary May 3: Brittany Carroll and Peggy Mayfield. Following recent redistricting, the district now covers the majority of Morgan County and portions of northeastern Monroe and northwestern Johnson counties.

The Daily Journal asked both candidates questions about their priorities and what voters could expect from them if they are elected. Here are Carroll’s responses.

» Why are you running for office?

I have always been politically active, engaged, aware and even opinionated, but I trusted that our representatives were doing the things that we elected them to do. In the past two years, I can see clearly that is not the case. We have a strong parent group that have been advocating in the community for our children to be able to continue to have an in-person education experience and to minimize the disruptions in their lives as much as possible. We have reached out repeatedly to the governor, our representatives, the school corporations, the health departments and any decision makers along the way countless times with our concerns regarding the best interests of our children. We feel largely ignored, or at best, we are responded to, but told there’s really nothing that can be done. I adamantly disagree with that position. If our elected representatives cannot, or will not, do that job for which they ran for, then we as a community need to find those representatives who will.

» How are you qualified for this position?

Any person who meets the qualifications of the Indiana State Constitution is qualified to run for office. I don’t believe there’s a specific skill set or work history requirement itemized in the Constitution. So if a person has met the age and residency requirement, they are qualified to represent the constituents of their district in the state of Indiana. This is a government of the people, and the people determine who is qualified.

» What are the top issues facing Indiana/your top priorities?

Protecting children’s interests. I would absolutely support any legislation that, at any point in time, protects the best interests of our children. I’m a family law attorney and that is a standard for the state of Indiana. It’s not just a standard that needs to be applied in the courtroom. That’s a standard that needs to be applied when we are considering different legislation, when we’re considering decision-making in local government or within school corporations or wherever decisions are being made that affect our children.

Constitutional rights. My observation is that the state Constitution and the U.S. Constitution are not being upheld, certainly not in this “state of emergency.” Constitutional rights and civil liberties apply to Americans and Hoosiers and cannot be set aside even for the purpose of public health and safety (and) certainly not for two years. If a house is burning down, that’s an emergency. A house doesn’t continue to burn down for two years. At a certain point, we need to regroup and move forward with whatever this new normal is, and keep our rights and liberties intact at all times, regardless of an emergency situation. We need leadership in these elected positions who are willing to represent their constituents with strength. They should enter the Statehouse with a clear understanding of what’s important to their constituents, and that all matters discussed need to be seen through the lens of the U.S. Constitution, the state Constitution and the best interest of the constituents.

» How do you plan to help your district specifically, and communicate with constituents about what is going on at the Statehouse?

Communication is paramount between the representative and the constituents and it needs to flow both ways. The representative needs to be transparent. There’s no reason why you can’t be giving a report or update to your constituents to keep them informed. Each individual person is not expected to follow along with the legislative session in addition to their full-time job. This is the job of the representative. But in general, there … needs to be a clear effort at communicating with the district, and when your district communicates with you, you should take those concerns back to the Statehouse. You’re representing your district, and your decisions need to be based solely on how this affects your district so (it) has true representation in the Statehouse. You cannot make all your constituents happy with all things all the time, but the communication piece has got to be open and flow both ways.

» How would you address, at the state level, the concerns of parents and teachers about what is being taught in classrooms?

The last two years have required parents who maybe weren’t paying attention to their children’s education as closely as they should have been to pay attention now, and they have some legitimate concerns. Many of my friends are teachers; they are amazing people. They are skilled, trained and talented in ways I am not. Many go into the profession truly for the desire to help children, and I personally feel they are not fairly compensated for the work they do. At the same time, there needs to be space for parents to be able to know the curriculum of the classroom. There does need to be an effort for a partnership there, and I’m not sure that we’ve seen any legislation so far that can even almost accomplish that, but that would be the goal.

» This year, state lawmakers cut some of the state’s tax revenues due to a bigger-than-expected surplus. What are your thoughts on possibly cutting both business personal property and/or individual income taxes again next year?

Any opportunity we can keep taxpayer dollars in taxpayer pockets, that is an important consideration. Indiana is a solvent state. We can look for opportunities to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, to make good choices with how those dollars are spent and we don’t need to be looking for opportunities to further tax Hoosiers. We need to be looking for ways we can lessen that tax burden, especially in the reality of increasing inflation.

» Is there a bill you disagreed with during the 2022 legislative session, and what would you have liked to see passed instead?

It seems we are unable to get good clean bills written and passed, which is something I can say about every single bill of this session. By the time a good bill is presented and it’s gone throughout the legislative process … it’s been so completely watered down that it doesn’t even represent the original intent of the bill. So what was the point of spending taxpayer dollars to go through this process to codify bad law that accomplishes little and enforces nothing? It would be far better for them to do nothing than to do something just for the optics … not accomplishing the objective of what they were trying to do. We have a Republican governor, we have Republican majorities in the House and the Senate, and we have a supermajority within the legislature. There’s absolutely no reason whatsoever the Republican Party can’t pass anything the Republican Party truly wanted to pass with the original intent intact.

» Is there anything else you would like to say to the voters?

A recent example of where our representatives did not apply the state Constitution was during the 2021 legislative session, when they codified a rule where a candidate is only eligible for a primary if they have either voted for the party they are claiming to represent in their most recent two primary elections. The law codified in the 2021 legislative session is unconstitutional on its face because it disqualifies people … from access to the ballot. For example, an 18 year old can vote at the age of 18. At the age of 21, they should be eligible to put his or her name on the ballot for state representative, according to the state Constitution. According to the law codified in 2021, that is impossible because that 18 year old couldn’t have also voted in two primaries before the time they are eligible. In the 2022 legislative session, there was an amendment put forth to correct this … but they overwhelmingly voted no. I am a Republican, I’m very conservative and I consider myself a constitutional conservative. To me, law of the land is paramount. That’s the way I will process, analyze and filter any proposed legislation and proposed amendments.

This seat does not belong to anyone. It does not belong to the incumbent. It does not belong to a particular party. It belongs to the people; the people absolutely have the right to decide who sits in the seat and represents them. It feels like there’s a misunderstanding in the Statehouse that once you get the seat, you can sit in it as long as you want until you decide you want to give up the seat, or you are ready to retire and you pick your replacement. That’s not a government of the people. That’s a government of the Statehouse – of those elected in the Statehouse; that’s not how this works. The people need to take their responsibilities seriously and No. 1, vote, and No. 2, hold your representative accountable.