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(IBJ Photo/Aaron P. Bernstein)Entering the political arena: Originally a pre-vet major, Robertson found she didn’t enjoy spending time in the lab. Switching gears thanks to a political science class, she tried to land an internship with the local Republican Party but found that, at that level, only the Democrats paid. Rather than switch parties, she opted to apply at the state level and ended up working with political director Jennifer Hallowell.
What she learned from Hallowell: “Everything I know.”
Where she set those lessons into practice: Among other places, as deputy executive director of the Marion County Republican Party, northeast regional political director for the Indiana Republican Party, New Hampshire field representative for the Rudy Giuliani presidential committee, campaign manager for Tony Bennett for state superintendent of schools, deputy regional campaign manager (Great Lakes region) for John McCain’s presidential bid, political director for Dan Coats’ U.S. Senate campaign, campaign manager for Greg Ballard for mayor (2011), and campaign manager for Luke Messer for Congress. That led to serving as communications director for Rep. Messer.
Family: single
How she fell in with Freedom Indiana: About two weeks after U.S. Supreme Court decisions in June expanded same-sex marriage rights, a friend said a bipartisan coalition was being put together to defeat the House resolution defining marriage as between a man and a woman and requested that Robertson talk to its leadership. “I said, ‘I’ll talk to them but I don’t want people to be surprised if I say no.’” She talked to them and the next day took the job.
Bear necessity: “Being a kid from ‘The Region,’ I’m a rabid Chicago Bears fan. If the Bears are playing, I’m certainly not paying attention to anything else. Some friends don’t care at all about football but they keep track of it to see if I’m going to be in a good mood or not.”
Ten years down the road? “I have no idea,” she said. “To put it in perspective, in July I was working in D.C. for a conservative member of Congress. I’ve had a lot of change in the last few months. I don’t even know what the next six months hold. But that’s the nature of the business.”•
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