Leaving the Legislature, part 4: Sue Hecht

An occasional series about lawmakers not seeking re-election this year.

Her concerns about domestic violence and sexual and child abuse are what first brought Del. Sue Hecht to Annapolis in 1995, and they've been a focus of the Frederick County Democrat throughout her time in the House of Delegates.

So it seems only fitting that she retire after the passage of a bundle of bills strengthening sex offender laws.

Prior to running for the General Assembly, Hecht was the CEO of Heartly House for 12 years, a local nonprofit organization advocating on behalf of victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse.

"We would go to Annapolis to get those [laws] changed for a number of years," she said. "Eventually, we said, 'Hell, we can do this!' "

Hecht worked successfully on some of these issues, from making child sex abuse a crime of violence, to supporting "Christopher's Law" that gave judges the power to sentence repeat child sex offenders to prison for life without the possibility of parole.

She has also tried without success for 10 years to prevent abuse at nursing homes through electronic monitoring. But she is confident others will follow in her footsteps.

"These things take time," Hecht said. "Others will take up the gauntlet on the issue, as you saw this year with the murder of the girl on the Eastern Shore. People came to the realization that really do have to tighten up these laws."

In recent years, Hecht has also taken up the cause of energy and the environment.

"I spent the last four years on the energy policy committee, and we were able to get a number of energy bills passed or studied," she said. "There's been a huge interest lately in energy and renewable energy."

But a number of bills this year focusing on consumer choice in the energy market died after passing on the House side. Hecht said they were killed as payback for the House Economic Matters Committee's rejection of energy re-regulation legislation in the 2009 legislative session.

"I'm afraid it was a little bit of political hijinks to get back at us for not supporting re-regulation," Hecht said. "It wasn't pretty."

Hecht said some friends in the legislature include House Environmental Matters Chair Maggie McIntosh, House Speaker Michael Busch and Sen. Jenny Forehand, D-Montgomery, who she said helped convince her to run for office.

"[Forehand] said, 'You need to do this,'" Hecht said. "I first worked with her coming to Annapolis as an advocate, and she was my number 1 mentor."

Hecht offered this advice for future delegates:

"I would say the most important thing is to listen, not talk," Hecht said. "Get both sides of the issue, which really is important. It's always important to bring both sides together to hear what the concerns are upfront, which lets legislation move ahead much better and lets people think things out without having a fight."