WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Cynthia Rodriguez has been a lawyer for 40 years and both defended and prosecuted cases, including prosecutions of misconduct in California prisons. She is currently running against Jeff Reisig for Yolo County District Attorney. Cynthia believes that the current policies at the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office are biased and that they have been that way for a long time.

Cynthia has not been a DA before but has served in several other courts including the Appellate Court and Governor appointments. She believes this experience gives her better insight and more knowledge of the entire legal system than what the current DA. In addition, she has served as an advisor to CA Health & Human services and has managed an office with more than 200 employees and a multimillion-dollar budget. Cynthia feels that by not being limited to one position, she has a better understanding of long-term legal issues and would like to help the community with proper programs, rather than focus on convictions.

“I think the people are more interested in what my plan is,” Cynthia said, “Reisig[’s] got a few backers from big groups. I got a lot of backers from small groups or individuals. I don’t have the time or money to run all of my donations against the registry. In addition, when we did find out about a donor being on the registry, we gave that money away. It was a donation to my campaign, nothing more.”

Cynthia has a plan to overhaul the way sentencing is done in Yolo County. Currently, the DA’s office makes you take a plea prior to getting diversion. In many places, and what she would like to see, is diversion be offered when appropriate and if that diversion is not completed, then a plea is entered. This gives incentive to complete the programs and keeps the arrests off of people’s records, possibly affecting future jobs.

Cynthia stated that a budget is a system of priorities. She believes that the DA’s office should not spend the tax payer’s money on inventing new programs or to file lawsuits to undermine what the county voted for. Instead, it should be applied to programs that have a track record of working. Props 47, 57 and 20 were clearly decided by the voters, yet Reisig filed lawsuits to proceed against those decisions.

The candidate stated that the recent inmates that have been released early were strictly in accordance to the law, not due to improper sentencing. She believes that cases need to be reviewed and those cases where the number of years attached to the sentence, due to enhancements, is more than the sentence itself, need to be reevaluated.

“Sentences to crimes are decided by the legislature, however, enhancements are decided by the DA’s office. Society and the legal system have evolved, but they have not yet adjusted sentences. That needs to change,” she said.

Cynthia wants to eliminate racial bias, fix past errors, decriminalize poverty and reduce poverty crime. She wants to advocate for equal treatment under the law, not sentence people because the office feels there will be future crimes. In addition, she wants cash bail to be based on real risk, not economic status. She wants full transparency by making all decisions made by the office to be available to the public, as well as transparency about the finances so that the public can hold the office accountable.

To find out more about the programs and policies Cynthia has planned, visit www.cynthia4yolocountyda.com, email [email protected].