The responses to these questions were edited for length and clarity by the Georgia Decides team. Each candidate was allotted 150 words for each answer and some answers were trimmed in order to abide by that length requirement. Other edits were made to make sure readers can fully follow and understand the candidate responses.
Campaigning for: Cobb County Solicitor General
How does your background equip you for the job you are seeking?
With fifteen years experience of prosecuting felonies, misdemeanors and juvenile crime in Fulton and Paulding counties, I have the breadth of experience in interfacing with victims and those charged with crimes as well as the type of lived experience that enables me to understand the need to support victims beyond prosecution and address the causes of crime. My education started out at the Legal Aid Clinic as a third year law student representing indigent persons charged with crimes, an experience that enabled me to see that judges and prosecutors are the most powerful individuals in the courtroom and without diverse, lived experiences those who judge and have the discretion to bring charges can never really understand how to create just outcomes. I realized that as a prosecutor I could help victims and also uplift my community.
What role should government have in the lives of Georgians? How would you apply that philosophy to the job you are seeking?
We have a social contract with our government and a constitution that binds that contract giving us freedoms and civil liberties. As Solicitor General, I would ensure the state pursues cases that are evidence based, that victims who need state protections are provided with wrap around services from the inception of the call to the day the case closes, and provide our public the peace of mind by knowing that those accused will be given a fair hearing and an opportunity to re-integrate into our communities as safe and productive citizens on misdemeanor matters.
If you are elected (or re-elected), what problems will you spend the most time solving and why?
-Transparency and accountability have been lacking in the Cobb Solicitor General’s Office for quite a while, an office that has never shared any statistics or data regarding the demographics of participants who’ve succeeded in accountabiity courts and the violation of the oath of office by the lead prosecutor who was charged and pleeded guilty to an offense he prosecutes. I will restore integrity to the office and provide the citizens of Cobb transparency as public servant of the people of Cobb.
-Promote Implicit bias training and ensure the office is a fair representation of the communtiy it serves.
-Evaluate victim witness protocols and expand wraparound services to enable victims of domestic violence the education and support they need beyond the pendancy of the case.
-Educate and engage students and youth by collaborating with schools and colleges to educate them about public safety to include red-flags in dating, safety on our roads and DUI.
-Collaborate with stakeholders and legislators to provide supports for accused and convicted indiviuals to ensure mental health and substance abuse individuals receive appropriate health care coverage and treatment and that individuals caught up in the system can be re-integrated into our community as healthy citizens.
Georgia is a politically diverse state. How will you work to represent Georgians whose political views differ from your own?
The Office of the Cobb County Solicitor General, while a partisan race, is an office that will serve all Cobb citizens without bias or prejudice toward race, sexual orientation, socio-economic status or political or religious affiliation as we are all equal under the law.
Who has been the biggest influence on how you view government and politics? What have you learned from this person?
I don’t consider myself a politician. However like many women working in the law today, my role model has been Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a working mom who left an enduring legal and cultural legacy. I was inspired by her grace and ardent advocacy for those who were underrepresented in our communities, working to bring equality to women and minorities. A true leader who fought hard for the things that mattered but didnt lose her sense of humor or kindness in the process, making room for bipartisanship and leading by example at every turn.
Politics is often about compromise. How do you decide when to compromise and take small, incremental wins, and when to refuse compromise?
Fortunately, as the lead prosecutor for misdemeanor offenses in Cobb, if the state and defense can’t reach a negotiation or agreement the jury gets to decide. Citizens of Cobb County will get to make decisions when we cannot as ultimately the buck stops with them.
There were politicians who questioned the outcomes of Georgia elections in 2018 and 2020. Do you think Georgia’s elections are secure and will you stand by the results?
As a former poll worker, I know that every person working those polls is complying with the law and process so I am confident that election results are secure. I will stand by whatever the voters decide for Cobb County and the State of Georgia.
In light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on abortion, state law and local enforcement authority will determine access to abortion. If elected, how will you use your authority to influence abortion access or enforcement of abortion restrictions?
There is currently no law requiring any Solicitor General to prosecute any violations involving abortions. Prosecutors have prosecutorial discretion in what they charge and how they charge. Given that there is no law on this matter, I doubt I would run into this issue, however, in the event the legislaure chooses to enact such a law, it would be in the prosecutor’s discretion to pursue such charges and I would prosecute such a law no differently than adultery which is also tucked in the code section.