What do I stand for?

One of the questions candidates are often asked is "what do you stand for?" Usually the person asking me that question wants the quick pitch. The 30 second soundbite to quickly and easily figure out who they're talking to. But like most lawyers, I don't like 30 second soundbites. 

So what do I stand for? My father once told me, "Nothing worth having comes easy." I took that lesson to heart as an athlete and when I was on the high school debate team. I've taken that lesson with me into every job I've ever had and it's a motto that I carry with me every day at work. It's easy for a prosecutor to do the easy thing. You can decline hard cases and plea out cases to avoid going to trial. I love the challenge of a difficult case. High-level cases rarely come wrapped up in a neat package with a bow. They rarely result in easy trials. As a prosecutor, I am entrusted to find fair and appropriate justice. To me, doing nothing is rarely justice. That sometimes means charging a hard case and losing because the alternative is to do nothing at all. 

I want the District Attorney's Office to be as proactive as it is reactive. That requires the prosecutors to be bold and challenge themselves with new techniques or strategies in court. It requires prosecutors to not shy away from difficult cases but lean in to the challenge of proving a difficult case because it is the right thing to do. 

What do I stand for? I believe in doing what is right no matter how challenging it is. I do not shy away from a difficult fight. As your next District Attorney, I promise to charge the hard cases. I promise to take the hard cases to trial and to fight non-stop to get justice for victims of crime. I will look at the problems ahead and not just rely on doing things the same way for thirty years. 

Together, with your support, we can make a safer Johnson County for you and your family.