Yolo County District Attorney candidates Cynthia Rodriquez and Jeff Reisig will participate in an informational forum, a collaborative effort by the Woodland League and the Davis Area League, on Wednesday, April 27th.. The forum begins at 7:00 pm in the Woodland Community & Senior Center, 2001 East Street, Woodland.
This nonpartisan forum will feature questions developed by the Leagues that are focused on our local criminal justice system. The audience will have an opportunity to submit written questions. The public is encouraged to attend although seating will be limited to ticket holders. The forum will be carried live on Woodland Cable TV, Channel 21. A link for viewing is on the Woodland League website at: my.lwv.org/california/woodland. The event will also, be recorded for later viewing on this website.
There is no cost to the public but individuals wishing to attend this forum in person must register and obtain a ticket from EventBrite at: yolodaforum.eventbrite.com. A paper copy of the ticket must be brought to the event to gain admission or attendees can have the proper QR code available for scanning on their mobile phone. The public will also have a brief opportunity to submit questions for these candidates via the League’s email at: woodlandleaguenews [at] gmail.com from 12:00 noon Saturday, April 23rd through Tuesday, April 26th at 12:00 noon. Please submit only one question and, if used, it will be directed to both candidates. League guidelines that include prohibiting signage in the Center and no campaign materials in the forum prior to its conclusion will be in place.
Forum participant and challenger, Cynthia Rodriguez, 64, is currently in private practice and works from her home office in Winters. Rodriguez was born in Oakland, CA. Her father grew up as a farmworker in the Vacaville and Winters area. Her mother grew up homeless near the Sacramento River and in Broderick. Her parents were teachers, her father at high school and junior college and her mother at the junior college and university level.
Rodriguez attended UC Berkeley for two years before she transferred to Creighton University in Omaha, NE., where she earned both a bachelor’s degree in English literature and a law degree. She started her law career in private litigation practice in the Los Angeles area. She then worked as a deputy public defender for Orange County, the State of California, and Solano County before taking a job in the employment law unit at the California State Dept. of Corrections, where she managed complex litigation for the agency and prosecuted misconduct by safety officers.
Rodriguez moved on to the litigation unit at California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS). Rodriguez also spent 12 years as general counsel on mental health for the California Dept. of Mental Health and the California Dept. of State Hospitals.
Incumbent District Attorney Jeff Reisig, 52, has served Yolo County in this office since 2007, winning reelection in 2010, 2014 and 2018.
He was born in the small farming community of Gilroy, California, where his father was a businessman, and his mother a public-school teacher. Reisig earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural & managerial economics at UC Davis and his law degree at the University of the Pacific. While a student, he volunteered as a legal intern for the Yolo County Public Defender’s Office.
After graduation, Reisig represented farmers and other business owners as a lawyer with the Fresno-based labor and employment firm of Jory, Peterson, Watkins, Ross & Woolman. He returned to Yolo County to start a career as a prosecutor with the District Attorney’s Office in 1997 and continued in that position until his election as Yolo County’s District Attorney.
During his tenure as DA, Reisig has focused on expanding community-based diversity programs to redirect people out of the criminal justice system and launched a data portal to provide access to information from his office. Reisig currently serves President of the California Association of District Attorneys.*
The Woodland & Davis area leagues are pleased to host this forum as it is a piece of the election process that provides an educational event at the local level and highlights our own criminal justice system, a very vital and important issue for today’s public.
*Candidates' personal histories courtesy of Kathy Robertson, Davis Area League
