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(Editor's note: Challenging Republican incumbent Jordan Gaffney in the county attorney's race is Democrat Sarah Tupper, who currently serves as Marshall County's first assistant county attorney.)
1. What is your personal, professional and educational background?
I'm originally from rural Russell, Iowa, which is a small town in Lucas County in southern Iowa. I graduated from Russell High School in 1994 and then obtained my B.A. from the University of Iowa, where I majored in political science. I received my law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law in 2002. I've worked as a prosecutor in three different counties in Iowa. My first job out of law school was as an assistant Wapello County Attorney in Ottumwa, where I prosecuted all the domestic violence and sexual assault cases in the office. After serving two years in Wapello County, I worked as a prosecutor in the Dallas County Attorney's Office in Adel for eight years, handling a general criminal docket. For the last ten years I've served as an assistant Marshall County Attorney. In my job with Marshall County, I've prosecuted domestic violence and sexual assault crimes. In the spring of 2021, I was promoted to First Assistant Marshall County Attorney, and I now prosecute a variety of criminal offenses, primarily violent felony-level crimes. I've developed expertise in the investigation and prosecution of domestic violence crimes, and I train law enforcement throughout the state, including here in Marshall County, on domestic violence law and investigations. I'm married to Mike Tupper, who is the Marshalltown Police Chief. We're proud to call Marshalltown our home and have lived here for the last 11 years. We have five children: Abby is a sixth-grade teacher and lives with her husband, Adam, and their son, Axel, in Cedar Falls. Gillian is a labor and delivery nurse at Mary Greeley and lives in Boone with her husband, Garrett. Our daughter Morgan is studying nursing at DMACC. Our son, Micah, is in fourth grade at Hoglan Elementary, and our daughter Catie is in first grade at Hoglan.
2. Why are you running for Marshall County Attorney?
I believe in public service. I've spent the last twenty years prosecuting violent crime, working with victims, and striving to create safer communities. My husband and I have lived in Marshall County for eleven years now, and it is our home. We are raising our family here. This community has been incredibly welcoming to us, and I want to give back by serving as County Attorney. I've been involved in the community for those eleven years, serving on boards and attending community events. I am a member of the Rotary Club of Marshalltown, the YMCA-YWCA Board, and the Heart of Iowa Big Brothers Big Sisters Board. I also serve as President of the Elim Children's Center Board. I believe that I have the prosecution experience, the community knowledge, the collaborative outlook, and the leadership skills and vision to lead the Marshall County Attorney's Office and work with our local law enforcement to ensure that Marshall County is a safe place to work, play, and raise our families. I am a hard worker; I value integrity, honesty, and transparency; and I believe those values will serve Marshall County well.
3. What, if any, changes to the operations of the office would you propose if elected in November?
The staff of the County Attorney's Office has dealt with a lot in the last few years: the tornado and our displacement from the Courthouse, the pandemic and the resulting impact on the Court system, and the derecho. Our staff need to be adequately supported in order to effectively do their jobs. I would work to improve morale by providing additional training and mentorship to less experienced attorneys, develop practices to enhance the employee experience to increase employee retention, and be transparent with staff. Staff deserve to be informed about upcoming changes in Court procedures and schedules and to be given updates on the progress of Courthouse construction. In government offices, it is often not possible to pay employees what they would be able to make in the private sector, so a forward-thinking leader will improve their working experience in non-monetary ways. During times of increased workload, such as our office is currently experiencing, the prosecutors in the office need to see that their county attorney is working just as hard as they are. I will continue to try cases, leading by example. Good leadership includes showing staff that you will put in as much, and more, effort than they are. Employee retention is difficult to attain in our current workplace environment, and I would work to ensure that our employees have every opportunity to attain job satisfaction.
I would develop manuals outlining how to perform the various tasks that the attorneys and other staff in our office do on a daily basis. In any workplace, turnover is inevitable. When we need to hire new staff or when one of our employees is out sick or on family leave, the office will function more smoothly and more effectively if the employees who are stepping in are provided written information regarding how to step in and perform those tasks.
I would sit down one-on-one with all County Attorney's Office attorneys and staff and discuss with them their job duties and areas of expertise and determine what I can do as a leader to support them in doing their job, and to see how their knowledge and skills can best serve the citizens of Marshall County. I would also make changes to ensure that attorneys with expertise in prosecuting specific crimes are empowered to make charging decisions and apply their experience and expertise in prosecuting those cases. Allowing staff to feel empowered and know that they are valued as employees helps with retention and recruitment, and it also will lead to better case outcomes.
The County Attorney serves as the legal advisor to the Board of Supervisors. Concerns have been raised about transparency, open meetings, and compliance with open bidding for projects during the current administration. I will work to ensure that the County has legal and enforceable contracts for the projects it is involved with to protect taxpayer money. I will advise the Board on following open meeting and public bidding laws and make sure that the public receives the information that the law says they are entitled to. The county attorney should work with the Board of Supervisors to ensure it understands and follows its legal obligations to the community. Sometimes that may involve having difficult conversations and pointing out areas of needed improvement, rather than just acting as a rubber stamp. I am not afraid to have those conversations.
4. A proposal to launch a mental health court with ARPA funding received approval from the county's ARPA committee but was ultimately rejected by the board of supervisors. Do you support the creation of a mental health court, and if so, how would you fund it?
I do support the creation of a mental health court. In fact, I have been working over the last year toward the establishment of a mental health court, and I prepared the mental health court proposal that was approved by the ARPA committee. My twenty years of prosecution experience have taught me that while some individuals continue to commit violent crime and need to be incarcerated to protect society, other individuals get caught up in the criminal justice system due to issues like substance abuse and mental illness. If we can treat the substance abuse or the mental illness, those individuals have a much greater chance of being rehabilitated and living productive lives in our community. That is why drug and mental health courts are so important.
Marshall County has a successful drug court, and I am proud to be a member of its advisory committee. Successful drug and mental health courts follow a multidisciplinary approach, involving prosecutors, the probation office, defense attorneys, treatment providers, and judges. Our drug court initially was unfunded and was only able to serve a few individuals at a time. The drug court recently received a federal grant that has allowed it to expand and serve more individuals. Specialty courts like drug and mental health courts help participants abstain from substance abuse and treat their mental illnesses, providing the dual benefit of helping individuals participating in the court while lowering crime rates and costs to the greater community. (For example, participants are more likely to become and remain employed, obtain insurance, get a driver's license, etc.) Establishing a mental health court in our community would provide those same benefits to the individual participants and to our community as a whole. I have researched mental health courts, spoken with leaders involved in mental health courts in other counties in Iowa, and collaborated with community leaders here in Marshall County who support and would participate in a mental health court. The last hurdle to establishing a mental health court here in Marshall County is funding. I would explore public and private partnerships in order to fund the Marshall County mental health court. Possible funding partners could be Central Iowa Crisis Services (CICS), the Board of Supervisors, or grant opportunities.
It has become clear to me throughout the past year that our community recognizes the need for additional mental health services, and that they support the development of a mental health court. It is the responsibility of our elected leaders to meet our community's mental health needs. I intend to do that by establishing a mental health court.
5. Do you believe that crimes, violent crimes in particular, are being adequately prosecuted in Marshall County, and what, if any, changes would you advocate for if elected?
Our office has excellent prosecutors handling the prosecution of violent crimes, but they aren't being adequately supported by the current county attorney. In order to successfully prosecute violent crimes, a county attorney's office must implement policies and procedures that prioritize those prosecutions, and it must support the prosecutors handling those cases. A victim-centered approach to the prosecution of violent crime is crucial. Victims need to be supported throughout the entire process in order to get through the grueling criminal justice process. I have been prosecuting violent crimes for twenty years, and I will implement policies and procedures that ensure that victims are supported throughout the process. For example, something as small as ensuring that a deposition of a child sexual abuse victim is held in a location that makes that victim more comfortable makes it more likely that she will be able to testify about the abuse. I would ensure that our practices increase the likelihood that a victim will feel comfortable participating in the criminal justice process. Not only will that lead to better outcomes in terms of holding offenders accountable and keeping our community safe, but victims will have a better experience during the criminal justice process. I would also ensure that prosecution policies promote victim safety and protection from violent offenders. For example, the robust prosecution of no contact order violations helps keep survivors safe. My opponent's practices do not prioritize those prosecutions.
In addition to taking a victim-centered approach to prosecuting violent crime, I would take steps to ensure that the prosecutors in our office who handle violent crimes are better supported so they can effectively perform their jobs. Our grant-funded domestic violence and sexual assault prosecutors, violent crime prosecutors, and prosecutors who handle crimes involving victims are overworked. While I would expect all the attorneys in the office to work hard, working every night and every weekend is not sustainable and will lead to burn out and the loss of quality staff. I would redistribute some tasks to ensure that the attorneys prosecuting violent crime are able to focus on those prosecutions, rather than handling routine matters like attending initial appearances. Certain documents can be drafted by support staff to free up prosecutors' time to meet with victims and prepare for trial. Our violent crime prosecutors have asked for help from the current county attorney in order to be able to focus on their prosecution tasks but have not received adequate assistance. The grant-funded prosecutors must be able to focus exclusively on prosecuting domestic violence and sexual assault crimes, not only to do their jobs effectively but also to not risk losing our federal grant funding. I will redistribute some tasks to ensure they can do their jobs effectively.
6. Why are you the most qualified candidate for Marshall County Attorney?
I am the only candidate who has been prosecuting felony-level violent crimes for 20 years. I have developed expertise in those prosecutions that will translate to the establishment of policies and procedures that will lead to successful outcomes in criminal prosecutions. My victim-centered approach will support victims throughout the criminal justice process, hold offenders accountable, and result in a safe community for our families. I have the advantage of breadth of experience due to my work prosecuting in three different counties. That varied experience has helped me to recognize what we do well in Marshall County but also to identify areas where improvement is needed.
Fiscal responsibility in our elected leaders is more important than ever, and I have experience in saving taxpayer money. I have over a decade of experience in grant writing and management in two separate counties. While serving in the Marshall County Attorney's Office, I have written and managed grant applications that have generated hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for prosecutors' and victim witness coordinators' salaries, saving Marshall County taxpayers money. A few years ago, I wrote a grant application that paid for a second domestic violence/sexual assault prosecutor with federal Violence Against Women Act funds, and which also partially funded a second victim witness coordinator in our office. Not only has my grant experience and efforts saved our taxpayers money, it has also allowed our attorneys to develop expertise in prosecuting domestic violence and sexual assault crimes. That improves the experience of survivors in the criminal justice system, and it improves outcomes.
Perhaps most importantly, I will be a leader in the Marshall County Attorney's Office and in the community. I have been deeply engaged in our community for the past 11 years. I value community involvement and collaborations; I have spent the past eleven years building partnerships with other community members, and I intend to continue to do so. I will also work to be a leader within the County Attorney's Office. I will lead by doing, continuing to try complex criminal cases. I will work to mentor newer, less experienced prosecutors. I will practice transparency and information sharing with staff. I will be a visible presence in the community and encourage county attorney staff to be engaged with the community.