http://www.timesrecord.com/news/2014-03-14/Front_Page/Sinclair_to_run_for_district_attorney.html
Sinclair to run for district attorney
Bath city councilor opts not to seek re-election
DAVID SINCLAIRBATH
City Councilor David Sinclair will step down from his Ward 6 seat to oppose five-time District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau.
Sinclair said he sees opportunities as district attorney to make changes in how prosecutions occur that would result in benefits for the people of the district.
“We are seeing a continued high recidivism rate,” Sinclair said. “We are still prosecuting offenders the way we did 20 years ago. I would like to begin a collaborative program of jail diversion, along with successful re-entry into society after incarceration.”Sinclair said he sees opportunities as district attorney to make changes in how prosecutions occur that would result in benefits for the people of the district.
The race is to prosecute cases in Maine’s Judicial District 6, which encompasses Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox and Waldo counties.
His opponent, incumbent Geoffrey Rushlau, filed his nominating papers Feb. 19 announcing his intentions.
Rushlau, a Dresden Republican, was appointed to the post in June 1993 and then elected to it in 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2010. He had served prior as an assistant district attorney in Androscoggin Countyand then Sagadahoc County beginning in 1981.
Rushlau has recently been under fire for his decision not to prosecute Cheryl Torgerson for any criminal activity after she plowed into a group of pedestrians waiting for a ferry in Port Clyde. Nine-year-old Dylan Gold was killed and his mother, Allison Gold, and another man, Jonathan Coggeshall, were seriously injured.
Sinclair says focusing on serving as district attorney will mean he will not run for re-election to Bath City Council when his term expires at the end of the year.
Sinclair’s ambitions for higher office were made clear with his surprise announcement last summer that he was seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination to succeed Seth Goodall representing Sagadahoc County in the Maine Senate.
State Sen. Eloise Vitelli, DArrowsic, was nominated on the first ballot and went on to keep Goodall’s seat Democratic by defeating former state Rep. Paula Benoit, RPhippsburg, and Daniel Stromgren, G-Topsham.
“I entered the race when I did because of the circumstance of Seth Goodall’s resignation, but I’d actually been thinking about running for some time,” Sinclair said at the time.
As a potential DA, Sinclair said it is much more expensive to treat issues such as mental illness and substance abuse within a prison or jail setting.
“I would engage with the Legislature to restore funding to community programs, and demonstrate how treatment during incarceration does not lead to net savings, but rather, magnifies the cost to communities.”
He also said that many of the costs to the community are a result of poverty and homelessness.
As an example, he pointed to the ReFinement Program in Penobscot County.
“The way it works now, if someone can’t pay a fine, is that we issue a warrant for his arrest, he is arrested by police, an assistant DA has to prosecute him, a judge has to hear the case, and in many cases, a legal defender has to stand with him in court, all because he has no money to pay a fine. In Penobscot County, the ReFinement Program allows someone who can’t pay a fine to work for a nonprofit. He is using his labor, perhaps learning new skills and getting free of his debt, while the community receives a benefit. There is no reason we could not do that today in District 6.”
Sinclair had eight volunteers who collected the number of signatures he needed to get on the ballot. His nominating papers were filed March 11, and he said he expects to name his treasurer and the rest of his election team by March 21.
If elected, Sinclair — a practicing attorney — would have two months to help his current clients get settled with another attorney.
The deadline for party candidates to file nomination papers with the state is Monday. Candidates not enrolled in a party have until June 2 to file their papers.
The party primaries are June 10 and the general election is Nov. 4.
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