Hunter
02/22/22
Assistant Johnson County Attorney Rachel Zimmerman Smith has formally announced her intention to run for the top spot after County Attorney Janet Lyness announced her retirement at the end of the year.
The Gazette reports that Lyness appointed Zimmerman Smith as the office’s first assistant in 2018. The Democrat started an internship in the County Attorney’s office in 2002 and was hired full time in 2004.
Zimmerman Smith is an area native, born and raised in Solon and Iowa City. Among her accomplishments in the County Attorney’s office include getting the Pat Meyer Vision Award in 2016 for her work to support survivors of domestic violence.
She also has worked on reducing the jail population due to challenges of taxpayers turning down bond issues to build a new justice center and regular overcrowding at a Johnson County Jail that is showing its age. A group including Zimmerman Smith, representatives from law enforcement, defense lawyers, prosecutors, a probation officer and a judge meet weekly to determine if any inmates can be released without causing a danger to the public.
No one else has formally announced a run for the County Attorney position as yet.