Dear Friend:

Occasionally when I’m talking with voters, they’ll declare their cynicism. “You’ll be just like them rest of them. You have high principles now, but wait until you get in there. It won’t be long before you’ll have to compromise your principles to get anything done.”

The fact is, I’m not immune from the pressures and temptations that accompany politics. I will have to be careful and deliberative. I will have to be humble enough to put the public interest over self-interest. I will have to be reminded constantly of where I come from and of the principles that I am called to defend. I hope that you will help to remind me of these things.

Article I of our State Constitution includes these words: “A frequent recurrence to fundamental principles is essential to the security of individual right and the perpetuity of free government.” I thought it would be useful to list out ten of the fundamental principles that I will take with me to Olympia if I am privileged to represent the 25th District:

1. All human beings are created equal.
2. The rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness belong to every person regardless of race, nationality, sex, creed, or class.
3. Since no person is higher or lower than another, people must give their free consent to be governed.
4. Government by consent is best maintained in a constitutional republic with elections, separated powers, and federalism. 
5. Government exists to protect and support the other institutions of a free society: families, businesses, houses of worship, community associations, and charities.
6. Any good government respects the freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, and the press.
7. Free enterprise is the best way to allocate resources to meet the various economic demands of society.
8. The right to self-defense and to keep and bear arms is essential.
9. Free government requires an educated citizenry.
10. No generation of Americans is exempt from the responsibility of preserving liberty.  

These are the principles that I will defend in the Washington State House of Representatives.

But with the Election a couple days away, I need your help to get over the finish line. Please spread the word on Facebook, among your neighbors, and be sure to turn in your ballot by Tuesday. This election will be close. Powerful special interests like the State Employees' Union and the Democratic Party have spent tens of thousands of dollars in mailers to voters that label me a “bad apple,” or “too extreme for Washington’s future.” The best part of the daily attacks is that I get to learn something new about myself every day!

All the while, we stay focused on our positive message of jobs, tax relief, and educational excellence. We contrast that with the incumbent’s record of increased taxes and unsustainable budgets. Thanks to your generosity, we are running two television ads, we have sent out three mailers, and volunteers have hand-written over 18,000 postcards to voters. Most importantly, with volunteer help, we have reached our goal of getting to 25,000 doorsteps in the 25th District.

Thank you for your support. I hope you’ll join me for an election night party sponsored by the South Sound Ronald Reagan Republican Club at Broadway Joes’ Banquet Hall at the Great American Casino, 10117 South Tacoma Way, the evening of November 2 beginning at 6:30. Cost is $10 at the door. RSVP here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=113254382069625

No stopping until the polls close!

Hans

With five weeks until Election Day, I wanted to write down some of my thoughts about civility in politics. It’s a topic that comes up on front porches as I doorbell through the district. Many voters are tired of the divisions that characterize our political life. They can’t stand the name-calling on book jackets and bumper stickers, the negative advertising at election time, the rude bickering on TV and radio talk shows and on

internet blogs and forums.  

As an aspiring public servant, I take my responsibility to elevate the political dialogue seriously. This sense of responsibility arises from deep personal experience.

My opponent’s campaign has been glad to point out that I was opinionated in my early college days. In time, I outgrew some of those opinions—certainly the tone in which they were presented—and stopped taking them seriously. I began to take my education seriously, and so I began to understand more of the thrills of political life with its awesome responsibilities. I wrote about the importance of civility in my second book. This didn’t go unnoticed in the conservative movement. A few conservative leaders, for example, took me to task for my criticism of Ann Coulter. Then I gave a speech during my senior year at Hillsdale College about the problem of an increasingly uncivil political culture and the need for renewed civility. See http://www.hillsdale.edu/images/userImages/bwilkens/Page_5427/zeiger2007.pdf.

In graduate school, I couldn’t stop reflecting how in a free society we must find ways to order our deliberations toward the public good. The genius of our nation’s founders was their chartering of a deliberative democracy in which men and women could freely debate and negotiate to make the best of imperfect circumstances. And that requires civility.

Civility is learned and practiced in a civil society, with its families, businesses, clubs and associations, schools, and houses of worship. Here we experience the diversity and learn the common bonds of a community. Here we come to know the joy of serving our neighbors. Here we learn to tolerate differences, to work together toward noble ends, to express our opinions respectfully and appropriately. 

Civility doesn’t mean that we all have to think alike; it means that we can talk through our disagreements. When I meet Democrats who pledge to vote their party line, I assure them that I want to work across the aisle to find solutions to our economic troubles; they usually express their appreciation. And I believe that the commitment to civility and the search for common ground begins during the campaign, not afterwards.

That is why I have been adamant with people working for and with my campaign that we will not make personal attacks on our opponent. I believe that my opponent is wrong on some very serious matters that affect our state’s future, including her votes for higher taxes and an unsustainable budget. I believe that her bad votes have hurt our state’s economy, and I believe that I can represent the 25th District better. But I refuse to attack my opponent’s character or personal beliefs. Ad hominem attacks and name-calling have no place in a political campaign.

It is time for a real and civil debate about jobs and the economy. That central issue of this campaign requires our undivided attention. Our state faces a $4.5 billion budget shortfall next year, unemployment continues to rise, and government has not lived up to the people’s expectations. It is time for new priorities: K-12 education, public safety, and care for the most vulnerable. In this economy, we need to build up our communities, not our bureaucracies.

Thank you for standing with me. Let’s work together in the next five weeks to secure a freer, more prosperous, and more civil Washington State.

Dear Friend,

With six weeks until Election Day, I am having great fun. What a thrill to be a candidate for public office in a free society! The daily challenges, the opportunities to meet new people, the prospect of shaping the future of our state—all of it has been such a blessing. I am honored by your support.

Our strategy for victory on November 2 is simple: 1. doorbell, 2. doorbell, and 3. doorbell. We have reached nearly 17,000 doors so far, and we need your help to get to 25,000 doors in the 25th District by Election Day. Sign up at www.hanszeiger.com if you are able to help with doorbelling.

Besides that, we need money (we have raised $92,000+ so far) to pay for TV ads, mailers, yard signs, and doorbelling flyers. Contribute online at www.hanszeiger.com.

Meanwhile, the incumbent’s campaign has devised a very different strategy, and it has nothing to do with defending the incumbent’s votes for higher taxes and an unsustainable budget. My opponent will remind you time and again, and again, that I was once an opinionated youth. Yes, it is true. I am proud of the writing I did in my college days about the Boy Scouts and Generation Y, but I’m also thankful that I grew out of some simplistic views I once held. I’ve moved on—graduated from college, graduated from graduate school, and moved into the worlds of work and relationships. Today, the people of our community are looking for new leadership in Olympia.

When I go door to door, I meet men and women who work hard, care for their families, and understand that freedom is worth preserving. They express their hopes and frustrations, their joys and sorrows, their big ideas and little observations about political life.

I feel that I have so much in common with these people, because my life is rooted in this place. My deepest values formed around here, at my parent’s kitchen table, in church, in class at Karshner and Aylen and PHS, in the Cascades and the Olympics and the Troop 174 Scout House, on the cross country course at Wildwood Park, on my newspaper route through the Riverside neighborhood, on the street corners and meeting halls and phone banks where I learned politics volunteering for candidates like Linda Smith, John Carlson, and Sarah Casada.

I grew up believing that we can achieve great things in America. Public service was a worthwhile aspiration, one for which I could prepare myself if I was diligent. I have studied our nation’s founding documents and history, and I work as a senior fellow for a non-profit that promotes the Constitution. I have taken an active role in our community by volunteering with youth, veterans, and local history. I hold a Master’s degree in Public Policy. I’m not running for State Representative because I have the longest resume in the business, but I can promise that I will give my best to the people of the 25th District when I am elected. Most importantly, I will continue to listen, just as I have been doing door to door these past several months.

Promises are dangerous in politics, but I’ll make one more: I will work my hardest to win on November 2. I appreciate all of your support so far. I need your help more than ever in the next six weeks. Thank you.

I am running for State Representative because our legislature has forgotten how to make tough decisions. They have failed to prioritize K-12 education, public safety, and care for the most vulnerable. And they have failed to get our state back to work. Democrat House Caucus Chair Dawn Morrell has had a leading role in these failures. As I have talked with voters these past several months, I have heard their frustration with Rep. Morrell’s record. This year, Rep. Morrell voted to increase spending and to raise taxes. This was unacceptable in a time when working families and small businesses are struggling to get by. This election year, Rep. Morrell has a record to defend.

Now my opponent’s campaign is showing signs of desperation. After receiving just above 40% in the primary election, Rep. Morrell’s campaign is trying to distract voters from her record with personal attacks.

I have moved on from my immature college writings. Sadly, our political culture encourages expression at the extremes, and as a young writer in college, I sometimes felt that I needed to use brash rhetoric to get attention. For instance, when I was 18, I wrote an inflammatory online post about the Girl Scouts and I regret that. (I appreciate all the Girl Scouts do for our community and I am a big fan of Girl Scout cookies!) Gradually in college I learned two lessons deeply: that it is more valuable to listen than to speak, and that the world is a complex and beautiful place.

Since ending my regular online posts, I have graduated from college, graduated from graduate school, and moved into the worlds of work and relationships. I am committed to elevating the political dialogue and finding ways to work together with people across the political spectrum. Whoever is in power in Olympia come January, Republicans and Democrats will have to work together for economic recovery.

To find out more about my campaign, visit my website

I am reminded all the time that this election is about jobs. I was reminded by the woman in Summit whose two grown children are looking for work. I was reminded by the family in Milton who wonder if they can make their next house payment. I am reminded by the college graduates I meet who are unemployed and back living with their parents. I was reminded by the business owners in Gem Heights, Edgewood, and downtown Puyallup who are all thinking of moving to Idaho for a better business climate.

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Memorial Day: The Story of Eddie, Bobby, and Al

By Hans Zeiger

Puyallup Rotary

May 26, 2010

With Memorial Day weekend coming up, I wanted to share with you a story that I have been learning over the course of the past few years. It’s a story about three farmkids who grew up near the intersection of Fruitland and Pioneer more than 70 years ago, and as young men, made tremendous sacrifices so that you and I can live in a free land. Their names were Albert Tresch, Eddie Myers, and Bobby Bigelow.

Al Tresch was the son of a Swiss immigrant dairy farmer, a hard worker who saved up money from odd jobs in Tacoma to buy a big dairy farm in the valley. Their farm ran from Pioneer on the south to 17^th on the east and the Experiment Station on the west to the railroad tracks on the north. Now of course you’ll find some of the nicer homes in the valley there. The Tresch family’s little modest farmhouse sat where the Methodist Church stands today. There were three brothers, Albert, Robert, and Jim. Albert was the mischievous one in the family, and I’ll say more on that in a minute...

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Superintendents Who Built Puyallup

By Hans Zeiger

Daffodil Kiwanis

Mrs. Turner’s Restaurant, May 5, 2010

Thank you for having me. Charlie and Clarence are the ones to blame for the invitation.

I’ve been talking at the various service clubs in the area lately about great men and women in our local history. I was thinking about what aspect of our community’s history I could discuss this morning. I’ve been to this club enough times in the past to know that there are a few school administrators who show up here. That means that I have to be on my best behavior this morning—even if you’re not on your best behavior...

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Hans Zeiger

Thank you Bruce Dammeier. Thak you for your example of statesmanship and your service to the 25^th District. There could be no better mentor and future seatmate than Rep. Bruce Dammeier.

I should point out some Zeigers who are here: my aunt Mary and uncle Ernie, my uncle Karl, my aunt Sally Zeiger Hanson, my aunt Kay and uncle Jerry Buccola and cousins Jenny and Molly Buccola, my brother Ross and sister Lisa, my parents Kim and Walt—they’re the ones to blame—my grandma Virginia Nisker and Dave Christianson, my uncle Bill Zeiger, and the man who says he had to pay a lot to get this school named after him, my grandpa Ed Zeiger.   

When they dedicated this building 14 years ago, somebody said that there were so many Zeigers in Puyallup that they had to start a whole new school just to accommodate them...

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South Hill Sunrisers Kiwanis

February 10, 2010

My family’s story in the Puyallup area starts back in 1952, when young Ed Zeiger showed up in town and started teaching at Maplewood Elementary and eventually populated a good part of the town with his own kids and grandkids, of which I am one. My mom took her first job teaching fourth grade at Wildwood Park Elementary School 31 years ago. Ed Zeiger was the principal there, and before long he had played matchmaker for Miss Nisker and his third son Walt. I am the son, grandson, and great grandson of Puyallup teachers...

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Here is an article of mine from The Seattle Times:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2011023688_guest10zeiger.html

By Hans Zeiger

Special to The Times

THE Pacific Northwest was a great place to be a Boy Scout. It meant summer camp on the Olympic Peninsula, ocean camp at Ocean Shores, treks through the North Cascades, Olympic National Park and the Wonderland Trail.

We had annual outings to Millsylvania State Park near Olympia for canoeing, and Meeker Lakes in the Cascades for junior Scouts to learn how to hike. We also made occasional trips to places like Yellowstone, the Tetons and Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico for variety, but we could have gotten by just fine sticking around home. The scenery and terrain around here are sufficient for a lifetime of adventures...

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