Democrats can’t help but worry about the political future of Rep. Dawn Morrell, who despite her four terms in the Legislature garnered just a hair over 40 percent of the primary vote. Even if you assume she’ll pick up the votes of everyone who chose a Democrat in the 25th District House primary, that still leaves her far short of the majority she’ll need to defeat political newcomer and Republican Hans Zeiger.
Democrats have ground to make up, so no doubt they have been looking for an opening to target Zeiger. Now he’s given them one.
Zeiger, the author of two books and many columns, essays and blog posts about politics and local history, recently had his writings purged from a number of websites, including “Intellectual Conservative.”
Morrell’s campaign and the House Democratic Campaign Committee noticed the missing articles Saturday, the committee said. The group opened its general election campaign with a news release questioning why the articles, more than 50 by their count, were disappearing. The committee said Zeiger was taking them down to hide his “extremist” views. Field director Alex Hur said: “Voters deserve to know what a candidate’s values really are.”
Zeiger said those articles don’t all represent his values anymore, so he had them removed. They would be a “distraction” from the campaign, he said.
The writings aren’t from very long ago, mainly 2003 and 2004. But Zeiger is just 25, and he was in college at the time. He said he’s “grown up since age 18 and 19 when the really provocative stuff was going up.”
Democrats also point to more recent pieces that are still up, but mostly they highlighted the columns that have been pulled, many still archived by Google. One criticizes the Girl Scouts for welcoming lesbians and consorting with Planned Parenthood. Here’s an excerpt:
“One might wonder why the Girl Scouts have been spared the painful attacks that have been launched upon the Boy Scouts by the Left in recent years. The reasons are simple: the Girl Scouts allow homosexuals and atheists to join their ranks, and they have become a pro-abortion, feminist training corps. … If the Girl Scouts of America can’t get back to teaching real character, perhaps it will be time to look for our cookies elsewhere.”
Zeiger said he still believes the Girl Scouts have strayed from their roots, but notes that isn’t likely to come up if he becomes a legislator. More relevant to state government might be a critical description of public schools that he now repudiates:
“I spent most of my K-12 education at my local government indoctrination center. I was also home schooled during the seventh and eighth grades. The corridors and classrooms of the modern public school are so polluted with the filth of moral relativism that the typical public high school graduate moves into the world devoid of character, conscience or courage.”
“Growing up on talk radio, that informed some of my early views,” Zeiger explained in an interview this week.
Since then, he’s come to realize he had “a wonderful experience” in Puyallup public schools, one of which is named after his grandfather Edwin Zeiger, a longtime local educator.
He says he’s probably even to the left of many Republicans on education, calling for full state funding of public schools and supporting a property tax levy voters approved last February for Puyallup School District.
These days, Zeiger is more interested in writing about Puyallup history, as he does on his blog. He makes his living working part-time as a fellow at the conservative American Civil Rights Union.
Jordan Schrader: 360-786-1826 jordan.schrader@thenews tribune.com blog.thenewstribune.com/politics
