Jim Zeigler

Jim Zeigler is an elder care attorney, author, and seminar leader in Alabama. He wrote the 2007 book, "Don't Let the Government take Grandma's Home and Life Savings.". He wrote the 2010 book, "Veterans Aid and Attendance Kit." He is nationally-certified by the Department of Veterans Affairs as an Accredited Veterans Attorney

The native of Sylacauga, Alabama (1948) was raised in the Sylacauga suburb of Oak Grove where his father, Bloise Zeigler, became a 20-year Mayor.

In 1970, Zeigler was elected President of the Student Government Association of the University of Alabama, defeating the controversial political organization "The Machine."

He was elected to the Alabama Public Service Commission where he served 1975-79. After serving one term on the PSC, Zeigler did not run for re-election. He later ran for state supreme court, state treasurer, civil appeals court, and state auditor, losing each by a narrow margin. He thus earned the nickname "Mr. 49%."

He now (2012) has an elder care law practice representing seniors and veterans in protecting assets and gaining eligibility for elder care costs. He is 2012 state chairman of the League of Senior Voters.

University of Alabama

Zeigler graduated from the University of Alabama in 1972 with a degree in public administration and journalism. He was President of the Mallet Assembly, a student honors program with a colorful history of political activism. He was in one of the last classes to actually live in the original Mallet Hall dormitory.

Student politics at the University has been dominated since 1914 by a semi-secret political party called "The Machine." In 1968 Zeigler and other students founded an anti-Machine party called "The Coalition." They succeeded in electing Zeigler President of the Student Government Association (SGA) in 1970, his being one of the few UA students to defeat The Machine.

In 1971, on the night the Student Court had thrown out an attempt by Student Senators who were members of The Machine to impeach Zeigler as SGA President, his dormitory room in Mallet Hall burned. The cause of the fire was never determined.

Alabama Public Service Commission

Called "the PSC", the Alabama Public Service Commission is a three-member body, all elected statewide, which regulates private energy utilities, including Alabama Power Company, Alabama Gas Company (Alagasco), and Mobile Gas Service Corporation.

In 1972, Zeigler and his friends Tommy Chapman, Steve "Red" Wadlington, and Dennis Nabors, went to work for Kenneth "Bozo" Hammond in his campaign against PSC President Eugene "Bull" Connor. Hammond won, and Zeigler and friends learned how to run a campaign for PSC.

In 1973, Zeigler (age 23) filed a legal complaint before the PSC alleging that Alabama Power Company was was earning excessive profits. He lost the case but generated state news coverage and highlighted the issue of rising electric bills.

In 1974, Zeigler (age 24) filed to run statewide against veteran PSC incumbent C.C. "Jack" Owen. Owen had been on the PSC since two years before Zeigler's birth. (Owen was first elected in 1946 and Zeigler was born in 1948.) The issue in the race was utility rate increases. Owen had voted in favor of most utility increase requests, and Zeigler vowed to oppose them. In a four-way race, Owen led the first primary but lost to Zeigler in the run-off. In January 1975 Zeigler took office as the youngest state elected official.

In 1975, Zeigler intervened before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and blocked two nuclear reactors planned for the Chilton-Elmore County line. He alleged that the Barton nuclear plants would have operated at the expense of Alabama consumers while generating electricity for other states.

In 1977, Zeigler forced re-financing of high-interest Alabama Power Company bonds at prevailing lower interest rates.

Zeigler served one term on the PSC and did not seek re-election in 1978.

Mr. 49%

From 1982 through 2002, Zeigler lost by narrow margins in races for state supreme court, state treasurer, civil appeals court, and state auditor. He thus earned the nickname, "Mr. 49%." In 2004 he made a come-back, defeating Republican National Committeeman and former Chief Justice Perry Hooper Sr. for Statewide Delegate to the Republican National Convention. Zeigler announced his retirement from Alabama politics in 2006.

Activism against "wasteful government spending"

In 1983, Zeigler filed a successful legal action against what he termed "illegal extra paychecks" to over 400 political officials. A year-long court battle ended in a victory at the Alabama Supreme Court and return of the money to state coffers.

In 1984, he challenged paying legislators full pay and expenses during a 13-day Christmas holiday break. He won a circuit court injunction blocking the "holiday pay" but was later reversed by the state supreme court.

In 1985, Zeigler and Montgomery businessman Malcolm Brassell formed The Taxpayers Defense Fund (later called Taxpayers Defense Force), a legal action group. It contested government spending decisions for 20 years.

In 1985, Zeigler filed suit to stop public officials from disguising state cars by purchasing private license plates called "cover tags." The suit was settled by executive order of the governor outlawing cover tags.

In 1986, Zeigler filed suit and successfully blocked political officials from entering the state retirement system.

In 1988 and 1999, Zeigler chaired the vote no campaign on statewide referendums to allow political officials to get into the State Retirement System. The proposed constitutional amendments were defeated both times.

In 2001, Zeigler filed two ethics complaints against then-governor Don Siegelman. The first alleged that Siegelman used his position to settle litigation against the tobacco companies and personally received attorney fees of $800,000. The ethics commission voted three to one to dismiss the tobacco complaint. The second complaint alleged that Siegleman sold his Montgomery house for over twice the appraised value and then appointed the buyer to the state securities commission. Before that case concluded, federal agents seized the files from the ethics commission. A federal grand jury later indicted Siegelman on multiple charges un-related to the ethics complaints. Siegleman was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in federal prison. After serving nine months, he was released pending an appeal.

In 2002, Zeigler filed ethics complaints against State Sen. Sundra Escott-Russell and State Rep. John Hilliard. He alleged that both hired family members at non-profit organizations and then used their positions to divert state funds to the non-profit groups. The ethics commission voted unanimously that there was probable cause that ethics violations occurred and forwarded both cases to the state attorney general for prosecution.

The Ten Commandments monument

In 2003, a federal court judge ordered Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore to remove a monument from the state judicial building which featured the Biblical Ten Commandments, along with an assortment of historical documents which had served as bases for U.S. law. When Moore did not remove the monument, the other eight justices ordered it removed.

Thousands of citizens descended on Montgomery to protest the imminent removal of the Ten Commandments monument. Twenty-two Christian activists were arrested at the monument in the public area of the judicial building during public hours. They were charged with criminal trespass.

The "Montgomery Twenty-Two" retained Jim Zeigler as their attorney. Most later pleaded guilty and all avoided jail.

One of those who decided to fight the charge was Karen Kennedy of Prattville, Alabama. Mrs. Kennedy was sitting beside the Ten Commandments monument in her wheelchair and connected to her oxygen tank when she was arrested and taken to jail. She was found guilty by a district judge sitting without a jury. Zeigler filed an appeal for a jury trial in circuit court. Before the appeal came up, Mrs. Kennedy died. Zeigler said, "She has taken her appeal to a higher seat of judgment."

Challenge to new Medicaid nursing home restrictions

On February 8, 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA). Among other changes, it placed serious restrictions on senior citizens seeking to qualify for Medicaid to cover their nursing home costs. Five days later, Zeigler filed a federal lawsuit seeking to void the law. He alleged that one version of the bill had passed the U.S. Senate and a different version passed the U.S. House. (According to the Constitution, the identical bill must pass both houses and be signed by the President to become law.) The bill signed by the President had passed the Senate but not the House.

Over the next six months, five other federal suits were filed challenging the constitutionality of the DRA. An all-star cast of plaintiffs challenging the DRA included Ralph Nader's Public Citizen, eleven members of congress, seventeen Tennessee hospitals, a New York student loan company and Zeigler.

By July 2007, all the DRA lawsuits had been dismissed except for Zeigler's. It too was later dismissed under an 1890's precedent holding that whatever the officers of the two houses of congress certify as having passed cannot be questioned by the judiciary.