Re-Elect Jim Moeller

Jim Moeller was born and raised in Vancouver, Washington. His mother and father moved here from Spokane in 1949 along with their first child, Jim’s older sister, Fae. The family soon joined St. Paul Lutheran Church on 13th and Franklin where Jim and his family still attend weekly services. Jim was born at the former Memorial Hospital on Main Street in 1955. He grew up on Vancouver’s west side on 21st Street in the Hough Neighborhood attending Hough Elementary. The family moved to the then east-end (now McLoughlin Heights) of Vancouver in 1964.

Jim’s Dad, Carl, worked as a cattle buyer for Armour Star in Portland and his Mom, Gladyce, worked as a clerk for J.C. Penney in both the “old store” on the corner of Evergreen and Main then made the move to the “new store” at the Vancouver Mall in the 1980′s.

Jim attended George C. Marshall Elementary, McLoughlin Jr. High (Mac Hi) and was in the first full graduating class from the “new” Fort Vancouver High School in the class of 1973.  Growing up, Jim was a Boy Scout earning the rank of “Life Scout” “Order of the Arrow” and Senior Patrol Leader of Troop 402. Jim was a good student and he graduated with honors. He excelled in music.  He sang in the swing and concert choirs, played the piano and acted in the drama club.  Jim appeared in all-city musicals and high school drama productions including Hello Dolly! and Fiddler on the Roof.

After graduation, Jim joined his older sister who was teaching in Australia. They spent six months working, living and touring there until the opportunity for the journey of a lifetime presented itself. Starting on a bus in Katmandu, Nepal, Jim and Fae travelled across the Asian continent and Europe all the way to London, England.

Upon returning home to Vancouver, Jim attended Clark Community College and eventually transferred to Washington State University in Pullman to complete his B.S. degree in Psychology with a minor in Social Work in 1978. He landed his first real job in John Day, Oregon in 1979 as a halfway house manager. He eventually worked through other county programs finally settling at Kaiser Permanente as a chemical dependency counselor.  He has held for that job the past 20 plus years. Jim has continued his education through the Portland State University School of Social Work and the Mark Hatfield School of Government.

After serving as co-chair on the Clark County Chapter of Hands Off Washington in 1995, Jim’s first run for public office was in a race for a Vancouver City Council seat. Jim was victorious in this initial bid against an officer of the extremist right-wing organization, Citizens Alliance of Washington, a splinter of Lon Mabon’s Oregon Citizens Alliance.  With this victory Jim became the first openly-gay elected official in the sate of Washington. He was easily re-elected to the council in 1999.

1997  saw the passing of Jim’s dad. His mother still lives in town and his sister works as an art teacher in the Vancouver School District.

In 2002 Jim ran for and won the State House of Representatives seat vacated by veteran-legislator Val Ogden.

Re-elected each term since then, Jim welcomes the challenges of serving the diverse legislative district of the 49th as he seeks votes again in 2010.