Eau Claire resident John Schiess is no stranger to politics, though he might be a stranger to even the most politically savvy locals.

   That is because this 61-year-old, who ran for national office twice in the 1980s while living in Oregon, has never appeared on a ballot here. Schiess finally ended his separation from Wisconsin politics this February, when he announced he would run for the Wisconsin State Legislature’s 93rd Assembly District, which will come up for grabs in November.
   “The proper role of government is to protect equal rights, not provide equal things,” said Schiess, illustrating his belief in smaller government and increased individual accountability.
   Among his platform goals is an attempt to curb illegal immigration here by withholding state benefits aimed at illegal residents.
   “We shouldn’t be funding (illegal immigrants),” he said, explaining that state-provided benefits attract illegal aliens to the state.
   “Does someone have the right to break into my home and steal from me because they have needs? The answer is no,” he said about his stance on illegal immigration.
   Halting a state-sponsored healthcare plan is another of his political goals, as is fighting against tax increases.
   He acknowledged that reducing taxes will be a lengthy project — one that he said will require scaling back or eliminating some agencies in the state. When it comes to healthcare, he said a state-funded or a federally funded program borders too closely on socialism and would be too difficult to oversee.
   “If I can’t afford something, I don’t have the right to make somebody provide it for me, whether it’s healthcare, retirement, a new home, a new car, whatever,” he said. “That right doesn’t exist.”
   Schiess, who grew up in Rice Lake and Milwaukee, graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 1970 before serving in the artillery in Vietnam.
   Later, he returned to school for a second degree, this time in physical education (his first was in resource management). After graduating again in 1975, Schiess moved west, where he stayed for more than 20 years.
   He headed first to Arizona, working at Petrified Forest National Park before teaching in Phoenix. Later, he moved to Oregon, where he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1984 and the House of Representatives in 1988. He lost in both races.
   He moved back to Wisconsin about nine years ago, working as a truck driver and courier in the Twin Cities until early this year, when he retired to run for state office.
   Schiess will christen his return to politics on Tuesday, September 9, when the district’s primary election pits him against fellow Republican and Eau Claire resident Darcy Fields, whose platform and campaign were covered last week by the Altoona Star. If he wins there, Schiess will face Democratic incumbent Jeff Smith in the general election on Tuesday, November 4.
   The 93rd District includes Altoona, part of Eau Claire and a number of other municipalities in Eau Claire and Dunn counties.
   But all political and platform motivations aside, Schiess said there is yet one more reason that he decided to run for office again.
   “Why am I running? I guess some of us feel a patriotic call to do so,” he said.
   “We get these feelings sometimes that are hard to explain but they do motivate us from time to time.”