Woods' Hauler flies lone GOP flag
in 13th Congressional District primary

John Hauler, a 42-year-old Woods resident running as the sole Republican in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District primary, lives by two words – common sense.

Contending for the seat currently held by Democrat Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Hauler describes himself as no stranger to hard work. He started sweeping floors at his father’s tool and die shop at 7 and worked at Barrister House, a catering hall in St. Clair Shores, in his teens. Around 1999, Hauler worked for an international company in Japan that bought tools and dies from the United States. At the end of a particular deal, Hauler experienced an epiphany.

“There’s one reason why we’re losing manufacturing jobs. We’re trading with countries that are doing this to us, and our elected officials are allowing it to happen,” Hauler said.

He left the next morning, flew back home and resigned. Hauler is currently in the electronics business and sells to the U.S. Army.

A year ago Hauler joined the Tea Party movement with no intention of running for office, but felt motivated by the federal bailouts of failing banks.

“We have no money, and we’re bailing banks out because they made mistakes. Like it or not, they should’ve went out of business. Otherwise, 10 years from now we’re going to be worse than Greece, if that long,” Hauler said.

Soon enough, local GOP officials asked Hauler to run for the 13th Distric seat, and he agreed.

“I question why there’s six (Democrats) running, but it goes to show you: Career politicians – that’s what they want to be, a career politician. I don’t want to go to D.C. for 10 years. Two terms – I’ll be happy with that. Let me make some changes, and then I’ll move on. Let the next generation bring new ideas to D.C. as opposed to tunnel vision of what they think the agenda should be for us,” Hauler said.

GrossePointeToday.com caught up with Hauler for a Q-and-A.

Do you think you can win?

Definitely! Monday (June 21) we were down at the (Detroit) fireworks. We passed out probably 3,000 cards, and I talked to quite a considerable amount of people. They would say, “Well, don’t bother. We’re voting for this person or we’re voting for that person.” I said give me just five to 10 minutes of your time. After 25 minutes, because I like to speak and give my ideas and explain them, they’re like, “Well, I want to vote for you. You’ve changed our mind.” I think if I can get out and talk to enough people, this can be won.

What made you decide to try?

The deciding factor was there’s no voice here in the 13th District.

Why are you a Republican?

They’re probably the closest party to what I believe in. My beliefs. My morals. Less government. Less spending. Even though the Republicans haven’t shown too good of a job in the last eight to 10 years. And you know it’s funny when the politicians go back and say, “Well, Bush did this for the last eight years.” Bush didn’t have total control, but only six. The last two years were Democrats that were passing things, and that doesn’t get mentioned. It just kind of goes by the wayside. Both parties are to blame for where we’re at today, and I think a career politician is the reason those parties are so corrupt.

Who is/was your favorite American president?

Abraham Lincoln or John F. Kennedy.

Why do you live in Grosse Pointe?

When I was 16 years old I set a goal that I wanted to live in a nice neighborhood, and even back then I chose Grosse Pointe. It’s beautiful. It’s clean. Good schools. Safe. Close to water. I’m a boater, so the water is an issue. But I set a goal that I would have a house one day in Grosse Pointe.

Besides your name, what would be on your campaign bumper sticker?

Status Quo’s Gotta Go. A Democrat has held this seat for 61 years. I don’t see any movement upwards. The billion dollars that Congressperson Kilpatrick claims she’s brought to the city of Detroit through contracts and whatever – I don’t see an uptick there either. You take Detroit and nine other worst cities hit in the U.S. and make it a tax-free zone for federal withholding. You would have residents moving back to the city. You would have businesses moving back to the city paying property tax, paying sales tax and city income tax. Therefore, they can afford police, a fire department, EMS and really build a city. What you would have is a ripple effect. That property value is going to go up and so are the rest of them. Common sense. I keep coming back to those two words – common sense.

If you could give a young student advice, what would it be?

If your high school doesn’t have home economics, wood shop, machine shop – please go out and take summer jobs in those three areas because those areas will get you through life. And basically, it’s common sense. If you need to build something, you’ll know how to build it. If you need to cook something, you’ll know how to cook it. Don’t be dependent upon the government. Be dependent upon yourself.

Learn more about John Hauler, via Facebook, Twitter and his campaign website.

Tomorrow: John Broad, running as a Democrat in the same primary.  

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