Back in the U.S. after more than a month working in Indonesia. I documented the adventure on my Instagram.

In January I joined a personal injury firm where I’ve been representing a large number of family members who lost loved ones in the crash of Lion Air 610 out of Jakarta. My commitment to justice, accountability, and the public good continues.

I’m grateful for the support, assistance, and friendship through three elections.

I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’ve kept my faith that public service and politics are a noble endeavor. I’m proud of the campaign we ran and the contributions our supporters made, bringing much needed graciousness and good will to the civic dialogue.

You can read my entire gratitude note on my Facebook page, Instagram account, Medium page or other website.

As U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Hubert H. Humphrey said, “The greatest gift of life is friendship and I have received it.”

Thanks for reading.

Trees are bending, leaves are flying, election season is ending. I appreciate everyone who stepped up to help our campaign.

We focused on public safety and public service and had a good time. At our last event of the ’18 season at the Swiss in Tacoma, I played “Wild Thing” and “Twist and Shout” with our unofficial campaign band, The Beatniks. I proved, once again, I’m a better writer and prosecutor than I am guitar player.

John F. Kennedy said, “If more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a little better place to live.”

Whether you’re an artist or not, we need more humanity in our politics. Time to step up. #Vote.

And thanks for reading.

This week I spoke at the City Club of Tacoma.   My closing was atypical in that I focused less on public safety and more on public affairs. In my opening, I discussed our innovative initiatives to make the community safer and reform the justice system, but in closing I told three quick stories relating to my themes of safety and civility.

Some say I stay too far above the fray, that I should get my hands dirty. I say you can rebut misinformation without slipping into the mud. That’s the semi-lofty goal, though it can be a high-wire act. In this, writers and public officials are similar: we live, as Karl Wallenda put it, on the wire. And, as the Posies sang in 1990, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

This picture from the 1960 presidential campaign is my favorite shot of JFK & RFK.

Thanks for reading.

Keep our community safe, keep our prosecutor.

That’s what good people in Pierce County are saying this year. I’m a career Prosecutor going into my tenth year. Time does fly. I’ve been appointed, elected, and re-elected. Now I’m running again to keep serving.

Our public safety successes have been remarkable — protecting elders, reducing gang violence and other crime, diversion programs for those with mental health issues or drug addiction, and our new lawsuit I filed against Big Pharma to hold them accountable for their role in the opioid epidemic. 

You can join our team of people committed to a safe and strong community by visiting www.marklindquist.org.

Thanks for reading. 

Closing out a good 2014, looking forward to a good 2015.

In addition to various community and family activities, I was re-elected with more than 96% of the vote against a write-in candidate, I successfully tried another murder case, made progress on a new novel, wrote book reviews for The Seattle Times, and continued my Zen Lawyer column for the Tacoma Pierce County Bar News.

The first chapter of Zen Lawyer, published in March/April 2014, was an introduction with a Zen story about life and luck, “Maybe.”  The sixth chapter, which will be published in January/February 2015, features a Zen story about anger and gratitude, “Heaven and Hell.“