Editing David Zimmer (section)

=== Early involvement ===
He first sought elected office as an [[alderman]] in Kitchener in the 1970s but was not successful. While living in Kitchener, he was active in the [[Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario|Progressive Conservative Party]]. When the Kitchener—Wilmot [[List of Ontario provincial electoral districts|provincial electoral district]] was created in 1975, Zimmer served as the founding president of the local PC riding association, and managed the 1981 campaign for the local PC candidate Alan Barron. He left the PC Party and joined the Liberals in 1985 , citing disenchantment with both federal leader [[Brian Mulroney]] and provincial leader [[Frank Miller (Canadian politician)|Frank Miller]].<ref>"PC director bolts ranks for Liberals". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', May 2, 1985, p.8.</ref>

Zimmer acted as legal counsel to candidates of both [[Liberal Party of Canada]] and [[Ontario Liberal Party]] in a number of high profile dispute prior to his election. He was legal counsel for [[Maurizio Bevilacqua]] in the two year saga following his 1988 election, where the close results were extensively contested in court and was eventually voided by the [[Ontario Supreme Court]].<ref>"Election result overturned again". ''[[Toronto Star]]'', December 17, 1988, p.A14.</ref> He also chaired the federal party's permanent appeal committee, overseeing numerous appeals during the [[1990 Liberal Party of Canada leadership election|1990 leadership contest]] and from nomination contests prior to the party's victory in [[1993 Canada Election|1993]].