Background
Winkler, Robin J. was born on July 7, 1954 in Madison, Wisconsin, United States.
文魯彬
Winkler, Robin J. was born on July 7, 1954 in Madison, Wisconsin, United States.
New York University (Bachelor of Arts, 1976). University of Denver College of Law (Juris Doctor, 1983). Spoken languages: English and Chinese.
Winkler has been a frequent frontline campaigner on green issues in Taiwan, having founded the legal environmental defence organisation Wild at Heart and spoken out on causes of environmental concern in Taiwan. In 2003, Winkler renounced his United States citizenship and acquired Taiwanese citizenship. In February 2009, Winkler was considered for election to the Legislative Yuan seat previously held by Diane Lee, representing Green Party Taiwan.
In the end, however, Winkler was not able to stand due to limitations in the law.
Instead, Calvin Wen (溫炳原), a former secretary-general of the party, stood in the by-election. Per the election laws of the Taiwan, Republic of China, naturalized citizens can stand for elections only after 10 years of obtaining their citizenship.
Winkler considers this requirement to be unconstitutional and has pursued the case through petition and an administrative lawsuit, the latter in an attempt to obtain a constitutional interpretation. On March 31, 2015, Winkler declared his candidacy for the Legislative Yuan seat for the constituency Taipei 1, which would represent the northern part of the Shilin as well as Beitou.
He withdrew from the race on 25 November without ever officially registering as a candidate.
Member: American Bar Association. State Bar of Arizona. American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, Intellectual Property and Licensing Committee (Chairman, 1992).