Charles Starr | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Oregon State Senate | |
| In office 1999–2007 | |
| Preceded by | Jeannette Hamby |
| Succeeded by | Larry George |
| Member of the Oregon House of Representatives | |
| In office 1993–1999 | |
| Preceded by | Randy Miller |
| Succeeded by | Bruce Starr |
| Personal details | |
| Born | circa 1933 (age 91–92) Texas |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Kathy Starr |
| Children | Bruce Starr |
| Residence | Hillsboro,Oregon |
| Alma mater | University of Idaho |
| Occupation | Farmer,contractor |
Charles Starr (born c. 1933) is an American politician and farmer in Oregon. He served as a Republican member of the Oregon Legislature for 14 years,serving in both houses. A native of Texas,Starr served in the Oregon State Senate with his son Bruce Starr,the first time in Oregon's history a father and son served in the Senate together.
Charles Starr was born around 1933 and raised in the central part of Texas. [1] The son of an oil driller,he attended 19 different schools between first grade and sixth grade. [1] Starr married Kathy and they would have four children,all boys;Bryan,West,Alan,and Bruce. [2] [3] Charles earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture in 1955 from the University of Idaho and then worked for a year as an agricultural teacher. [2] He would serve in the United States Army from 1956 to 1958. [2] He earned a master's degree from the University of California,Davis in 1960 in agribusiness management. [2]
Starr moved to Oregon in 1962 and began working at Farmers Oil Cooperative in McMinnville,followed by a job at Pacific Farmers Cooperative in Hillsboro. [2] [3] He left Pacific in 1969 and spent ten years working for Flavorland Foods before becoming a general contractor in 1979. [2] Living in Hillsboro,he remained a contractor and also farmed until retirement in 2002. [2] He had operated Starr Boys Garden Center. [1]
Starr started his political career serving on the school board of Groner Elementary School south of Hillsboro,and now part of the Hillsboro School District. [1] He then joined the Hillsboro Union High School Board,spending a total of 12 years on the two boards. [1] He made an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the Washington County Board of Commissioners in 1986. [2] A conservative Christian politician, [4] Starr was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives as a Republican representing Hillsboro and Washington County in 1992. [5] Entering state politics at age 59,he defeated Democrat Pat Kliewer to represent the area surrounding most of Hillsboro,Forest Grove,and Cornelius. [1]
He was re-elected to the same seat in 1994 [6] and 1996. [7] Both times he defeated Democrat Marcus Simantel in the November elections. [8] Son Bruce served as his legislative assistant during these terms. [3]
After three terms in the House,he was elected to the State Senate in 1998,while his son Bruce Starr was elected to his former House seat. [9] Starr was prohibited at the time by Oregon's term limits from another term in the House,pushing towards a run at the state senate. [10] A pro-life advocate,he had defeated incumbent and pro-choice Republican state senator Jeannette Hamby in the Republican primary. [11] In 1999,he helped to pass Oregon's charter school bill. [12]
In the legislature he was a proponent of home schooling and charter schools,while opposing same-sex unions. [13] Starr ran for Oregon's 1st Congressional District in 2000,defeating Alice Schlenker in the May primary with 62% of the vote compared to 38%. [14] [15] He lost to incumbent Democrat David Wu in the November general election. [16] He had received support in his bid from Oregon business interests including Intel due to Wu's vote against free trade with China. [4]
In 2002,the Oregon Supreme Court stuck down Oregon's 1992 law imposing term limits for state legislators. [17] Prior to the ruling,Starr would not have been able to run for re-election to the state senate as he had served 10 years in the legislature,and the law limited people to 12 years maximum. [18] He had been a proponent of term limits. [12] In 2002,he was re-elected to a second four-year term in the Senate where son Bruce was also elected to serve. [19] Charles' district now included parts of Marion,Clackamas,Yamhill,and Washington counties. [19]
Charles and Bruce were the first father-son tandem to serve at the same time in the history of the Oregon State Senate. [20] [21] In 2003,Charles Starr created some controversy when he told a constituent in a letter to "run - not walk - to remove their children from public schools" in response to the constituent's opposition to charter schools. [22] At the time,Starr was chairman of the Senate Education Committee,and in June 2003 his lawn was filled with plastic pink flamingos paid for by a fundraising campaign at a local elementary school. [22] Democrats called for Starr to be replaced as chairman of the education committee. [23] During the 2005 legislative session he served as vice chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee,and as vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the Senate. [24]
In the May 2006 Republican primary,Charles lost to Larry George who would then win the general election in November,and joined his own father in the Senate. [20] [25] The loss was attributed in part to Starr's voting record that included raising taxes,with an anti-tax group contributing $50,000 to his opponent during the election. [13] With the loss in the primary,Charles' time in the Oregon Legislative Assembly ended after 14 years. [20] [25]
After leaving the legislature Starr began working as a lobbyist at the state capitol in 2007. [26] He publicly opposed a bill that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation that same year. [27] He also came out against dual-language immersion programs over concerns that teachers were not properly trained and students would not be able to learn to read at an early age. [28]