Charles Starr
Encyclopedia
Charles Starr 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
, would 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.
. The son of an oil driller, he attended 19 different schools between first grade and sixth grade. Starr married Kathy and they would have four children, all boys; West, Bryan, Alan, and Bruce. 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. He would serve in the United States Army
from 1956 to 1958. He earned a master’s degree from the University of California, Davis
in 1960 in agribusiness management.
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
. He left Pacific in 1969 and spent ten years working for Flavorland Foods before becoming a general contractor in 1979. Living in Hillsboro, he remained a contractor and also farmed until retirement in 2002. He had operated Starr Boys Garden Center.
. He then joined the Hillsboro Union High School Board, spending a total of 12 years on the two boards. He made an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the Washington County
Board of Commissioners in 1986. A conservative Christian politician, Starr was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives
as a Republican representing Hillsboro and Washington County in 1992. Entering state politics at age 59, he defeated Democrat Pat Kliewer to represent the area surrounding most of Hillsboro, Forest Grove
, and Cornelius
.
He was re-elected to the same seat in 1994 and 1996. Both times he defeated Democrat Marcus Simantel in the November elections. Son Bruce served as his legislative assistant during these terms.
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. 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. A pro-life
advocate, he had defeated incumbent and pro-choice
Republican state senator Jeannette Hamby
in the Republican primary. In 1999, he helped to pass Oregon’s charter school
bill.
In the legislature he was a proponent of home schooling and charter schools, while opposing same-sex unions. 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%. He lost to incumbent Democrat David Wu
in the November general election. He had received support in his bid from Oregon business interests including Intel due to Wu’s vote against free trade with China
.
In 2002, the Oregon Supreme Court
stuck down Oregon's 1992 law
imposing term limits for state legislators. 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. He had been a proponent of term limits. In 2002, he was re-elected to a second four-year term in the Senate where son Bruce was also elected to serve. Charles’ district now included parts of Marion
, Clackamas
, Yamhill
, and Washington counties.
Charles and Bruce were the first father-son tandem to serve at the same time in the history of the Oregon State Senate. 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. 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. Democrats called for Starr to be replaced as chairman of the education committee. 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.
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. 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. With the loss in the primary, Charles’ time in the Oregon Legislative Assembly
ended after 14 years.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician and farmer in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
. He served as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
member of the Oregon Legislature for 14 years, serving in both houses. A native of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, would served in the Oregon State Senate
Oregon State Senate
The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the state-wide legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the State Senate, representing 30 districts across the state,...
with his son Bruce Starr
Bruce Starr
Bruce Starr is an American politician and businessman in Oregon. A Republican, he served two terms in the Oregon House of Representatives before winning election to the Oregon State Senate in 2002. There he joined his father Senator Charles Starr and they became the first father-son team to serve...
, the first time in Oregon's history a father and son served in the Senate together.
Early life
Charles Starr was born around 1933 and raised in the central part of TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. The son of an oil driller, he attended 19 different schools between first grade and sixth grade. Starr married Kathy and they would have four children, all boys; West, Bryan, Alan, and Bruce. Charles earned a bachelor’s degree in agriculture in 1955 from the University of Idaho
University of Idaho
The University of Idaho is the State of Idaho's flagship and oldest public university, located in the rural city of Moscow in Latah County in the northern portion of the state...
and then worked for a year as an agricultural teacher. He would serve in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
from 1956 to 1958. He earned a master’s degree from the University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
in 1960 in agribusiness management.
Starr moved to Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
in 1962 and began working at Farmers Oil Cooperative in McMinnville
McMinnville, Oregon
McMinnville is the county seat and largest city of Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. According to Oregon Geographic Names, it was named by its founder, William T. Newby , an early immigrant on the Oregon Trail, for his hometown of McMinnville, Tennessee...
, followed by a job at Pacific Farmers Cooperative in Hillsboro
Hillsboro, Oregon
Hillsboro is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County. Lying in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city is home to many high-technology companies, such as Intel, that compose what has become known as the...
. He left Pacific in 1969 and spent ten years working for Flavorland Foods before becoming a general contractor in 1979. Living in Hillsboro, he remained a contractor and also farmed until retirement in 2002. He had operated Starr Boys Garden Center.
Political career
Starr started his political career serving on the school board of Groner Elementary School south of Hillsboro, and now part of the Hillsboro School DistrictHillsboro School District
The Hillsboro School District 1J is a unified school district located in Hillsboro, Oregon, United States. The district operates 26 elementary schools, four middle schools, and four high schools. Founded in 1851, the school district covers Hillsboro, Scholls, Reedville, North Plains, West Union,...
. He then joined the Hillsboro Union High School Board, spending a total of 12 years on the two boards. He made an unsuccessful bid for a seat on the Washington County
Washington County, Oregon
- Major highways :* Interstate 5* Interstate 205* U.S. Route 26* Oregon Route 6* Oregon Route 8* Oregon Route 10* Oregon Route 47* Oregon Route 99W* Oregon Route 210* Oregon Route 217* Oregon Route 219-Demographics:...
Board of Commissioners in 1986. A conservative Christian politician, Starr was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives
Oregon House of Representatives
The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of 57,000. The House meets at the Oregon State Capitol in Salem....
as a Republican representing Hillsboro and Washington County in 1992. Entering state politics at age 59, he defeated Democrat Pat Kliewer to represent the area surrounding most of Hillsboro, Forest Grove
Forest Grove, Oregon
Forest Grove is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States, west of Portland. Originally a small farm town, it is now primarily a bedroom suburb of Portland. Settled in the 1840s, the town was platted in 1850 and then incorporated in 1872 and was the first city in Washington County...
, and Cornelius
Cornelius, Oregon
Cornelius is a city in Washington County, Oregon, United States. The population was 9,652 at the 2000 census. The 2007 estimate is 10,895 residents.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
.
He was re-elected to the same seat in 1994 and 1996. Both times he defeated Democrat Marcus Simantel in the November elections. Son Bruce served as his legislative assistant during these terms.
After three terms in the House, he was elected to the State Senate
Oregon State Senate
The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the state-wide legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. There are 30 members of the State Senate, representing 30 districts across the state,...
in 1998, while his son Bruce Starr
Bruce Starr
Bruce Starr is an American politician and businessman in Oregon. A Republican, he served two terms in the Oregon House of Representatives before winning election to the Oregon State Senate in 2002. There he joined his father Senator Charles Starr and they became the first father-son team to serve...
was elected to his former House seat. Starr was prohibited at the time by Oregon’s term limits
Term limits in the United States
Term limits in the United States apply to many offices at both the federal and state level, and date back to the American Revolution.-Pre-constitution:...
from another term in the House, pushing towards a run at the state senate. A pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
advocate, he had defeated incumbent and pro-choice
Pro-choice
Support for the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-choice movement, a sociopolitical movement supporting the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to elective abortion, meaning the right to terminate her pregnancy....
Republican state senator Jeannette Hamby
Jeannette Hamby
Jeannette N. Hamby is an American politician and nurse in Oregon. A native of Minnesota, she worked as an airline attendant, nurse, and educator before entering local politics. A Republican, she served in both chambers of the Oregon Legislature, winning re-election three times to the Oregon State...
in the Republican primary. In 1999, he helped to pass Oregon’s charter school
Charter school
Charter schools are primary or secondary schools that receive public money but are not subject to some of the rules, regulations, and statutes that apply to other public schools in exchange for some type of accountability for producing certain results, which are set forth in each school's charter...
bill.
In the legislature he was a proponent of home schooling and charter schools, while opposing same-sex unions. Starr ran for Oregon’s 1st Congressional District
Oregon's 1st congressional district
Oregon's 1st congressional district consists of the northwest corner of Oregon. It includes Clatsop, Columbia, Washington, and Yamhill counties, and southwest Portland, part of Multnomah County, which belonged to the 3rd district before the 2002 redistricting....
in 2000, defeating Alice Schlenker in the May primary with 62% of the vote compared to 38%. He lost to incumbent Democrat David Wu
David Wu
David Wu is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1999 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.The district includes most of Portland west of the Willamette River, as well as all of Yamhill, Columbia, Clatsop, and Washington Counties...
in the November general election. He had received support in his bid from Oregon business interests including Intel due to Wu’s vote against free trade with China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
.
In 2002, the Oregon Supreme Court
Oregon Supreme Court
The Oregon Supreme Court is the highest state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States. The OSC holds court at the Oregon Supreme Court Building in Salem, Oregon, near the capitol...
stuck down Oregon's 1992 law
Term limits in Oregon
Term limits legislation – term limits for state and federal office-holders – has been a recurring political issue in the U.S. state of Oregon since 1992...
imposing term limits for state legislators. 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. He had been a proponent of term limits. In 2002, he was re-elected to a second four-year term in the Senate where son Bruce was also elected to serve. Charles’ district now included parts of Marion
Marion County, Oregon
Marion County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was originally named the Champooick District, after Champoeg, a meeting place on the Willamette River. On September 3, 1849, the territorial legislature renamed it in honor of Francis Marion, a Continental Army general of the...
, Clackamas
Clackamas County, Oregon
Clackamas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The county was named after the Native Americans living in the area, the Clackamas Indians, who were part of the Chinookan people. As of 2010, the population was 375,992...
, Yamhill
Yamhill County, Oregon
-National protected areas:*Siuslaw National Forest *Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 84,992 people, 28,732 households, and 21,376 families residing in the county. The population density was 119 people per square mile . There were 30,270...
, and Washington counties.
Charles and Bruce were the first father-son tandem to serve at the same time in the history of the Oregon State Senate. 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. At the time, Starr was chairman of the Senate Education Committee, and in June 2003 his lawn was filled with plastic pink flamingos
Plastic flamingo
Pink plastic flamingos are one of the most famous of lawn ornaments in the United States, along with the garden gnome and other such ornamentation....
paid for by a fundraising campaign at a local elementary school. Democrats called for Starr to be replaced as chairman of the education committee. 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.
In the May 2006 Republican primary, Charles lost to Larry George
Larry George
Larry George is an American politician and businessman in Oregon. A Republican, he is a member of the Oregon State Senate representing District 13 since election in 2006. He previously was the leader of the political group Oregonians In Action...
who would then win the general election in November, and joined his own father in the Senate. 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. With the loss in the primary, Charles’ time in the Oregon Legislative Assembly
Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the House of Representatives, with 60 members elected to...
ended after 14 years.