Charles Starr (born c. 1933) is an American politician and farmer in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. He served as a Republican member of the

Oregon Legislature 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 chamber: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the H ...

for 14 years, serving in both houses. A native of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, Starr served in the

Oregon State Senate The Oregon State Senate is the upper house of the State legislature (United States), statewide legislature for the US state of Oregon. Along with the lower chamber Oregon House of Representatives it makes up the Oregon Legislative Assembly. Ther ...

with his son

Bruce Starr Bruce Starr (born January 12, 1969) is an American politician and businessman in Oregon. He currently serves in the Oregon State Senate, Oregon Senate representing District 12 since 2025. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republi ...

, 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

.Bodine, Harry. House race in new District 3 wide open. ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...

'', October 14, 1992. 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; Bryan, West, Alan, and Bruce.Charles Starr. ''

Statesman Journal The ''Statesman Journal'' is the major daily newspaper published in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1851 as the ''Oregon Statesman'', it later merged with the ''Capital Journal'' to form the current newspaper, the second-oldest in Orego ...

'', April 22, 2006.Wong, Peter. Family's politics written in the Starrs. ''

'', March 1, 2003. Charles earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture in 1955 from the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

and then worked for a year as an agricultural teacher. He would serve in the

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from 1956 to 1958. He earned a master's degree from the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

in 1960 in agribusiness management. Starr moved to

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.

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 District. 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,Hogan, Dave. Oregon incumbents hold on to House seats. ''

'', November 8, 2000. Starr was elected to the

Oregon House of Representatives The Oregon House of Representatives is the lower house of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, the upper house being the Oregon State Senate. There are 60 members of the House, representing 60 districts across the state, each with a population of ...

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 the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

in 1998, while his son

was elected to his former House seat. Starr was prohibited at the time by Oregon's

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of Term of office, terms a Incumbent, person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in Presidential system, presidential and Semi-presidential republic, semi-president ...

from another term in the House, pushing towards a run at the state senate. A

pro-life Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in response to the lega ...

advocate, he had defeated incumbent and

pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their ...

Republican state senator Jeannette Hamby in the Republican primary. In 1999, he helped to pass Oregon's

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...

bill.Stern, Henry. Father and son aim at Senate. ''

'', October 9, 2001. 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 David Wu (born April 8, 1955) is an American politician who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 1999 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. Wu was born ...

in the November general election. He had received support in his bid from Oregon business interests including

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

due to Wu's vote against free trade with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. In 2002, the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest State court (United States), 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.

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.Oregon Legislative Assembly (72nd) 2003 Regular Session.

Oregon State Archives The Archives Division of the Office of the Secretary of State of Oregon, or the Oregon State Archives, is an agency of the Oregon Secretary of State charged with preserving and providing access to government records. The Oregon State Archives is ...

. Retrieved on April 6, 2008. 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.Wong, Peter. House's potential new speaker shares plans. ''

'', November 9, 2006. 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.Goetze, Janet. Flamingo fuss. ''

'', June 10, 2003. 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.Wong, Peter. George ousts veteran Starr in close vote. ''

'', May 18, 2006. 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.Har, Janie. Anti-tax group helps to give the boot. ''

'', May 22, 2006. With the loss in the primary, Charles' time in the

Oregon Legislative Assembly The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the State legislature (United States), state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper house, upper and lower chamber: the Oregon State Senate, Sena ...

ended after 14 years.

Later years

After leaving the legislature Starr began working as a lobbyist at the state capitol in 2007. He publicly opposed a bill that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation that same year. 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.Guerrero-Huston, Thelma. Walker's sixth-graders have twice as much to talk about. ''

'', December 5, 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Starr, Charles 1933 births Living people Republican Party Oregon state senators Republican Party members of the Oregon House of Representatives 21st-century members of the Oregon Legislative Assembly University of Idaho alumni University of California, Davis alumni People from Texas Politicians from Hillsboro, Oregon School board members in Oregon Farmers from Oregon 20th-century Oregon politicians

Early life

Political career

Later years

See also

References