The following headlines are covered in detail below on this page.

Political Philosophy
A Brief Biography
What Brought Me to Run for Office
Effectiveness and Accountability
Essential Issues for 2008
Giving Parents Options for Their Child's Education
Aggressive Economic and AgriBioTech Development
Making Healthcare More Available and More Affordable
Making NC the Good Roads State Again
Defining Marriage between One Man and One Woman
Protecting All Innocent Human Life, Including the Unborn
Protecting Your Private Property Rights
Lower Taxes.  Reducing Government Spending and Waste
Strict Immigration Enforcement in North Carolina

My name is Chuck Stires. I am a candidate for the North Carolina Senate representing Franklin, Vance, Granville and Warren Counties.  I am asking for your vote on November 4, 2008.

Something you want to ask?  Please email me at stiresforsenate@gmail.com

Political Philosophy

I believe in public service. And I believe that my faith, my family, my education and business experience has instilled in me a set of values that will be welcomed by the citizens of this district. Citizens have suffered through decades of failed expensive government experiments in education and economic development. They have been the victims of corrupt politicians and elected officials who have used their office to pursue their own personal political and social objectives; objectives that are frequently at odds with the priorities and the values of the citizens and their families.

My conservative philosophy encourages citizens to control their own lives and resources and to have the freedom and agency to pursue their own best interests and interests of society without undue government interference. I am opposed to restructuring society and forcibly taking money from one person and giving it to another.

Schools should focus on education without excessive administrative distraction. A parent must have options for their children’s education. A parent has in his heart the best interest of the child and must be honored for protecting that interest.

Effective private economic development will create good paying jobs and government’s role is to provide infrastructure.

There must be fiscal accountability and evidence of positive results when spending taxpayer’s hard earned money.  Surplus tax money must be returned to the citizen. I believe in upholding the Second Amendment and citizens’ liberties to defend themselves and their families.  I believe a citizen's right to own and control his property must be protected.

I am a pro-life social conservative who supports the protection of life from the moment of conception. I support a constitutional amendment that protects the sanctity of traditional marriage

I am intolerant of illegal aliens draining limited resources of our communities from those who are vulnerable and severely disadvantaged and deserve assistance.

I have lived in North Carolina for over 25 years, residing in Brevard, Charlotte, Raleigh and now in Youngsville.    My farming ancestors settled in Rockingham County in the late 1700's. My wife Connie and I have been married for 43 years.  I am the proud father to three children, all grown, and I am the very proud grandfather to 11 great kids.  I am a Christian and Church Elder.

I have owned and operated a small business in Wake Forest since 1994; American Doors & Cabinets, LLC.  Previously I provided for my family employed in computer applications to manufacturing processes, product development and marketing, basic and advanced research in industrial processes. I have taught young people in a seminary environment, and also at the North Carolina State University, Meredith College, and at the University of Massachusetts. I am a regular community volunteer. I’ve worked with groups such as the Interfaith Food Shuttle, the Red Cross blood drive, Special Olympics, and Habitat for Humanity Projects. I also served as a recovery worker in the aftermath of the Fran and Katrina hurricanes.

In 2006, friends and neighbors asked me to become a candidate to represent our community in the North Carolina Senate. That was my first campaign for public office. While I was unsuccessful in that effort, the opportunity to meet thousands of people living and working in this district was a remarkable experience. Unlike my opponent, Doug Berger, who has run for numerous offices over the past decade, I have no desire to spend the rest of my life as a career politician living on the public payroll and campaigning for any available open seat.

But I do believe in public service. And I believe that my faith, my family, my education and business experience has instilled in me a set of values that will be welcomed by the citizens of this district. Citizens who have suffered through decades of failed expensive government experiments in education, and economic development. They have been the victims of corrupt politicians and elected officials who have used their office to pursue their own personal political and social objectives; objectives that are frequently at odds with the priorities and the values of the citizens and their families.

I received nearly 40% approval in that first campaign. Clearly, my message was heard. It will be heard even more loudly in 2008 when the people realize that many of the critical issues confronting us, today, are the same issues that faced us in 2006 and back in 2004 when Doug Berger first won his senate seat. With his own party in leadership that entire time, he was unable to get the job done. This district requires an effective state senator.

An effective state senator has an agenda that is in sync with the priorities of the People, not in contrast or irrelevant to the People. An effective state senator doesn’t accept old outmoded processes that slow or obstruct progress; he challenges them. An effective state senator knows there is more to representing the people than just writing checks. Checks that spend the very money that was taken from the citizens in the hundreds of millions of dollars in increased taxes and fees that Doug Berger supported in the state senate.

I know our families work hard for their money. And I know that our families would certainly rather spend it on their needs, than the political needs of a politician in Raleigh.
Unlike my opponent, who has spent much of the last decade campaigning for public offices and living off the taxpayers, my background is in education and in creating and designing solutions. As a small business owner I have a direct responsibility to my employees. I have the responsibility of making a payroll every week. I fully understand the impact of excessive taxation, needless bureaucratic red tape and over-regulation. I know, firsthand, the impact of high healthcare costs.  I know that when a business plan or strategy does not yield the desired results, I must seek new solutions. My employees and my business cannot afford to just simply continue to pursue failed approaches.

This district can no longer afford a state senator whose approach is not working and whose gauge of success is not results, but in how much taxpayer money is being spent.

North Carolina can foster a new plan for education, economic development, health care, and transportation that improves the quality of life for our citizens and businesses.  Now, we are paying millions in taxpayer-funded incentives to a select few corporations in an effort to entice them to come here and stay here.  This new plan moves North Carolina to the head of the line of states competing for companies planning to build new facilities or relocate their operations. Further details will be issued throughout the campaign to further support each of the following initiatives.

We have allowed the government to drive a wedge between parents, their precious children and the educational system.  In North Carolina, the government mandates a one-size fits-all system offering few options to parents and families. There has been a steady multi-year deterioration in school performance in all four counties of District 7.
Our children can no longer be held hostage by special interests demanding limits on school choice, and then dodge accountability for the substandard results.  The lack of competition and options is crippling the future of the children of North Carolina, most notably, low income families whose children are trapped in continually poor performing schools. Families need options but are denied the possibility by a system protected by special interests, the politicians who defend them, and top ranking education bureaucrats worried about their pensions and not listening to their local school administrators and teachers.

Parents and families are uniquely qualified. They know the needs of their children. I believe it is a parent’s right to have options that will provide the best educational environment for their children.  I will sponsor legislation to offer several educational options, without increasing taxes and in some cases offering cost savings.

I support removing the arbitrary limits and significantly expanding the number of charter schools in our state.  Other options that will be encouraged and supported included school within a school, single sex classroom, charter districts, home school, alternate school, technical school, certificate vocational school.  I support a review of ALL options, including tax deferred vouchers, to provide ALL of North Carolina’s parents and families the opportunity to pursue a quality education for their children.

North Carolina and the nation have shared in the economic boom sparked by the 2001 federal tax cuts. Sadly Franklin, Granville, Vance and Warren Counties have been disconnected from much of this boom.  In fact, there is real, but needless despair in these communities. Our current senator and his party’s leadership only know one trick; write checks paid for by hard-working taxpayers. Write checks to lawyers and consultants to develop government projects like the Global TransPark, called "North Carolina's white elephant" and the struggling Triangle North System.  These are old, tired big government solutions that addressed an old economy. From new thinking, smart economic development solutions are available that will reconnect our communities and narrow the economic gap.

Agriculture is the largest industry in North Carolina generating over $60 billion in product every year and employees over 20% of our workforce. A healthy agriculture industry is critical to this rural area.  But action is needed, now, to keep our agriculture economy from going the way of textiles and furniture.  We can develop a business environment for North Carolina agriculture to grow into an AgriBioTech powerhouse.  Linking Research Triangle Park and North Carolina’s abundant University research to our wonderful God blessed land, Rural North Carolina can strengthen its own economy and at the same time contribute to national food and energy security.

There is no single solution to the high cost of healthcare.  Healthcare costs are too high for too many North Carolina citizens.  Waste, fraud, unnecessary government intervention, mismanaged tax dollars, uncapped and frivolous lawsuits and the impact of illegal aliens have resulted in unnecessarily high costs. This results in necessary healthcare becoming out of reach of those citizens who are the most vulnerable and in the most need.  This is not right.

Reducing the cost of health insurance premiums is an important step and one taken by stopping waste and fraud in existing government-funded programs.

Another step is by removing and reducing outdated bureaucratic obstacles that limit expanding and building medical facilities such as the Certificate of Need (CON).  Fourteen states have abandoned the CON and have benefited by providing for their citizens, according to a Federal study, more available healthcare, more affordable healthcare, and better quality healthcare.

There is a role state government can play to help reduce costs and expand the availability of high quality healthcare. “Universal”, government mandated and managed healthcare is not the answer. New solutions are the answer, not old, failed one-size fits-all government programs.

I support following 1986 and 1996 Federal law and prohibiting all but critical lifesaving taxpayer-funded healthcare to illegal aliens. I support reforming the legal processes that will limit the size and number of medical lawsuit awards. I know that we can improve the costs and delivery of the best healthcare to our deserving citizens. But it requires new thinking and new solutions.

Major Transportation Department reforms are critically needed. The quality of our roads, highways and bridges are not keeping up with the modern growth and needs of our state. The current system of appropriating our hard-earned tax dollars has become highly politicized. As a result, the most senior legislators of the most populated areas have a distinct advantage. Rural counties and outlying counties growing from the influx of commuters are not getting the attention necessary to serve the roadway needs of their citizens. Hundreds and hundreds of millions of our tax dollars have been drained out of the Highway Trust Fund to pay for non-highway programs.  We are facing a transportation crisis if we don’t act now.

The Department of Transportation has grown to become unnecessarily large and unwieldy.  Being rewarded a DOT board membership is considered a “political grand prize” in Raleigh.  Major reforms are desperately necessary. There are people and departments reporting to the DOT that can report to other departments. New more efficient and fairer funding options must be pursued and the old inefficient and unfair systems eliminated.  New solutions to modernize our DOT can be found in privatizing some functions, examining the competitive bidding and contracting methods and bringing in people who will clean up administrative processes to reduce and eliminate cost overruns, poor record keeping, and missed construction timetables.  The raiding of the Highway Trust Fund must stop immediately.

Not unlike what we see in our education and healthcare systems, the DOT is mired in old outdated bureaucratic processes that are politically rewarding to a few, but punishing to areas of the state that desperately need work.

North Carolina has a general statute on the books that defines marriage as only being between a man and a woman. Many states have a similar statute. But as you’ve seen in the news, dozens of states have seen their traditional marriage statutes challenged in court. It only requires an aggressive gay-rights advocacy group to fund the effort, willing allies in the General Assembly who have the endorsement of that group, and a friendly liberal judge. Several states have been forced by court order to permit and perform gay marriages.

There is only one protection available to define marriage in North Carolina as only being between one man and one woman. That protection is found in an amendment to our state constitution. For years, polls have indicated that over 70% of North Carolinians support this constitutional amendment.

Our current state senator has twice been enthusiastically endorsed by the gay-rights advocacy group, EqualityNC.  He received their endorsement and money because he opposes fully protecting traditional marriage in North Carolina. He claims our general statute is sufficient. He’s a lawyer. He knows the law and knows that statutes like ours can fall with the swing of a judge’s gavel. On this issue, it appears the support of the homosexual rights lobby is more important to Doug Berger than the will of the citizens he purportedly represents.

I support state and federal constitutional amendments defining marriage as ONLY being between one man and one woman.

I believe in the sanctity of all innocent human life. I believe that life begins at the moment of conception. I believe that unborn children in the womb hold the same right to life as the mother. I support additional criminal penalties for injuries to, or the death of, an unborn baby when violence is committed upon the mother.

I support the overturning of the controversial Roe vs. Wade decision.  I do not support taxpayer funding of abortions or abortion counseling.

Citizens must maintain their right and liberty to own property.  Like so many things, a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision has yielded private property, once protected and considered sacred, to now be vulnerable to the swing of a judge’s gavel. Your private property may now be seized by the government to be sold to private developers and investors. In two terms in the state senate, knowing full well what is happening, our current state senator has done nothing to promote constitutional protection of our private property rights.

Seizure of land by invoking eminent domain cannot be allowed except in very narrowly defined circumstances that do not include the profiting of government or private groups.  This right must be defined and protected in a Property Rights Amendment to our constitution. I will support or sponsor legislation that will move that amendment forward.

Beyond their clear wording of the United States Constitution, our Founding fathers wrote extensively about the individual right of the people to keep and bear firearms. I fully support that right. I support “shall issue” concealed carry permits. I support reciprocity agreements between concealed carry states.
 
I support the passage of “Castle Doctrine” legislation that allows a legal firearm owner to use any means of force to protect himself and his family from forcible entry into their occupied home or car. This law further indemnifies the home owner from prosecution for the legal use of that necessary force.

It is appalling that our state legislature has demonstrated such poor stewardship of our tax dollars.  Over the last two years, their overspending has burdened us with hundreds of millions of dollars in increased taxes and fees.  The growth of state government spending has far outpaced our population growth and inflation. We now pay new taxes on food, candy, gasoline, and furniture...taxes that affect every household in the state, regardless of income, and every business, regardless of size. No one is exempt.

The General Assembly did not roll back the gas tax increases that impact everyone, of every income.  They increased auto tag fees. They raised taxes in 2001 with the promise that the increase would expire in 2003.  The General Assembly repeatedly broke that promise and the tax increases continue to this day.

In response to the federal tax cuts, the national and state economies boomed. Proving again that tax cuts grow revenues through economic activity. But the increased state taxes caused us to overpay nearly $4 billion over two years. That was our hard-earned money withheld from our paychecks and paid to the state. We didn’t get any refund or rebate.  The General Assembly spent it all.... much of it on new programs that may require tax increases for years to come!  All this is on top of $1 billion each year since 2004 identified as waste and duplication by a special governor’s panel.

The General Assembly finally took the Medicaid funding burden off the counties’ budgets. But they made the counties continue to pay for it by taking away a portion of the counties’ sales tax income. That puts the burden of replacing that income on the county governments. Many counties have already raised taxes, and many more will. Our current state senator voted for every tax increase that crossed his desk. He supported spending all of the $4 billion overpayment. He would not support giving the taxpayers a refund or rebate. He supported taking away the county sales tax income to pay for Medicaid, and then had the gall to brag about it.

I support legislation that requires the state to immediately assume its full Medicaid funding responsibilities and return the sales tax income to the counties.

I signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a pledge to oppose and vote against all tax increases. I signed a pledge stating I will support no spending increases that go beyond the combined level of population growth and inflation. I will vote for a Taxpayer's Bill of Rights to protect all of us.

North Carolina remains a destination state for illegal aliens.  Hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens are now holding illegal IDs, have easy access to government services and many have used these ID’s to vote illegally. Illegal aliens are straining every public resource in our state: schools, hospitals, roadways, housing, child and infant services and more at an estimated cost of over $250 million...and growing.

I support legislation that makes  taxpayer-funded benefits available only to legal residents and denies all but critical, lifesaving emergency medical services to illegal aliens. We are compassionate, but we must insist that the law to be obeyed.

I support legislation that severely penalizes employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens. I support legislation that prohibits state contracts to be awarded to employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens. I support soliciting the federal government to provide more funding for local and state immigration enforcement.