Charles Choate Wants to Help GOP Ticket

By Ed Oliver
September 2002 Print Edition

One reason that Charles Choate (R-Gloucester) is running for Representative is to give Mitt Romney and Jim Rappaport some help in the legislature. Choate is a strong supporter of the Lieutenant Governor candidate.

Right now, Choate is a long shot candidate because he is challenging an incumbent Democrat, Anthony J. Verga, who has represented the 5th Essex District for four terms. Choate is unopposed in the primary.

The challenger says that although he is a conservative, he is not an ideologue. "I am a conservative who believes in open door dialogue," he says.

On his chances of winning the election, Choate says, "The Boston Globe tries to perpetuate their own myths, especially that a conservative Republican can't win in Massachusetts. I believe you need honesty, confidence and one guiding principle: Never underestimate the intelligence of the average American citizen."

He grew up on the North Shore. His family has had a continual presence in the district ever since settling on Choate Island in 1648. Several Choates fought in the Revolutionary War. Since 1986, he has worked as an auditor for RGIS, an inventory firm based in Detroit, Michigan. He is 52 and divorced with three boys.

He says he is no Country Club Republican. He is running his campaign on a shoestring and even a five-dollar contribution would go a long way.

The District is comprised of the historic seacoast communities of Gloucester, Rockport and Essex.

Guiding Political Philosophy

"I'm big on citizen government and state rights. The federal government is out of control. The long term solution to most problems is to drastically reduce federal involvement. We must have greater state autonomy tempered with more accountability and you will see better government." he says.

Fishing industry

Regarding the troubled fishing industry, he would support a variation of the Alaska Salmon Plan, which he says is a bit lengthy to explain, but in short, is the best compromise we have right now between environmentalists and fishermen.

He also wants to help fishermen by calling for enforcement of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. "There have been fines in recent years that have put some fishermen out of business overnight -fines that are disproportionately large for the seriousness of the violation. Laws or regulations are mostly federal, but the state has the right to seek redress in court. I'll be down the hall from the Attorney General and I will actively work to resolve these problems," he says.

Parents & Children

He says Restraining Orders, custody battles, and visitation rights are also a big issue in his district, since many marriage problems occur in the fishing industry. He would support Father's Rights Coalition initiatives that meet his criteria, and even says he would like to see the 209A Restraining Order law repealed, at least piecemeal. "The abuse prevention order has become an instrument of abuse itself."

Education

Choate is against sex education, including the gay agenda, in the schools. "We need to focus on a basic education and on giving kids good vocational skills." he says. "If we are going to cut money from the budget we should cut sex education and the gay agenda rather than cutting funding for police or fire departments." He also opposes the MCAS, saying it is a failure and colossal waste of money. "I think we have to admit that MCAS has failed and get out of it as quickly as possible before it becomes a huge bureaucracy with a will of its own." He would prefer to send some kids off with a positive vocational education than to fail them with the MCAS.

Universal Health Care

Opposes Universal Health Care schemes, and says Massachusetts already pays a huge percentage of the cost of free care for anybody in the world who decides to come here.

Abortion

Choate is pro-life and says he is unequivocally opposed to state funded abortions on demand.

Gun Control

On gun control, Choate says almost all of the gun laws in Massachusetts brazenly violate the Second Amendment, and he would work to repeal them. "If just one person on each of those planes had a gun, the twin towers might still be standing," he says.

Taxes & Spending

Choate opposes higher taxes, but says he will not give a "read my lips" pledge. "I think we should seek other sources of revenue. I think recycling can be profitable for the state," he says. "We have garbage coming out of our ears, and we can turn it into something positive."

On the budget, Choate believes in drastically reducing spending on social services such as DSS, neighborhood legal services, MCAD ("just rename it the Mass. Commission for Discrimination") and women's shelters, ("rename them lesbian recruiting centers").

"These are expensive baubles and trinkets that state legislators have been giving to their core supporters for decades," says Choate.

"The bigger our budget gets, the less we have for roads and bridges and other infrastructure. For example, we have a big problem with the Blynman Drawbridge in Gloucester. It's falling apart. We keep putting Band-Aids on it."

He says unrestrained immigration combined with unbridled socialism is a recipe for "complete and unequivocal financial catastrophe."