Now, it's time to lead new fights – I will fight to secure America's border to ensure that illegal immigrants and terrorists can't walk into the U.S.

Agriculture

Farming and ranching is the lifeblood of the north state, and it is our state’s largest industry. Charlie’s family has made a living farming in Northern California since the 1880s, and Charlie’s formal education and passion is also Agriculture. He has two college degrees in Agriculture, majoring in both Agricultural Business and Agronomy, specializing in soils, irrigation and drainage. He will protect farmers’ rights in the Assembly and keep farmers and ranchers in charge of their land. Agriculture needs a strong and credible voice to keep the north state’s farms and ranches profitable.

North State Water

Northern California water is vital to the north state and Charlie has always fought to protect the north state’s water supply. Our water resources makes crops grow and towns and cities thrive, and we must take steps to ensure that there will be sufficient supplies for our current and future needs and that our water resources are not lost to Southern California. While a college student in 1981, Charlie collected hundreds of signatures to get the Peripheral Canal Referendum on the ballot in order to stop a canal that would deliver north state water to Southern California. Now Southern California water interests are again proposing a new delta canal for the exact same purpose. Charlie will fight this water grab attempt that robs the north state of its own water supply. He will fight to ensure that we do not lose control of our riparian and appropriated water rights and prevent south state politicians from adjudicating these rights away from us.

Floods and Flooding

Flooding is a major problem in the Sacramento Valley and other communities on watersheds. Cities like Colusa, Hamilton City, Tehama, Yuba City, Knights Landing, Robbins, Grimes, Meridian, Rio Oso, Princeton, Glen, Vina, Nicolas and a host of other small communities depend on a safe and sound levee system on the Sacramento to Feather River watersheds. These communities are protected only if the levees are sound and maintained, and Charlie realizes that simply maintaining the levees is not enough. When the “100 year” floods come, and they seem to be coming much more regularly than every 100 years, there is no levee system in the world that can stop the devastating force of a raging river. The key to stopping these floods is to build and maintain a comprehensive up-stream water storage and flood control system, and to build a system that will provide not only flood control but also additional water for our north state farmers and ranchers, and to provide clean hydroelectric power for our towns and communities. Charlie will fight in the Assembly for comprehensive flood controls that takes the whole watershed of the north state into account, and he will oppose politicians or special interest groups that only want to raise downstream levees higher, which only puts additional pressure on the up-stream levee system. As your representative in Sacramento, Charlie Schaupp will protect the welfare, safety and interests of the communities in the 2nd Assembly District.

The 2nd Amendment

Charlie is an avid hunter and NRA member. His favorite hunting area is the Ishi Wilderness area of eastern Tehama County. The 2nd Amendment, however, has nothing to do with hunting (as some in government would try to spin it). Rather, the 2nd Amendment was put in place in by our forefathers to ensure a free militia for all law abiding citizens, and that they will always have the right to keep and bear arms to protect themselves and their homes and families, and to protect their communities and our nation against all who would take our freedom or rights away. Charlie’s position on the 2nd Amendment is that it is the insurance policy than ensures the basic rights of the 1st Amendment, and all other rights as prescribed in our Constitution, are never taken away. Charlie will absolutely fight to preserve the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.

The Right to Life

Charlie believes that the miracle of life begins at conception. No parent should ever end the life of their unborn child just because the conception is not convenient. We must protect and cherish our children—to do otherwise is inconceivable.

Public Education

To quote Thomas Paine, “that government is best which governs least.” Paine’s profound statement should apply to all areas of government and especially to our public schools. Charlie is a former school trustee and with his leadership he helped Esparto pass their first school construction bond in 30 years (an overwhelming 75% voted yes in a rural farm district). Charlie also believes in getting the government out of the classroom and putting the teachers and parents back in control in children’s educations. He firmly believes that the key to sound school governance is to return control of local schools back to the locally elected school boards and not the bureaucrats in Sacramento. This local control principle works, and Esparto’s teachers, working closely with parents and the local school board, have greatly improved the quality of education. From a past position of being under-achieving schools, all of Esparto’s major schools have now risen to the title of ‘Distinguished School’ in the last several years. A great achievement indeed! The lion’s share of this achievement goes to the teachers who worked closely with the parents and the superb leadership of the Esparto School Board. We must do everything possible to return control of the classroom back to the teacher and parent—this is the key to improving public education. Fiscal and curriculum control of our school districts need to return back to the local boards of education, not Sacramento.

© 2008 Charlie Schaupp