Charles
Dent
If
you want a meet a representative in Congress that is the epitome of what a
representative should be, Charles, “Charlie,” Dent is your guy. Born and raised
in the Lehigh Valley, Center Republican Charlie Dent knows what it means to
represent his district. Already on his fifth term in Congress, re-election is
not a worry for Charlie. Even though this isn’t an issue for him, he still
bends backwards to make sure that his people are well represented and well heard
in Congress.
Charlie
spent his whole life in the district he has represented for so many years.
Charlie was born in May of 1940 and attended William Allen High School, right
in Allentown (Charlie Dent Biography, 2013). He then went on for his undergraduate
degree in Foreign Services and International Politics at Penn State University
and continued for his masters in public administration at Lehigh University.
Choosing never to leave his hometown, Dent had a few jobs in the Lehigh Valley
before entering the political realm by being an aid for Representative Don
Ritter. That was when Charlie realized his passion for politics, and in 1991
began working in the State House of Representatives (Get to Know Charlie Dent,
2013). Seven years later, Dent was elected to the State Senate and finally in
2004 was elected to Congress (Get to Know Charlie Dent, 2013).
Charlie
Dent has worked extremely hard to get where he is today. He has taken his
knowledge of Foreign Politics and combined them with his experience with
national politics to create his political style. Having served on committees
such as Homeland Security, Transformation and Infrastructure and Government
Reform, Charlie is seen as an extremely well rounded representative. Although he is a registered Republican,
Dent has the hearts and respect of Lehigh Valley residents regardless of their
political ideology. He feels very strongly about civil rights and also feels
very close to his constitutes at home and makes sure that they are his first
priority. Charlie has done numerous work for the Lehigh Valley such as
preventing the formation of gangs and gang violence, preserving historical
landmarks, education reform and health care. Health issues have been a huge
part of Charlie Dent’s work, including bringing awareness to a disease known as
MPS in order to raise money for proper research. He has also devoted himself
deeply into melanoma research, providing large amounts of federal funding for research.
He has also pushed to improve medical care including quality and price of these
cares (Charlie Dent Biography, 2013). In June of 2013, Charlie went ahead and
called members of his own party “stupid” for trying to pass an abortion bill
with no exceptions for rape victims. He knew this was an unjust bill and also foresaw
a future where women would be forced to get illegal, unsanitary abortions
(Charlie Dent Slams Abortion, 2013). Even more recently, Charlie has been
extremely involved in NCAA reforms for college athletes. He, along with other
members of Congress, have pushed the introduction of stricter rules and
regulations to ensure the safety of student athletes. One of these rules
includes annual concussion testing, due to all the research that has come out
about what concussions do to adolescent’s brains (Press Releases, 2013). While
this may not seem like a large deal, it just proves how far Charlie will go in
order to insure the safety and health of his constitutes. There are numerous
colleges in the Lehigh Valley whose athletes are protected by NCAA regulations,
and Charlie wants to make sure that these are the best rules possible.
Along
with domestic issues, Charlie does his part to take foreign issues head on as
well. Dent is seen as a leader in the White House and is highly respected
(Charlie Dent Biography, 2013). Charlie has been involved in much legislation
involving national security, mostly while serving on the committee for Homeland
Security. One of Charlie’s biggest contributions to foreign politics came
within the last few days when Charlie put his foot down against the strikes in
Syria. Basing his decision off his experience with civil rights, Dent believes
that the President is acting way too late and any chance America had in helping
Syria is long gone. He has seen the statistics of how many civilians have died
in the last year of civil war in Syria and he does not see the purpose in
killing more, especially with no exact plan on how these killings will take
place or what they will do for America. Charlie is standing strong on his
decision and so far it seems that his constitutes support their representative.
Overall,
Charlie Dent has been doing his fair share for the United States ever since he
entered Congress in 2004. He is well respected and well liked by all his
constitutes, something that doesn’t come easy these days. Being a center based
Republican; Charlie pleases both sides of the political spectrum. He has mounds
of political experience and even more experience being a constitute of the
district he is paid to represent. Charlie possesses all the great qualities
that are necessary to sufficiently represent people and there is a lot more to
see from him in Congress in the upcoming years.
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