Dictionary Thesaurus Word Dynamo Quotes Reference Translator Spanish

Charlie Dent

Charles "Charlie" Dent (born May 24, 1960 in Allentown, Pennsylvania) is a Republican Member of Congress, representing Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district (map), including the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania.

Biography

Dent was born and raised and still resides in Allentown. He is a 1978 graduate of Allentown's William Allen High School. He received a Bachelor's in International Politics from Penn State University in 1982 and a Masters in Public Administration from Lehigh University in 1993. He is a member of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity.

Before being elected to the United States Congress, Dent was a member of the State Legislature for 14 years. He represented Pennsylvania's 132nd house district from 1991 to 1999 after unseating Democratic incumbent Jack Pressman in a heavily Democratic district in 1990. In 1998, Dent won an open 16th District Senate seat when Democrat Roy C. Afflerbach (Mayor of Allentown 2002–2006) retired in an unsuccessful bid for Congress.

He has also worked as a college fundraiser, an electronics salesman, a hotel clerk and a congressional aide.

Dent was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 2004, succeeding Pat Toomey, who gave up his seat to challenge Arlen Specter for the U.S. Senate. He was re-elected in 2006.

He is married to Pamela Dent and has three children.

Politically important district

Dent represents a Pennsylvania Congressional district, consisting principally of Lehigh County and Northampton County, that is considered politically important nationally, since it is usually heavily contested, with neither Republicans nor Democrats having been able to win the district consistently. Since at least the Second World War, the District's voters have chosen the presidential candidate that goes on to win Pennsylvania (and until 2000, Pennsylvania chose the eventual national winner). In the 2004 election, both President George W. Bush and his Democratic challenger, John Kerry, visited the district with regularity in an effort to win its swing voters. The result in the district was 148,679 votes for Kerry over 148,576 votes for Bush, a 103-vote margin of victory.

Political stances

Dent is a proponent of alternative energy sources and is one of the four founding members of the House Hydrogen Fuel Cell Caucus. In 2006 he proposed legislation aimed at promoting the rollout of commercial hydrogen fueling stations. Dent envisions the development of a "Hydrogen Highway East," similar to California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's plans for a Hydrogen Highway on the West Coast.

Dent is a member of The Republican Main Street Partnership. In 2007 he was elected to co-chair the Republican "Tuesday Group," a centrist organization of Congressional Republicans.

Dent is a staunch advocate of a federal prohibition of online poker. In 2006, he cosponsored H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act

He voted against Federal intervention in the case of Terri Schiavo. Dent replied afterwards that he opposed government intervention in a personal matter and would have voted the same way had courts sided with Schiavo's parents.

Dent is a member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, and introduced legislation to allow the Civil Air Patrol to provide aerial surveillance along the U.S. border.