LAKE SAINT LOUIS, Mo. — Rep. Chuck Gatschenberger has a question he likes to ask his fellow politicians.
“Why are you doing what you’re doing?”
Sometimes he uses it to learn about colleague’s motives. Sometimes it’s a genuine question, to understand an opponent. And sometimes it’s a criticism of sometimes dirty games played by politicians.
He says he likes to think of himself as a statesman, not a politician. And sometimes, he says, that’s all you can do.
“You have to represent everybody, even the people that don’t vote for you,” Gatschenberger told The Missouri Times. “It’s not your job to just do whatever you want. It’s your job to represent the people in your community.”
Gatschenberger likes that word “Community.” He likes to remind people he’s been living in this one — the 2nd Senate district covering parts of O’Fallon, St. Charles, Lake St. Louis and Wentzville — for 31 years. He likes to remind people that he’s been around longer than his two opponents, fellow former House Republicans, Dr. Bob Onder and Vicki Schneider.
“The people here know me because they see me at Lowe’s on Saturday mornings or they see me help volunteer on some project or they see me at church,” Gatschenberger said. “I’m part of this community. If you’re active in this area, you’ve seen me before.”
Like many that ran for office before him, Gatschenberger sees himself as a man of the people. It might seem a tad exaggerated. That is, until you see him wander into the local St. Louis Bread Company — where he met The Missouri Times for an interview — only to be stopped by a table of coffee drinkers who want a few minutes with “our next senator.”
Gatschenberger says he has “two positions set in stone.” He’s an advocate for 2nd Amendment rights and he is staunchly pro-life.
Gatschenberger worked on bills in Jefferson City to reduce the minimum age for a CCW permit from 23 to 21. He says his ultimate goal is to get it to 19. Gatschenberger also sponsored a bill to expand the castle doctrine, which he says makes it easier for citizens to defend themselves without legal repercussions.
“You don’t just hand every 19-year-old a gun and a 12 pack and let them go,” Gatschenberger said. “You put them in the class, you teach them that firing their gun is a last resort. If it’s up to me, you put 200 rounds through your gun every year at a range to show you know what you’re doing. The more good people that are armed, the more scared the bad guys get.”
When it comes to abortion, Gatschenberger joins his fellow Republicans in his staunch opposition. Legislatively, he’s worked on bills that he says expand the First Amendment rights of alternative-to-abortion treatment facilities.
On education issues, Gatschenberger opposes Common Core and voted for the bill passed by the Missouri legislature dictating that DESE must come up with an alternative curriculum plan if it’s working groups reject Common Core. He also says he doesn’t support transferring students out of failed districts.
“You’re taking the best kids from a school like Normandy and putting them on a bus and shipping them somewhere else,” Gatschenberger said. “What kind of chances does that school have to improve if the best kids aren’t sticking around?”
And while Gatschenberger won’t be rejoining the House next January, he’ll still be called on to vote during the special veto session, which takes place after the primary. Gatschenberger said he hasn’t had time to examine every single veto from Gov. Jay Nixon, but that he supported overturning his veto on tripling the mandatory waiting period for abortions to 72 hours.
But the Republican representative doesn’t always disagree with Nixon. Gatschenberger said Nixon “may have a point” in his criticisms of some of the last-minute tax break bills passed by the legislature which Nixon classified as giveaways to special interests.
“I haven’t been able to look at them all, but there are four or five that [Nixon] may have a point on,” Gatschenberger said. “You know I don’t agree with him often, but I’m also not going to hammer him just because he’s the governor. It’s more important to be right than to score points.”
Like his fellow candidates, the final three weeks for Gatschenberger will be a marathon of last-minute door knocking and mobilizing committed supporters to the polls. But even if he loses, Gatschenberger isn’t going anywhere.
“If I lose I’m not going to curl up and hide,” Gatschenberger said. “I’m in this to win, but if I don’t who knows? There are lots of opportunities to do things for the community, and that’s what I want to be about. The goal I have is to help this community. It’s like I said before, ‘Why are you doing what you’re doing’?”
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
