Political veteran eager to help shape policy

Alicia Robinson

Aerospace and defense consultant Chuck DeVore is targeting the state

Legislature as the best place to use his professional and military

experience.

DeVore is one of six Republican candidates vying for the 70th

Assembly District seat in the March 2 primary.

His parents are conservatives with a political enthusiasm that

rubbed off on him, Devore said. After finishing college on an Army

scholarship and taking a military intelligence officers’ course,

DeVore followed his interest in politics and landed a White House

appointment as a congressional liaison for the Pentagon, traveling

overseas and working with legislators on both ends of the political

spectrum.

“I had a ball,” he said. “I was up on Capitol Hill five days a

week. I helped draft legislation that was turned into law.”

He continued his military career, serving in the Army Reserves and

California Army National Guard. He now ranks as a major and serves in

the 40th infantry division based in Los Alamitos.

His work experience includes 12 years with SM&A;, an aerospace and

defense consulting firm, where he is vice president of communications

and research. He gathers data on federal spending and new technology

for clients, writes reports for the company and helps train new

employees.

But DeVore isn’t all business by any means. While at home caring

for his wife after an operation, he researched China’s military

strength and ended up writing a novel. He describes “China Attacks”

as a Tom Clancy-style techno-thriller that has sold about 7,000

copies.

DeVore’s experience also includes various political forays. He’s

put his efforts into 23 campaigns and he ran for seats in the 48th

Congressional district, Irvine City Council and Orange County Board

of Education. From 1993 to 2003, DeVore served on the Orange County

Republican Party Central Committee.

Now that he’s an Assembly candidate, DeVore wants to combat the

increasing taxes and diminishment of freedoms that have been coming

out of Sacramento in recent years, he said.

“If the voters trust you and send you up to Sacramento, you have

an opportunity to shape public policy, and by doing so I hope to make

California a better place for my children.”