38-year-old businessman wants to unseat House Majority Leader
Written by: Ben Present, email: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
http://www.diamondbackonline.com/news/republican-lollar-vies-for-hoyer-seat-1.1291899
Charles Lollar had a story to tell.
He told a crowd of about 15 student Republicans last night that after he graduated from Emory University, his father celebrated the occasion by launching one of his mother’s china plates in the family’s driveway, shattering it.
The stunt symbolized Lollar’s last meal on his parent’s dime and taught the man who would eventually find success in business a valuable lesson.
“It was an introduction for me to the real world, and when I graduated from college, it wouldn’t become more real than then,” he said.
Lollar, 38, is a Republican candidate in the state’s 5th Congressional District and is aiming to unseat House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D), who has held the seat for almost three decades. In his talk, he raged against recently passed health care legislation and emphasized personal accountability and the decline of the American Dream.
Lollar, who frequently interrupted his own speech to wink at students and point to his wife, spoke gratefully of the harder times because of the lessons he learned. After graduating college, Lollar said, he bought his first home but was forced to sell it in less than a year because he couldn’t make payments.
“I can honestly say, had I been anywhere other than this country, it would have been impossible to get to where I am today,” he said. “It was because of the United States of America. It was because of our Constitution.”
Lollar was able to recover from the setback. Today, he is a general manager for Cintas, a facilities services corporation, and oversees 170 employees at the company’s Prince George’s County location.
His business experience has influenced his political positions, and he said Democratic policies are threatening the American tradition of self-reliance and rags-to-riches stories.
“The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money,” he said.
He said he thinks the opportunities once afforded to him are fading, and his goal as a politician is to reverse that trend.
“I need you to understand that there’s a very real conditioning going on right now in our country to take away from you those opportunities that I had when I was in your seat,” he said.
Lollar stayed away from specific policies until a student asked him about his political agenda. He said the government needs to balance the budget, crack down on illegal immigrants and try to remedy health care reform.
“I’m not going to Congress to fix [health care legislation],” he said. “I’m going to stop it.”
This answer prompted senior history major Brandon Fleig to extend his fist to Lollar for a pound, which the candidate connected on.
Fleig said he appreciated Lollar’s gregarious demeanor, pointing out that many politicians often deliver the same speech over and over.
“I think it was more personable than just campaign slogans,” Fleig said after the talk.
Lollar declined to directly criticize either Hoyer or President Barack Obama, saying he didn’t know them personally and wouldn’t judge them.
The main theme throughout Lollar’s speech was that hard work and healthy competition overrides luck or any legislation the government offers America’s young adults.
“I will outwork you; I will outrun you; I will find a way to beat you,” he said.