Gender: Male
Date of birth: 5/31/1942 (Age 50 as of 1992)
State and Region of Representation: California's 36th Congressional District
Party: Republican
Education:
- BS Business Administration, University of Southern California, 1964
- MBA, University of Southern California, 1966
Family:
- Wife: Caroline Richards (42)
- Son: Christopher Richards Jr. (24)
- Son: James Richards (20)
- Daughter: Liza Richards (20)
- Son: William Richards (20)
- Daughter: Chloe Richards (16)
- Daughter: Mary Richards (12)
- Son: Thomas Richards (10)
Bio:
Christopher Richards was born may 31st, 1942, to a german physisist who fled the rise of Hitler's regime and an American woman working in ordinance manufacture, in Los Angeles, California. His parents were not perticularly well off, either of them, but he was their only child and they did everything they could to give him a good future. In school, Christopher was nothing short of brilliant, and he was eventually able to get a full academic scholarship to the University of Southern California.
Christopher dedicated himself to his studies, and was just as successful in college as he was in high school. Perhaps more so. He graduated in 4 years with a BS in Business Administration, and then earned an MBA in another two years. It was then, just as he was coming out of college, that he met the business associate who would change his life. Mitch Parker was a brilliant engineer, another graduate of USC about seven years older then Christopher. Together they brainstormed for months, before coming up with a product and a business plan - they were going to make engines for jet planes, and sell them to the 'big boy' Aerospace firms for big money. Linking up with a rich and ambitious venture capitalist, the Richards-Parker Aerospace Group was launched. The company's value exploded upwards, and Christopher was suddenly a man set for life.
In 1968, in a chance encounter in a bar, Christopher met the love of his life, Caroline Wellington. Caroline was a transfer student from England in her first year at USC, he was a 26 year old flush with cash but lonely in life. They hit it off immediately, and within seven months, they were married. Within two years, they had their first child. Caroline would go on to become a naturalized US citizen, and Christopher and her would have 6 more children.
In 1980, Christopher completed the process of buying out his business partners, and rebranded Richards-Parker Aerospace as 'Richards Systems'. His company expanded into IT work, satellite systems, automotive parts, and more. Incorporated in El Segundo, California, Richards became a trusted and valued member of the local business community. Richards was a massive supporter of Ronald Regan in 1980 and 1984, and over the course of the eighties became very involved in Republican politics. His personal views were never considered that conservative by those who knew him, but he was still a capable fundraiser.
Finally fed up with the actions of 'Decades of Democratic Congresses wasting our money and mortgaging our future', Richards ran for Congress in 1990, investing millions of his own dollars in a campaign that eventually ended with him beating the incumbent Democrat 46.8 - 46.3, with the rest voting for a third party Green candidate.
OOC:
And to pre-empt any questions, this analysis by Berkeley has California's 36th pegged almost even registration-wise in the nineties, and over the 1992-1998 period, all but one of the congressional races in that iteration of CA-36 were close, with a narrow GOP win in '98
