I support the re-election of Del. Charles Poindexter who has been our House of Delegates representative since 2007. During that time he has distinguished himself as an outstanding conservative representative.

He served eight years on the Franklin County Board of Supervisors in addition to more than 30 years of experience in the field of information systems technology. Charlie retired in 1997 from the Mitre Corporation as site manager at LAFB.

He also has worked in highly placed positions for some major companies like Computer Sciences Corporation managing development of intelligence and command and control computer software systems for the USAF; for Litton Industries, Greenbelt Space Flight Center, for Systems Development Corporation in Falls Church and Hampton modernizing software development technologies.

He has lived in the Washington, D.C. area and Tidewater but also worked for the Department of Defense projects in Texas, Boston, New Jersey, Alaska, and other locations in the U.S., Europe and Asia. He was the chief developer of automation of the Air Tasking Order (ATO), which is the daily plan for joint and allied air operations in a wartime scenario.

He is a good friend and I realized very quickly in my correspondence with him what an intelligent, educated man he was not knowing  his background. He was a star basketball player and honor graduate of Franklin County High School as well as center and co-captain of the Lynchburg College basketball team. He was a honors graduate from Lynchburg College and president of the Men’s Blue Key Honor Society. In 2011, he was honored to receive Lynchburg College’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

He is just a good man, the kind you want your son to be like. He is the son of a farmer, sawmiller, and small business owner in Franklin County and his mother worked as the cafeteria manager and dietitian at the high school for many years. His sister is a retired Franklin County teacher and his brother is a teacher in Pittsylvania County. He knows the needs of rural families, teachers and the education system and works to improve it.

He is a conservative Christian that sings in the choir and is chairman of the Pastor Parish Relations Committee. Charlie carries a 100% rating by the Family Foundation and Virginia Chamber of Commerce, and is endorsed by the NRA, the Virginia Society for Human Life, the Virginia Farm Bureau, the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), and Virginia Realtors. This year he was recognized with  a Virginia State Police Legislator of the Year award and A Champion of Free Enterprise award from the Virginia Chamber of Commerce

He is a member of the Air Force Association and he sits on the boards of directors of the New College Institute, Roanoke Higher Education Center, Southwest Virginia Cultural Foundation, and the W. E. Skelton 4-H Center.

In the House of Delegates, Charlie serves on the Appropriations Committee, the Agriculture and Natural Resources and Chesapeake Committee (vice chair), and the Cities, Towns, and Counties Committee. He was vice-chairman of the State Energy and Environment Commission and served on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation.

He is a member of the Western Virginia Public Education Consortium. Charlie is continuing his work on the Roanoke River Basin Advisory Committee and is a legislative member of the Virginia/North Carolina Roanoke River Bi-State Commission.

With his seniority and these important committee assignments we really need to keep him there as long as we can to continue to help us, especially for protecting the legislation and funding he has secured for four-laning Rt. 58 up the mountain and all the way out to I-77. We can also thank him for a bill he passed protecting our wood stoves, heaters, and fireplaces from state regulation.

Some of Charlie’s other successful legislation includes establishment of  Betterment Loans for citizens financially unable to repair their septic systems, assurance of adequate water for private wells, reduced vehicle registration fees for handicapped-equipped vehicles, expanding the use of bio-mass materials for energy production, alternative fuels refueling infrastructure, revocation of hospitality industry fees, local government procurement/sharing of technology, consolidation of water quality reporting, establishment of sexual offender registry data and granting an extension of time on behalf of consumers for the attorney general and the SCC to review utility rate increase requests.

I truly feel that we are extremely fortunate to have such a good man as our delegate in Richmond. He comes to and supports our community events often and works hard for our improvement. I am concerned what the liberal left politicians have done and continue to do to tear our country apart, tear down our monuments, remove our history and promote divisiveness among our citizens. I am glad that Del. Poindexter is a conservative Christian that stands to honor our flag and patriotism. Please vote for Del. Charles Poindexter for House of Delegate on November 7.

Bruce Griffith

Stuart