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announced this week that she is endorsing the candidacy of Robert Barnette for the House of Delegates to fill the seat representing the 55th District. Explaining that she doesn’t often endorse candidates, Prichard said she is endorsing Barnette’s candidacy because she believes he will be able to build consensus with both Democrats and Republicans in the Virginia General Assembly to help solve problems facing localities like Ashland.

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“I have worked with Robert on a variety of issues over the years and I have seen firsthand how effective he is in bringing together people from both the Democratic and Republican parties in order to reach consensus. We need teamwork and cooperation to solve some of our biggest problems,” Prichard noted. “Robert is a consensus builder. He is able to work with both sides to get things done. He puts people and issues before politics and before party. That’s what we need.”

One of the primary issues facing Ashland and other localities is state funding and she believes Barnette will best represent hometown interests. “Reasonable spending is a huge issue for me. The state cannot balance the budget by continuing to take money away from localities. They’ve been doing that to us for a while. We’ve always gotten a portion of the alcohol tax, which we don’t get any more. We’ve also gotten HB99 funds which support local police departments. And that funding has taken a big hit. I know Robert will protect local budgets and won’t try to balance the state budget at the cost of localities.”

Education funding is another concern Prichard cited. “It’s important to not raid education money to solve other state issues like transportation and roads. We can’t get ourselves out of any of the trouble we’re in by robbing Peter to pay Paul. In the long run, we all pay for that. We can’t pretend that taking money from one essential budget and putting it in another is going to solve anything. It’s not a shell game.”

Prichard also targeted sensible growth as a key issue facing all of Virginia. “Sensible growth has to be linked to transportation. Try as it might, the state legislature has not come up with any plans to solve our state transportation problems,” Prichard said. “Our transportation problems are not just concentrated in Northern Virginia and the Tidewater area. We all have road issues, bridges that are coming to the end of their life spans and other road problems that year after year have not been fixed. Robert understands transportation issues and that it is crucial to move forward to solve these issues.”

Barnette and his wife, Janice, have lived in the Mechanicsville area for more than 15 years. Barnette, who served in the military for more than 23 years, has owned a successful small business in Hanover for ten years and has been active in county organizations. He is chair of the Hanover Democratic Committee, chaired the Hanover Community Services Board, served as a court appointed special advocate for children in Hanover County, is a member of Hanover Ruritan Club, and is a deacon at his church, Mount Zion Baptist Church. Barnette is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University and holds a masters degree from Central Michigan University.

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