VOICE OF SMALL BUSINESS ENDORSE REELECTION OF DELEGATE DAVE NUTTER

CHRISTIANSBURG, VA -- The National Federation of Independent Businesses, the voice of small business in Virginia, has endorsed the reelection of Delegate Dave Nutter.

“It is with great pleasure that the NFIB VA SAFE Trust has endorsed your candidacy for the House of Delegates,” said Julia Ciarlo Hammond, state director. Hammond said that Delegate Nutter had scored a 100 percent on issues of importance to small business in Virginia.

“Small business owners are the backbone of our economy,” said Delegate Nutter. “To have the endorsement of the entrepreneurs who create the jobs and prosperity that we all depend upon is deeply gratifying. “Small business owners are the pioneers of our economy and I want them to know I stand with them.”

Hammond stated because of Delegate Nutter's leadership and sponsorship of HJ 119, an audit of the state’s procurement system, E-Va, small business owners will save $1 million annually in fees to the state. After Delegate Nutter’s legislative-mandated audit revealed the self-supporting program that runs E-Va was running a $20 million surplus, state officials promptly dropped the annual registration fee companies were required to pay in order to participate in the program---thus saving businesses $1 million annually.

Hammond said that small business owners are most concerned with the rising cost of health insurance, regulation and taxes and Delegate Nutter has been a leader on these and other issues. Nutter testified that he introduced HJ 119 after receiving complaints from local businesses who thought the fees were burdensome and unfair to small businesses.

Dave Nutter is serving his fourth term as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates. First elected in 2001, he serves on the Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions; Committee on Militia, Police and Public Safety; and the Committee on Science and Technology. In 2006 he was also appointed to the Joint Commission on Health Care, a joint committee composed of members of the House and Senate that looks at long term issues confronting health policy.