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Created page with "{{Infobox officeholder | name=Edna Charlene Barnes Fite | birth_place=Place of birth missing | birth_date=1950 | residence=Van Buren, Crawford County<br>Arkansas, USA | office..."
{{Infobox officeholder
| name=Edna Charlene Barnes Fite
| birth_place=Place of birth missing
| birth_date=1950
| residence=Van Buren, Crawford County<br>Arkansas, USA
| office=[[Arkansas]] State Representative for District 80
| term_start=2013
| term_end=
| preceded=[[Linda Collins-Smith]]
| succeeded=
| party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
| alma_mater=[[University of Tennessee]]<br>
[[University of Arkansas]]
| occupation=[[Educator]]
| religion=[[Southern Baptist]]
| spouse=Thomas Lile "Tom" Fite
| children=Five children}}
'''Edna Charlene Barnes Fite''' (born 1950), is an educator from Van Buren] in western [[Arkansas]], who is a [[Republican Party|Republican]] state representative for District 80, which includes the northern part of Crawford County, a portion of Van Buren, and Cedarville and extends through the Ozark National Fores] into Washington County (Cane Hill, Lincoln, and Prairie Grove).<ref name=talkbusiness>{{cite web|url=http://talkbusiness.net/2011/08/charlene-fite-running-for-state-representative-district-80/|title=Charlene Fite Running for State Representative, District 80,|date=August 25, 2011|publisher=talbusiness.net|accessdate=January 6, 2014}}</ref><ref name=fiteofvanburen>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkansashouse.org/member/311/charlene-fite|title=Charlene Fite, R-80|publisher=arkansashouse.org|accessdate=January 6, 2014}}</ref>
==Background==
Charlene Fite received a Bachelor of Science degree from the [[University of Tennessee]] at [[Knoxville]], [[Tennessee]].<ref name=fiteofvanburen/> She received a master's degree from the [[University of Arkansas]] at Fayetteville, .<ref name=votesmart>{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/136714/charlene-fite#.UsoNg5V3sfQ|title=Charlene Fite's Biography|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=November 23, 2020}}</ref>
Since 2000, Fite has been employed as a school psychology specialist by the public schools in [[Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith]]. She was previously a special education teacher in Fort Smith except for one year in the middle 1990s in Pulaski County.<ref name=votesmart/>
A member of the First [[Southern Baptist|Baptist]] Church of Alma in Crawford County, Fite formerly served two terms as a board member of the Arkansas Baptist Executive Committee. She is a former officer of the Crawford County Republican Party.<ref name=votesmart/>
==Political life==
Fite's husband, Thomas Lile "Tom" Fite (born 1944), was the Republican legislative candidate in 2010 in the former District 83. His name was disqualified from the ballot by a judge in Pulaski County who declared that Fite's guilty plea in 1984 to [[Medicaid]] fraud constituted an "infamous crime." [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] Representative Leslee Milam Post]won the election by default.<ref name=talkbusiness/>Tom Fite's name remained on the ballot but were not counted.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ballotpedia.org/Arkansas_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2010|title=District 83|publisher=Ballotpedia.org|accessdate=November 23, 2020}}</ref>
In the 2012 Republican [[primary]] in the newly-drawn District 80, Fite defeated Terry Bibbs, 1,106 votes (54.2 percent) to 936 (45.8 percent). She then topped the Democrat Jack Norton in the [[general election]], 6,173 votes (57.4 percent to 4,575 (42.6 percent). The District 80 seat was vacated by the Republican [[Linda Collins-Smith]], who instead ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate]] in District 19. Meanwhile, Leslee Post was unseated in District 82, to which she was transferred, by the Republican [[Bill Gossage]] of Ozark in Franklin County..<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ballotpedia.org/Arkansas_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2012|title=District 80|publisher=Ballotpedia.org|accessdate=November 23, 2020}}</ref>
Fite is a member of these House committee: (1) Advanced Communications and Information Technology, (2) Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs, and (3) Judiciary.<ref name=votesmart/>
Representative Fite in 2013 joined the required majority to override the [[veto|vetoes]] of Democratic Governor [[Mike Beebe]] to enact legislation to require photo identification for casting a ballot in Arkansas and to ban [[abortion]] after twenty weeks of gestation. She co-sponsored both of those measures. Fite similarly supported related [[pro-life]] legislation to ban abortion whenever [[fetus|fetal]] heartbeat is detected, to forbid the inclusion of abortion in the state insurance exchange, and to make the death of an unborn child a [[felony]] in certain cases. She voted for a proposed spending cap in the state budget, but the measure failed to gain approval by two votes in the House. She co-sponsored amended state income tax rates. She co-sponsored the bill to empower officials of religious institutions to engage in the concealed carry of firearms. Fite backed similar legislation to permit university officials to carry concealed weapons in the name of campus safety. She co-sponsored legislation to prohibit the governor from regulating firearms in an emergency. Fite opposed legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas [[nonpartisan]]. She voted for a law, signed by Governor Beebe, to permit the sale of up to five hundred gallons per month of [[pasteurization|unpasteurized]] whole milk directly from the farm to consumers. She voted to prohibit the closure of public schools based on declining enrollments over a two-year period, but the measure was defeated.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/136714/charlene-fite#.Usow6pV3sfQ|title=Charlene Fite's Voting Records|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=November 23, 2020}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fite, Charlene}}
[[Category:Arkansas]]
[[Category:Women]]
[[Category:Educators]]
[[Category:Southern Baptists]]
[[Category:Republicans]]
| name=Edna Charlene Barnes Fite
| birth_place=Place of birth missing
| birth_date=1950
| residence=Van Buren, Crawford County<br>Arkansas, USA
| office=[[Arkansas]] State Representative for District 80
| term_start=2013
| term_end=
| preceded=[[Linda Collins-Smith]]
| succeeded=
| party=[[Republican Party|Republican]]
| alma_mater=[[University of Tennessee]]<br>
[[University of Arkansas]]
| occupation=[[Educator]]
| religion=[[Southern Baptist]]
| spouse=Thomas Lile "Tom" Fite
| children=Five children}}
'''Edna Charlene Barnes Fite''' (born 1950), is an educator from Van Buren] in western [[Arkansas]], who is a [[Republican Party|Republican]] state representative for District 80, which includes the northern part of Crawford County, a portion of Van Buren, and Cedarville and extends through the Ozark National Fores] into Washington County (Cane Hill, Lincoln, and Prairie Grove).<ref name=talkbusiness>{{cite web|url=http://talkbusiness.net/2011/08/charlene-fite-running-for-state-representative-district-80/|title=Charlene Fite Running for State Representative, District 80,|date=August 25, 2011|publisher=talbusiness.net|accessdate=January 6, 2014}}</ref><ref name=fiteofvanburen>{{cite web|url=http://www.arkansashouse.org/member/311/charlene-fite|title=Charlene Fite, R-80|publisher=arkansashouse.org|accessdate=January 6, 2014}}</ref>
==Background==
Charlene Fite received a Bachelor of Science degree from the [[University of Tennessee]] at [[Knoxville]], [[Tennessee]].<ref name=fiteofvanburen/> She received a master's degree from the [[University of Arkansas]] at Fayetteville, .<ref name=votesmart>{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/candidate/biography/136714/charlene-fite#.UsoNg5V3sfQ|title=Charlene Fite's Biography|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=November 23, 2020}}</ref>
Since 2000, Fite has been employed as a school psychology specialist by the public schools in [[Fort Smith, Arkansas|Fort Smith]]. She was previously a special education teacher in Fort Smith except for one year in the middle 1990s in Pulaski County.<ref name=votesmart/>
A member of the First [[Southern Baptist|Baptist]] Church of Alma in Crawford County, Fite formerly served two terms as a board member of the Arkansas Baptist Executive Committee. She is a former officer of the Crawford County Republican Party.<ref name=votesmart/>
==Political life==
Fite's husband, Thomas Lile "Tom" Fite (born 1944), was the Republican legislative candidate in 2010 in the former District 83. His name was disqualified from the ballot by a judge in Pulaski County who declared that Fite's guilty plea in 1984 to [[Medicaid]] fraud constituted an "infamous crime." [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] Representative Leslee Milam Post]won the election by default.<ref name=talkbusiness/>Tom Fite's name remained on the ballot but were not counted.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ballotpedia.org/Arkansas_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2010|title=District 83|publisher=Ballotpedia.org|accessdate=November 23, 2020}}</ref>
In the 2012 Republican [[primary]] in the newly-drawn District 80, Fite defeated Terry Bibbs, 1,106 votes (54.2 percent) to 936 (45.8 percent). She then topped the Democrat Jack Norton in the [[general election]], 6,173 votes (57.4 percent to 4,575 (42.6 percent). The District 80 seat was vacated by the Republican [[Linda Collins-Smith]], who instead ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate]] in District 19. Meanwhile, Leslee Post was unseated in District 82, to which she was transferred, by the Republican [[Bill Gossage]] of Ozark in Franklin County..<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ballotpedia.org/Arkansas_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2012|title=District 80|publisher=Ballotpedia.org|accessdate=November 23, 2020}}</ref>
Fite is a member of these House committee: (1) Advanced Communications and Information Technology, (2) Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs, and (3) Judiciary.<ref name=votesmart/>
Representative Fite in 2013 joined the required majority to override the [[veto|vetoes]] of Democratic Governor [[Mike Beebe]] to enact legislation to require photo identification for casting a ballot in Arkansas and to ban [[abortion]] after twenty weeks of gestation. She co-sponsored both of those measures. Fite similarly supported related [[pro-life]] legislation to ban abortion whenever [[fetus|fetal]] heartbeat is detected, to forbid the inclusion of abortion in the state insurance exchange, and to make the death of an unborn child a [[felony]] in certain cases. She voted for a proposed spending cap in the state budget, but the measure failed to gain approval by two votes in the House. She co-sponsored amended state income tax rates. She co-sponsored the bill to empower officials of religious institutions to engage in the concealed carry of firearms. Fite backed similar legislation to permit university officials to carry concealed weapons in the name of campus safety. She co-sponsored legislation to prohibit the governor from regulating firearms in an emergency. Fite opposed legislation to make the office of prosecuting attorney in Arkansas [[nonpartisan]]. She voted for a law, signed by Governor Beebe, to permit the sale of up to five hundred gallons per month of [[pasteurization|unpasteurized]] whole milk directly from the farm to consumers. She voted to prohibit the closure of public schools based on declining enrollments over a two-year period, but the measure was defeated.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/136714/charlene-fite#.Usow6pV3sfQ|title=Charlene Fite's Voting Records|publisher=Project Vote Smart|accessdate=November 23, 2020}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fite, Charlene}}
[[Category:Arkansas]]
[[Category:Women]]
[[Category:Educators]]
[[Category:Southern Baptists]]
[[Category:Republicans]]