Student PAC Endorses Foster for Council

By WYDaily Staff Tuesday, April 06, 2010

There's less than a month to go before the City of Williamsburg elects two new council members, and endorsements have begun officially with a College of William and May group throwing its support behind the lone student in the five-way race for two seats.

Students for a Better Williamsburg, a political action committee formed in June 2008, announced late Monday that it was supporting Scott Foster, a senior from Highland County who expects to graduate next month.

“Scott Foster is not only the right candidate for students,” said Michael Douglass, Executive Director of Students for a Better Williamsburg (SBW), “but more importantly, he’s the right candidate for Williamsburg.” Douglass added that he was excited the PAC had finally achieved its founding mission of endorsing a student-friendly candidate for city council. The SBW did so after a month-long review of every candidate, he said.

In conjunction with the endorsement, SBW has made a contribution of $1,693 to the Foster for Williamsburg campaign. “The amount of our donation is quite symbolic. William and Mary was chartered in 1693, and our endorsement of Scott Foster is based on our belief that he will contribute a missing viewpoint to City Council: that of the students of our college,” said Douglass.

SBW Communications Director Kirstie Brenson said each candidate's policy positions were examined and the group sat down with each candidate before making its endorsement. Foster's, she said, were the "most student-friendly."

But the fact that Foster is also a student did not necessarily give him an edge for the endorsement.

Jeff Dailey, SBW’s policy director, said, “We were not interested in any one-dimensional candidacies. A student who ran was going to have to demonstrate serious commitment to all of the residents of Williamsburg.”

Added Dailey, “He understands both the potential and constraints that are present in this city. Even if only for his comprehension of the economic needs of the city — whether it be to stymie the over-development of commercial real estate or to attract soft-industry to prevent the brain-drain the city sees every year from the College — Scott has shown he is the candidate we can invest in.”

Foster is the second College student in recent years to seek a seat on the council. Then-William and Mary junior Matt Beato ran in May 2008, but came in fifth in a six-way race that returned incumbents Clyde Haulman, Judy Knudson and Paul Freiling to the council. Just 166 votes separated Beato from the third-place finisher.

SBW is a non-partisan, student-run political action committee dedicated to empowering students of the College of William and Mary. SBW has raised over $4,000 since it first registered as a 527 in June 2008. More information about SBW can be found at its Web site.