Bill Foster (Illinois politician)

Bill Foster
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 14th district
In office
March 8, 2008 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by Dennis Hastert
Succeeded by Randy Hultgren
Personal details
Born October 7, 1955 (1955-10-07) (age 56)
Madison, Wisconsin
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Aesook Byon
Children Billy Foster
Christine Foster
Residence Batavia, Illinois (2008-2011)
Naperville, Illinois (2011-present)
Alma mater University of Wisconsin–Madison
Harvard University
Profession Physicist
Business Owner

George William "Bill" Foster (born October 7, 1955) is a physicist and businessman, and the former U.S. Representative for Illinois's 14th congressional district, serving from 2008 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Contents

Early life, education, and business career

Foster was born in 1955 in Madison, Wisconsin. He received his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1976 and his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 1983. The title of his doctoral dissertation is "An experimental limit on proton decay: p \rightarrow e %2B \pi^0" and is available from University Microfilms International as document number 8402995.

At age 19, Foster and his younger brother Fred started a business in their basement with $500 from their parents. The company, Electronic Theatre Controls (ETC), now has over 650 employees worldwide and manufactures over half of the theater lighting equipment in the United States. Installations include Broadway shows, Rolling Stones tours, opera houses, Super Bowl halftime shows, and at schools, churches, and community centers around the world.[1]

Physics career

After completing his Ph.D., Foster moved to the Fox Valley with his family to pursue a career in high-energy (particle) physics at Fermilab, a Department of Energy National Laboratory. During Foster's 22 years at Fermilab he participated in several projects, including the design of equipment and data analysis software for the CDF Detector, which were used in the discovery of the top quark, and the management of the design and construction of a 3 km Anti-Proton Recycler Ring for the Main Injector.[2][3] He has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society, was on the team receiving the 1989 Bruno Rossi Prize for cosmic ray physics for the discovery of the neutrino burst from the supernova SN 1987A, received the Particle Accelerator Technology Prize from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, and was awarded an Energy Conservation award from the United States Department of Energy for his invention and application of permanent magnets for Fermilab's accelerators.[4]

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2008 special
See also: Illinois's 14th congressional district special election, 2008, United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois, 2008#District 14, United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois, 2010#District 14*, and United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois, 2012#District 11

On November 26, 2007, former House Republican Speaker J. Dennis Hastert resigned as the Representative from Illinois' 14th congressional district. Foster announced his candidacy to fill the vacancy on May 30, 2007.[5] Foster's positions in the following election included a timetable for troop withdrawal from the War in Iraq, increasing the amount of money used to fund alternative energy research, and enforcing existing immigration laws while providing current illegal immigrants with a pathway to citizenship. He also supported federally funded universal health care.

In the Democratic primaries for the special election to fill Hastert's vacancy and the regular election to fill the subsequent term, held simultaneously on Super Tuesday (February 5, 2008), Foster defeated John Laesch for the Democratic nomination by a narrow margin of 323 votes in the regular cycle[6] and a wider margin of 3,739 votes in the special cycle.[7]

After a short campaign season marked by aggressive (and often negative) campaigning,[8] on March 8, Foster won the seat against Republican Jim Oberweis, whom Hastert had endorsed, in the general election with 53 percent of the vote.[9] Foster's victory in the initial campaign was aided by discord within the local Republican party, particularly among supporters of Chris Lauzen, whom Oberweis had narrowly defeated in what had also become an increasingly negative campaign during the Republican primary and also Republicans angry at Oberweis' support of Hastert's Prairie Parkway pet project. Also, Senator Barack Obama, who was campaigning to be the Democratic nominee for President, made a series of television commercials endorsing Foster for the congressional seat.

Although it was initially thought that Foster would not be sworn in until April due to the need to count absentee ballots before the first election would be certified, he took the oath of office on March 11.[10] Foster joined Vern Ehlers (R-MI) and Rush Holt, Jr. (D-NJ) as the only research physicists ever to be elected to Congress.[11] On his first day in office, he cast the deciding vote to keep from tabling an ethics bill that would create an independent outside panel to investigate ethics complaints against House members.[12][13]

2008 general

Months later, Foster and Oberweis faced off again, this time for a full term in the House, but Foster changed his approach from the negative themed ads in his initial run. In fact, Foster's campaign ads did not mention any affiliation with the Democratic party, rather using the slogan "Independent Solutions." In this second race, which culminated during the general election on November 4, 2008 Foster held the seat, and increased his margin of victory.

2010

Foster was challenged by Republican nominee State Senator Randy Hultgren and Green Party nominee Daniel Kairis. Despite winning the endorsements from the Chicago Tribune,[14] the Chicago Sun-Times[15] and The Daily Herald,[16] Foster failed in his reelection bid, conceding to Hultgren.[17]

2012

In May 2011, Foster announced plans to run for Congress in the 11th District, which encompasses Aurora, Joliet, Lisle and Naperville. It also includes roughly a quarter of his old district.[18]

Foster didn't live in the district at the time, though his then-home in Batavia was only a short distance from the new 11th.[19] He is likely to face 13th District Republican congresswoman Judy Biggert. Although Biggert represents about half of the new 11th, it is believed to be significantly more Democratic than her current district.[20]

Committee assignments

Personal life

Foster and his wife live in Naperville, Illinois.[21] They have two adult children.[19] Foster has lived and worked in northern Illinois (Naperville, Geneva, Batavia, and St. Charles) since 1984.

References

  1. ^ Electronic Theatre Controls (2008). "Lighting Solutions from ETC". http://www.etcconnect.com/installations.aspx. Retrieved 2008-03-11. 
  2. ^ 4C.01 The Fermilab Permanent Magnet Antiproton Recycler Ring G. William Foster (Fermilab), The 1997 Particle Accelerator Conference Meeting Program Vancouver BC, Canada, May 12–16, 1997
  3. ^ Spotts, Peter N. (2004-05-01). "Physicists hope to win support for new subatomic smasher". Christian Science Monitor. http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0501/p02s01-stss.html. Retrieved 2008-03-11. 
  4. ^ American Astronomical Society - High Energy Astrophysics Division (1989). "HEAD AAS Rossi Prize Winners". http://www.aas.org/head/rossi/rossi.recip.html#E. Retrieved 2008-03-11. 
  5. ^ "Geneva man seeks position in Congress". Courier News (Elgin, IL). 2007-05-31. http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:ECNB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=119D38CBB4CC8A60&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=AA98CDC331574F0ABEAFF732B33DC0B2. Retrieved 2008-03-11. 
  6. ^ "Regular primary election results". Chicago Sun-Times. 2008-02-05. http://elections.suntimes.com/dynamic/files/elections/2008/by_state/IL_US_House_0205.html?SITE=ILCHSELN&SECTION=POLITICS. 
  7. ^ "Special primary election results". Chicago Sun-Times. 2008-02-05. http://elections.suntimes.com/dynamic/files/elections/2008/by_state/IL_US_House_Special_0205.html?SITE=ILCHSELN&SECTION=POLITICS. 
  8. ^ Kimberly, James (2008-03-09). "Race to replace Hastert is in national spotlight - But November brings a rematch". Chicago Tribune. http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:CTRB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=11F4F017F68175F0&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=AA98CDC331574F0ABEAFF732B33DC0B2. Retrieved 2008-03-09. 
  9. ^ "General election results". Chicago Tribune. 2008-03-08. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2008/by_county/IL_Page_0308.html?SITE=ILCHTELN&SECTION=POLITICS. 
  10. ^ Hague, Leslie (2008-03-11). "Foster sworn into Congress". Daily Herald. http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=151577&src=5. Retrieved 2008-03-12. 
  11. ^ Cornelia Dean (2008-07-10). "Physicists in Congress Calculate Their Influence". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/science/10phys.html. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  12. ^ "FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 121". 2008-03-11. http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll121.xml. 
  13. ^ Jim Tankersley. "First day, swing vote for new Rep. Bill Foster". Baltimore Sun. http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/first_day_swing_vote_for_new_r.html. 
  14. ^ "For the US House". Chicago Tribune. 2010-10-07. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-congress-20101007,0,587673.story. 
  15. ^ "Foster for 14th District". Chicago Sun-Times. 2010-10-06. http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/endorsements/2775994,CST-EDT-edit06a.article. 
  16. ^ "Congress, 14th District: Foster". The Daily Herald. 2010-10-16. http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20101016/discuss/710179901/. 
  17. ^ "Clout St. Democrat Foster concedes defeat in 14th District". Chicago Tribune. 2010-11-02. http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2010/11/debbie-halvorson-adam-kinzinger-dan-seals-robert-dold-bill-foster-randy-hultgren.html. 
  18. ^ Lynn Sweet (31 May 2011). "Illinois Congress 2012: Bill Foster running in new 11th district". Chicago Sun Times. http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2011/05/illinois_congress_2012_bill_fo_1.html. Retrieved 1 June 2011. 
  19. ^ a b Katherine Skiba (31 May 2011). "In wake of remap plan, ex-lawmaker to run again". Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chibrknews-in-wake-of-remap-plan-exlawmaker-to-run-again-20110531,0,1494745.story. Retrieved 1 June 2011. 
  20. ^ Toeplitz, Shira. Race Ratings: Illinois Democrats' Map makes GOP Sweat. Roll Call, 2011-10-06.
  21. ^ "Foster, Bill - Statement of Candidacy". Federal Elections Commission. 2011-09-29. http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00435099/746348/. Retrieved 2011-10-04. 

External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Dennis Hastert		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 14th congressional district
March 11, 2008 – January 3, 2011		 Succeeded by
Randy Hultgren