Bill Foster (politician)

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 → e + π 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.

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.

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 application of permanent magnets for Fermilab's accelerators.

Elections

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. In the March special election, Foster defeated Republican nominee and Hastert-endorsed candidate Jim Oberweis 53%–47%.

In November, Oberweis ran against Foster again in a rematch. Foster won re-election to a full term 58%–42%.

Foster was challenged by Republican nominee State Senator Randy Hultgren and Green Party nominee Daniel Kairis. Despite winning the endorsements from the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times and The Daily Herald, Foster lost to Hultgren 51%–45%.

In May 2011, Foster sold his home in Geneva, moved to Naperville and announced plans to run for Congress in the 11th District, which encompasses Aurora, Joliet, Lisle in addition to Naperville. It also includes roughly a quarter of his old district. The district had previously been the 13th, represented by seven-term Republican Judy Biggert. Although Biggert's home in Hinsdale had been shifted to the Chicago-based 5th District, Biggert opted to seek election in the 11th, which contained half of her old territory.

On November 6, 2012, Foster won the election for the 11th district with 58% of the vote; Biggert conceded the race at 9:45pm.

Foster ran again and was unopposed in the Democratic primary in March 2014. For the general election, he faced Republican nominee, State Representative Darlene Senger, and defeated her with 53.5% of the vote to her 46.5% of the vote.

Tenure

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.

Foster joined Vern Ehlers (R-MI) and Rush Holt Jr. (D-NJ) as the only research physicists ever to be elected to Congress. 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.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Bill Foster received $637,050 from labor related political action committees during his runs for Congress. $180,000 of this money came from PACs linked to public sector unions. $110,000 of these donations came from PACs linked to industrial labor unions.

According to the Federal Election Commission, Nancy Pelosi gave $4,000 to Bill Foster’s 2012 campaign committee. PACs under the control of Pelosi have donated $10,000 to his 2012 campaign.

Foster supports allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire. During a debate with his opponent in the 2012 election Foster said, “The tax cuts were promised to generate job growth, but did not. If you follow the money, when you give a dollar to a very wealthy person, they won’t typically put it back into the local economy.” He said the tax benefits ended up in overseas accounts and spent on luxury purchases.

Bill Foster has opposed efforts to repeal the estate tax. On 31 August 2005, U.S. Newswire reported that Foster said, "The proponents of estate tax repeal are fond of calling it the ‘death tax’. It’s not a death tax, it’s a Rich Kids’ tax." In 2009, just before the estate tax was scheduled for a one-year repeal, Foster voted to permanently extend the then current estate tax rate of 45%.

According to the official Thomas website, Bill Foster co-sponsored the Employee Free Choice Act of 2009. On 25 February 2012, the Daily Herald reported, “Foster pointed to his support for the Employee Free Choice Act while serving at the congressman in the 14th District as proof of his union support."

Foster voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Foster voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare. On June 29, 2012, the Chicago Tribune reported that Foster said the following about his vote for Obamacare, "I’m proud of my vote, and I would be proud to do it again."

He also voted for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, with all ten of the amendments he proposed being added to the final bill.

He voted against the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which would create a Cap and trade system.

Current

Past

Personal life

Foster and his wife live in Naperville, Illinois. He has two adult children from his first marriage. Foster has lived and worked in northern Illinois (Naperville, Geneva, Batavia, and St. Charles) since 1984.