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Value of endorsements in Spotsylvania supervisor races remains to be seen. Date published: 9/7/2003
Vickie Williams doesn't have a lot of time to research political candidates. The 47-year-old Spotsylvania County native works 70-hour weeks managing a grocery store. But she wants to be well-informed when she votes in this fall's Board of Supervisors election. That's where some other county residents hope they can help. Two political action committees have spent hours poring over candidate surveys, interviewing some of the aspirants and watching them field questions at forums. The Committee of 500 and the Voters to Stop Sprawl issued endorsements this week for candidates running in the Nov. 4 board election. Williams, who lives in the Chancellor District, said she will consider the groups' advice. "They've already done the legwork for me," she said. "It will help me make a better decision." All seven seats on the Spotsylvania board are on the ballot this fall, and five of the races--including the one in Chancellor--are contested. The campaigns have been low-key so far, but traditionally voters have not shown interest in local elections until after Labor Day. Merl Witt, chairman of the C500 PAC, hopes to see more of the fervor people showed in opposing a controversial rezoning application earlier this year. Residents turned out in force to speak against the proposed Town of Chancellorsville, which would have put nearly 2,000 homes on a farm along a scenic, historic stretch of State Route 3 in the western part of the county. Supervisors ultimately rejected the plan, but the process drew some residents onto their county's political playing field for the first time. Now some are ready to draft new leaders, Witt believes. Witt, a longtime preservation activist in the county, and other like-minded residents decided a couple of years ago that Spotsylvania needed fresh leadership. "Our supervisors were out of touch," he said. "They really weren't responsive to the people." More people came on board after Chancellorsville. "They were looking for a way to have a voice," Witt said. The committee set out to recruit 500 people who would give at least $100 and volunteer at least four hours to work for endorsed candidates. The membership stands at 125, but that hasn't slowed the PAC's work, Witt said.
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