Voters to Stop Spawl Prince William County strives to evaluate every candidate fairly and without regard to party affiliation. It sends to every candidate the following letter which describes VSSPWC's position, its method of evaluating candidates and its intention to endorse candidates. (For 2007 the committee evaluated only the candidates in the four districts where there was a contest in the general election – Gainesville, Occoquan, Woodbridge, and the At-Large (Chairman) races. In Brentsville, Coles, Dumfries, and Neabsco the incumbents are unopposed in the general election.)
The Questionnaire, referenced in the letter, plays a large role in the evaluation. A link to it is found at the end of the letter.

Of the ten candidates competing for the four contested Supervisor seats, eight responded to the VSSPWC questionnaire – Corey Stewart and Sharon Pandak in the Chairman At-Large race, Mike May and John Gray in the Occoquan district, John Stirrup and Corey Riley in the Gainesville District, and Frank Principi and Steve Keen in the Woodbridge District. (Chris Royse and Luis Ramirez did not return questionnaires and were not evaluated.)

VSS interviewed six candidates in the Occoquan, Woodbridge, and Chairman At-Large races. (Although both Gainesville candidates cooperated fully in the evaluation, VSS decided not to make endorsements in Gainesville in order to focus resources on the other races.) The interviews took place in the McCoart Building and averaged one hour in length. The interviews were conducted by interview committees of three or four members, with at least one Steering Committee member on each interview committee.

After the interviews were completed, each interview committee reported to the steering committee, including recommendations on endorsements. The Steering Committee made the final endorsement decisions based on recommendations of the interview committee, voting records of incumbents, and other actions and statements of the candidates. The membership of the VSSPWC Steering at the time of the decision was: Patrick MacAuley (Chairman), Shawn Moler (Treasurer), Elena Schlossburg-Kunkel, Robert Moler, Keith Sturcken, and Kerry Hannigan Plancon.

VSSPWC will publicize its endorsements and work to ensure the election of the endorsed candidates using whatever resources are at its disposal.
The purpose of making this material available is to make the nature of the endorsement process transparent.