Democrats take Hopewell Township, Pennington seats

Township OKs ballot question to reduce open space tax from 4 cents to 2 cents per $100 of assessed property value

By John Tredrea
   Democrat David Sandahl, who is serving as deputy mayor this year, kept his seat on the Hopewell Township Committee on Tuesday by defeating Republican challenger Michael Chipowsky.
   Mr. Sandahl received 3,368 votes. Mr. Chipowsky, former chief of the Hopewell Township Police Department, received 3,033 votes.
   "I’m very grateful to the voters of Hopewell Township," Mr. Sandahl said Tuesday night shortly after the tally of votes was complete. "They responded very favorably to a campaign based on facts. We look forward to continuing careful stewardship of township resources."
   Township voters also passed a ballot question to reduce the township open space tax from 4 cents to 2 cents per $100 of assessed property value. The question passed 3,104 to 2,984. In August when the decision was made to place the question on the ballot, township attorney Steve Goodell said: "With the revaluation, our total assessed property value in the township has about doubled . . . With a 4-cent open space tax, we’d bring in about twice as much money as we do now. With a 2-cent tax rate, we should bring in about the same amount we do now." In other words, total open space tax revenues are expected to stay about the same.
   In the Pennington Borough mayoral race, Councilman Anthony Persichilli, a Democrat, defeated incumbent Republican Mayor James Benton, in the contest to finish Jim Loper’s unexpired term, which ends Dec. 31, 2007. Mr. Benton was appointed to the mayoral post early this year after Mr. Loper, who moved out of Pennington, resigned. Mr. Persichilli received 642 votes on Tuesday. Mr. Benton received 517.
   "I’m obviously pleased and happy to have been elected mayor, and that Eileen (Heinzel) and Joe (Lawver) were re-elected. I feel humbled also, because the voters have said they’ll allow us to do the kinds of things we have done in the past," Mr. Persichilli said Wednesday.
   Mr. Persichilli will be sworn in as mayor as soon as the election results have been officially certified. That means he could be sworn in as soon as next Monday night’s Borough Council meeting. After he becomes mayor, a Democrat will be appointed by Borough Council to fill his council seat. His term on council ends Dec. 31, 2007. The Pennington Democratic Committee will meet shortly to nominate people to take Mr. Persichilli’s seat.
   Pennington Borough Council stayed all Democratic, as incumbent council members Eileen Heinzel and Joseph Lawver defeated Republican challengers Rachel Donington-Torpey and Cosmo Iacavazzi by wide margins. Ms. Heinzel and Mr. Lawver received 691 and 689 votes respectively. Ms. Donington-Torpey and Mr. Iacavazzi received 462 and 449 votes, respectively.
   Re-elected to Hopewell Borough Council for three-year terms were Republican incumbents David Knights and Mark Samse, who ran unopposed. Mr. Knights received 478 votes, Mr. Samse 453.
   IN OTHER VALLEY results, victorious U.S. Senate candidate Democrat Robert Menendez received 4,456 votes Valley-wide. Republican Thomas H. Kean Jr. received 3,722.
   Democrat U.S. Congressman Rush Holt, who lives in Hopewell Township, easily won re-election. He received 5,959 votes in the Valley, far outdistancing Republican Joseph Sinagra, who had 2,462.
   In the county surrogate race, victorious Democrat Diane Gerofsky had 4,887 votes in the Valley. Republican Collette Coolbaugh had 3,075.
   Three Democratic county freeholder incumbents won re-election and prevailed in the Valley as well. Democrat Ann Cannon had 4,513 votes. Her running mates Elizabeth Muoio, who lives in Pennington, and Pat Colavita had 4,653 and 4,633 votes, respectively. Republican freeholder candidate Ashley Hutchinson had 3,419 votes in the Valley. Her GOP running mates Kim Taylor and Marjorie Hopwood had 3,291 and 3,164 respectively.
   The three statewide ballot questions all passed and all had affirmative majorities here. Question No. 1, on property tax reform, passed 4,809 to 3,081 in the Valley. Question No. 2, on increasing improvements to preserved open space, passed 4,579 to 3,286. Question No. 3, on the motor fuels tax, passed 4,986 to 2,819.
   As part of Project Democracy, 617 Valley school students voted. Results were: Hopewell Borough, Mr. Knights (61), Mr. Samse (40); Hopewell Township, Mr. Sandahl (225), Mr. Chipowsky (171); Pennington Borough, Mr. Persichilli (64), Mr. Benton (38), Mr. Lawver (59), Ms. Heinzel (70), Ms. Donington-Torpey (54) and Mr. Iacavazzi (28).