Sandom and Murphy re-elected to Hopewell Township Committee

Open space tax hike approved; Obama beats McCain by over 1,200 votes

By John Tredrea, Staff Writer
   Mayor Vanessa Sandom and Deputy Mayor John Murphy, both Democrats, were re-elected to three-year terms on the Hopewell Township Committee on Tuesday, handily defeating their Republican challengers.
   Mayor Sandom received 4,703 votes; Mr. Murphy had 4,546. On the GOP side, Eileen McGinnis had 3,833 votes; Matthew Holley had 3,472. The results maintain a 3-2 Democratic majority on the Township Committee.
   In adverse economic times, township voters delivered solid approval of a proposed 1 cent increase in the municipal open space tax rate. A ballot question on that increase received 4,385 “yes” votes to 3,601 “no” votes.
   Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama left Republican candidate John McCain far behind in the township. Sen. Obama had 5,051 votes; Sen. McCain had 3,826.