Republicans keep hold on power in Burlco

Republicans continued their reign in Burlington County government yesterday with the election of Mary Ann O'Brien and Bruce Garganio to three-year terms on the Board of Freeholders.

The candidates defeated Democrats Kimberly Kersey and Jim Bernard in the first election since 1982 in which GOP control of the board was at stake. With two of the three Republicans on the five-member board not running for reelection, just one Democrat needed to pick up a seat for the party to gain a majority.

"I would just like to thank the voters," said Garganio, 47, who has served on the Florence Township Council for a decade. "I think what we've done is, we put our platform out there, and the voters of Burlington County are supporting us."

Voters were concerned about property taxes and jobs, said O'Brien, 51, a Medford councilwoman since 2008.

"For the past 41/2 months, we've been going door-to-door to residents all around the county, and we've been listening. We know the situations that they face, and we will do everything we possibly can to address those issues," she said.

The victors will replace GOP Freeholders Bill Haines and Jim Wujcik, who served for more than a decade. The remaining board members - Republican Joseph Donnelly, and Democrats Chris Brown and Mary Anne Reinhart - are all in their first terms.

Both parties ran campaigns vowing change.

O'Brien and Garganio pledged to bring a fresh eye to county governance. They said they wanted to commission an audit to review county operations for waste and potential cuts. And they laid out plans to cut taxes and spending, bring jobs to the county, and promote renewable energy.

Kersey and Bernard questioned how their opponents would bring change when Republicans have controlled county government for more than three decades. The Democrats proposed lowering taxes by appointing an inspector general to root out waste and fraud, and said they supported cutting salaries of political appointees. They pledged to be proactive in stimulating the economy and job growth in the county.

In a statement last night, Kersey and Bernard congratulated their opponents and said, "We are hopeful that they work to enact the change they promised throughout this campaign."

State election records show the Republicans' joint campaign account spent $276,000 on the race - three times as much as their opponents did. Final figure won't be available for three weeks.

Voters also elected GOP candidates in Cinnaminson, Riverton, Bordentown Township, and Southampton.

In Lumberton, Republican incumbents Michael Mansdoerfer and James Conway were elected to the Township Council. Republican incumbents Chris Myers, Joseph Lynn, and David Brown all won in Medford.

Democrats were elected in towns including Edgewater Park, Palmyra, Maple Shade, Riverside, and Wrightstown.

Democratic Township Committeemen Sidney Camp and Robert Maybury won reelection in Westampton, while voters in Beverly turned the City Council all-Democratic with the election of Rebecca Ridgway, Luis Crespo, and Barbara Kelly.

In Evesham and Delran, voters overwhelmingly approved ballot questions to move their nonpartisan elections from May to November. The measures are expected to save tens of thousands of dollars and boost voter turnout.

In Springfield, residents voted no by a ratio of nearly 3-1 on a ballot question to replace the full-time position of police chief with the part-time job of public-safety director, a change that supporters said would save money.