Home Cherry Hill News Dems retain control

Dems retain control

By ROBERT LINNEHAN | The Cherry Hill Sun

It was a clean sweep, as all four democratic candidates won last Tuesday in the election to take the four seats on the Cherry Hill Township Council.

According to unofficial results from the township, which include absentee ballots, incumbent David Fleisher had the most votes of any candidate, his 11,516 votes the only total to crack the 11,000 mark. The people spoke out in favor of the Democrat’s endorsement of positive change, he said, which was reflected in the final election results.

“It’s recognition that there are great things happening in Cherry Hill, but also we can do better. Residents can look forward to a new era of collaboration to move Cherry Hill forward,” he said. “We’re a prosperous community but not immune to the impacts of the global recession, and affordability is, and will be, a top priority. We’re very appreciative of the broad-based support and our volunteers. We won’t let the residents of Cherry Hill down. Whether they supported us or not, we take the position very seriously.”

Jim Bannar finished with the second most votes, at 10,827. Jacquelene Silver, 10,729 votes, and Susan Shin-Angulo, 10,615 votes, rounded out the new council members.

Bannar said the new council members would be sticking to their promise to listen to the public pulse of Cherry Hill and make decisions based on what’s right for the entire township citizens.

“We definitely heard their voices. We’ve been knocking on thousands of doors, listening to their concerns, and we will try to address all of their concerns and keep Cherry Hill affordable. We will continue to look everywhere that we possibly can to keep it affordable in the future,” he said. “It won’t be an easy fight, but it will definitely need a good, hard look. We need to look under the hood and find out what makes it tick and where we can save.”

Nancy O’Dowd, former board of education member, led the Republican candidates with a total of 10,141 votes. While many supporters expected the candidates to be down after the results, O’Dowd said she and her running mates were energized by the great turnout and support for the Republican Party in the election.

“We lost by less than 500 votes, that was impressive considering how outnumbered we have been in the past,” she said.

The party, she said, will look toward focusing its energy on encouraging a ward-based election in the future.

The party will team up with the Cherry Hill Reform Committee to trump the benefits of a ward-based election.

If it had been a ward-based election this year, O’Dowd said at least one or two Republican candidates would have been elected to council.

A ward-based election would see different parts of town elect their own member to serve on council.

“It’s not fair one side of town or section of town can control council because they’re so big,” she said.

Phil Guerrieri Sr. had the second most votes with 10,115. Susan Badaracco, 9,956, and Dan Loveland Sr., 9,694, were the final two candidates.

As a reminder, all of the vote totals are still unofficial. To view all of the vote totals, visit co.camden.nj.us.

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