By Tony Wilson
In the Nov. 8 Mercer County elections, dominated as usual by the Democrats, Hamilton Mayor John F. Bencivengo—a Republican—joined Democratic County Executive Brian M. Hughes as the big winners.

Hamilton Township was the one bright spot for Republicans in the county.

In contrast to his narrow first mayoral victory four years ago over former Democratic Mayor Glen Gilmore, Bencivengo this time won by a landslide in turning back Democratic challenger Connie Carella Dalton by a 2-to-1 margin, winning by more than 7,000 votes.

At the same time, in capturing a third four-year term, Hughes trounced Republican challenger Jonathan Savage of Ewing by an equally impressive county-wide margin of almost 2-to-1 (unofficially 38,630 to 20,956), carrying all but one (Robbinsville) of Mercer’s 13 municipalities.

Among the Mercer towns, it was in most-populous Hamilton that Bencivengo and Hughes both prevailed as if they were running more like a team instead of leaders of opposing political party tickets.

According to final unofficial tallies, Hamilton voters gave the Republican mayor a lopsided victory with 14,260 votes to Dalton’s 7,189 and also reelected the two incumbent GOP council members, Kelly Yaede and Kevin Meara, by substantial, but slightly lesser, margins.

At the same time, Hamilton voters moved across party lines to give Democrat Hughes a hefty vote margin of 12,631 to 8,290 over Savage, according to the unofficial final count.

The split vote in Hamilton, in which many voters crossed over to Republican Bencivengo after voting for Democrat Hughes at the top of the ballot, came as no surprise to at least one political observer.

“There is a history of this in Hamilton,” commented Rider University political science professor Ben Dworkin, noting the past popularity of some Republican politicians in that traditionally blue-collar Democratic stronghold since the days of former GOP Mayor Jack Rafferty. “Split-ticketing is very typical in that township.”

Dalton, whose family owns Carella’s Shoes and Carella’s Hallmark in the township, campaigned in large part on the charge that township property taxes, instead of declining a bit, as claimed by the GOP incumbent, actually increased on Bencivengo’s watch.

But township resident Joe Tiger, a retired state employee and longtime Rafferty loyalist, said most of his friends and neighbors liked what they saw in Bencivengo first term.

“He held the line on taxes,” he said. “That’s something unheard of anywhere else in New Jersey.”

As for Savage, the former nine-year Ewing school board member believes his first-time loss as the Republican’s county executive candidate didn’t go for naught.

“I think I did everything I possibly could have done, raising issues that proved popular–such as the need for putting a cap on campaign spending and imposing term limits,” Savage said in a post-election interview.

He blamed his defeat largely on the Democrats’ huge registration advantage and the incumbent’s superior fundraising.
During his campaign, Savage portrayed himself as a fiscal conservative with progressive ideas who was standing up against a history of irresponsible spending by an entrenched Democratic county administration.

Savage lost his home Ewing by an unofficial count of 4,479 to 2,372.

“I’m not ready to commit myself to anything at this point,” he said when asked if he would run again, adding:
“Never say never.”

Dworkin discounted any impact that Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s controversial overhaul of health-care benefits and pensions for state employees might have had in Mercer–the state Capitol City county where, according to a 2010 report compiled by the State Civil Service Commission, some 28,000 state workers reside. That’s about 35 percent of the total state government workforce
Many of these state workers live in Hamilton and–when combined with teachers and other local government employees residing in the township–comprise a substantial voting bloc that the Democrats might have attempted to galvanize against the Republican mayor. However, Dalton–in making her first try for public office–declined to make it an issue.
“It was definitely a legitimate issue, but I tried instead to do good politics and was focused more on taxes,” she said in a post-election interview.
“I think I will run for mayor again,” Dalton said, claiming she “did pretty damn good” this time despite a vastly under-funded campaign.
According to Rider professor Dworkin, Christie was not much of a factor in any Mercer local elections and “did not get involved in any serious way” in area campaigns except the District 14 state senate race in which “he did events and raised money” for Republican Richard Kanka’s unsuccessful bid to unseat Democratic State Sen. Linda Greenstein.
In what is regarded as a politically competitive district that embraces parts of Middlesex and Mercer counties, including Hamilton, Greenstein won handily in spite of attempts by Kanka to portray her as a big spending Democrat out of touch with her over-taxed constituency.
A Hamilton school board member, Kanka was best known as the father of Megan Kanka, the 7-year-old whose rape and murder in 1994 brought about the enaction of Megan’s Law for the registry of sex offenders.
Because Kanka wasn’t a strong enough candidate at the state legislative level and Christie “wasn’t on the ballot himself,” Dworkin wouldn’t characterize Greenstein’s victory as a political blow to the Republican governor.
Outside of Hamilton, Republicans drew a blank in all municipal contests in Mercer.