Incumbents win three seats, newcomer takes Ward 1
Springfield Democrats held on to their one-seat majority on the township board of commissioners Tuesday, winning one of two contested races and splitting a pair of uncontested re-election bids.
In Ward 1, Democrat Doug Heller captured the seat currently held by the board President Kathleen Lunn, also a Democrat. Heller beat his opponent, Ray Hanshaw Jr., by a vote count of 516 to 434, according to unofficial results posted on the Montgomery County Web site.
The other contested race took place in Ward 7, where incumbent Republican Robert Gillies defeated Bonny Davis, his Democratic challenger, by 59 votes. Gillies received 433 votes, Davis 374, according to the county figures.
In the uncontested races, Republican incumbent Glenn Schaum, representing Ward 3, was returned to office with 804 votes, and Baird Standish, Democratic incumbent from Ward 5, was re-elected with 643 votes.
Heller did not join the race until July, replacing Erin Young, the candidate selected in the spring Democratic primary, but he quickly established himself as a highly visible campaigner, going door to door, creating a Web site, and even visiting residents who had Hanshaw signs on their lawns.
"They were impressed I took the time to listen to them," Heller said. "My victory is that there are issues we care about that I'm committed to help resolve."
Republicans complimented Heller on the gentlemanly tone of his campaign and said they were looking forward to a renewed sense of bipartisanship in the coming term.
"Well, being in the minority, I still think we'll be able to work to form a consensus and resolve issues for the best of the township, as opposed to the party," Gillies said Wednesday. "I think we'll return to the township oriented government."
Hanshaw congratulated Heller on his victory and wished him luck in office.
"He's a nice guy," Hanshaw said. "I can't say anything bad about him. I might disagree with him politically, but personally, he's a very nice man."
Nevertheless, Republicans said they intend to challenge 41 absentee ballots from St. Joseph Villa, the retirement home on Wissahickon Avenue in Ward 1. The Villa previously became a bone of contention in 2005, when Pat Lawn, the Republican candidate for township commissioner from Ward 4, accused Lunn of improperly changing the voter registration of his mother. Carolyn Lawn was living at the Villa at the time, but according to her son, wished to cast her vote for him from her home address in Ward 4.
Republican officials said they want the county to look into registration procedures at the Villa, even though it cannot affect the outcome of Tuesday's election.
"We've had some concerns over the last several elections that [Democrats] they have somebody inside there who's doing some inappropriate things," Chris Tomlinson, municipal chairman of the Springfield Republican Committee, said Wednesday. "We understand [it will not affect the election], but we want to go forward with it. If there's something going on wrong, we want to stop it."