ELECTION: Results

[VENTNOR eVOICE ADMIN]

Rough preliminary numbers from the polls' gathering points showed

KELLY................................1600
PIATT............................... 1400
WEINTROB......................... 1400
SCHAFER........................... 1100
VESPERTINO........................1100
KREISCHER..........................1000

Final vote count, as tabulated by Clerk's office, will be posted later.

[VENTNOR eVOICE ADMIN]

These numbers are taken from a "souvenir table cloth" at the ENOUGH slate's post-election gathering.

Kelly......................... 1,606
Piatt......................... 1,464
Weintrob................... 1,496

Kreischer................... 1,098
Schafer..................... 1,184
Vespertino................. 1,110

These do not include absentee ballot votes. It's believed that over 150 absentee ballots were requested. As of Monday, approximately 110 had been received and the tabulations were roughly 60% for challengers and 40% for incumbents.

A WeLoveVentnor representative stopped by PASSION headquarters to wish that slate well after a hard-fought election. Two of the Commissioners had already departed, but about a dozen supporters were there with the Mayor. After expressing some concern about the future direction of Ventnor, Mr. Kreischer quipped that having the time-consuming duties of Mayor removed from his schedule might mean he had lost his best excuse for "ducking out of chores" at home.

The ENOUGH slate had scheduled a post-election gathering spot at the Presbyterian church hall. The event was crowded, the mood ebullient, and there were many youthful faces of couples with school age children in attendance. The candidates and their campaign manager expressed appreciation to the volunteers who had helped their effort and spoke of rolling up their sleeves tomorrow to prepare to take on the challenges of the city, and to enlist residents to play an active advisory role as decisions are made.

Pictures will be posted in this thread tomorrow.

[VENTNOR eVOICE ADMIN]

From the AC Press

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/1...ry/157775.html

Challengers win in Ventnor
By MARTIN DeANGELIS Staff Writer, 609-272-7237
Published: Wednesday, May 14, 2008



VENTNOR - Three challengers swept the veteran city commissioners out of office Tuesday, easily winning seats that the incumbents had held for a combined 36 years.
Theresa Kelly led the field with 1,679 votes, 451 more than the leading incumbent. Kelly's running mates, Stephen Weintrob and John Piatt, took 1,577 and 1,550 votes respectively, according to unofficial totals from the City Clerk's Office.

Joe Schafer, an eight-year incumbent, got 1,228 votes, Sandy Vespertino took 1,159 in his run for a fourth term, and Tim Kreischer finished with 1,138. Kreischer has been a commissioner for 16 years and mayor for the last 12.

"I think Ventnor set itself free tonight," Kelly said, as she walked into a cheering crowd of supporters at the Church of the Epiphany after the results were announced.

The former school board president put together the ticket that announced its run in late February, not long before the filing deadline. The incumbents had just one challenger when they easily won new terms in 2004, and they had no opposition at all in the election four years before that.

The challengers focused their campaign on property taxes, saying the incumbents had spent taxpayer money too freely on projects that Ventnor doesn't need and can't afford. They used the $7.3 million city library-community center complex, which opened in 2006, as a prime example of a project that was overbuilt and overly expensive.

"We're going to make sure that everyone and everything is accountable in the city of Ventnor" government, Weintrob said.

Tuesday was a far different election night for Piatt, the incumbents' only challenger four years ago. He lost by almost 1,000 votes then, but he stood up for smiling group pictures with the winners on this Election Night.

"The difference is the team," said Piatt, 62, who works in the Atlantic County Clerk's Office. "We offered a slate, and Theresa and Steve were great people on the ticket."

The challengers were endorsed by several former mayors and commissioners, including Philip Robinson, who was their leading campaign contributor with a $7,500 donation.But the incumbents trumpeted endorsements from current local political heavyweights including U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, a Republican and Ventnor resident, state Sen. Jim Whelan, a Democrat, and Republican Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson.

The challengers managed to raise almost as much campaign cash as the incumbents, trailing by just a few thousand dollars in the latest reports to the state's election agency. In 2004, the incumbents outraised Piatt by a ratio of about 7-1.

Even after they won Tuesday, the soon-to-be commissioners were still repeating some of their campaign slogans.

"I think the people wanted a change and they said enough is enough," said Kelly, who is retired from the Atlantic City School District.

Schafer, a retired police officer, couldn't deny that the voters made a call for change.

"Now it's up to the new people to come in and make good on their campaign promises," he said. "It's been a pleasure to serve the residents over the last eight years. But nothing is forever."

To e-mail Martin DeAngelis at The Press:
MDeangelis@pressofac.com

And for website visitors who might like some "personal sense" of what the Commissioners-elect are like, you are cross-referred to this post which linked to their videotaped interview the Thursday before the election.

http://www.ventnorevoice.com/bulleti...read.php?t=468

They also had prepared a campaign promotion video on their own YouTube channel.

http://www.ventnorevoice.com/bulleti...read.php?t=442

A "postcard" distributed by the incumbents as part of their final electioneering efforts will be imaged later in that slate's thread. It featured a picture of them with a group of senior citizens and mentioned their having built on the foundations of Ventnor which were laid by the seniors in town.

Finally, the next linked post reported on campaign donations and showed the incumbents with an approximate $3,000 advantage in funds for their campaign.

http://www.ventnorevoice.com/bulleti...read.php?t=484

[VentnorMod]

The "pals" in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, UK were tuning in here ...

http://blogs.phillynews.com/philly/d..._mess_now.html

to report the news there ...

http://ventnorblog.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1617

[VentnorMod]

VentnorBlog's front page

http://ventnorblog.com/ventnor-elect...y-usa-that-is/

And NJ.com reporting on three South Jersey elections

http://www.nj.com/southjersey/index....nd_mayora.html

[Justice & American Way]

how long have you been doing this ad? http://www.nbc40.net/index.php


no TV coverage last night in ventnor but a short story.

http://www.nbc40.net/view_story.php?id=5578

[VentnorMod]

Originally Posted by Justice & American Way

how long have you been doing this ad? http://www.nbc40.net/index.php

About a month, and it runs into summer months.

[VentnorMod]

Both Ventnor and Longport elect new slates of officials.

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