Posted on Wed, Nov. 4, 2009
As they have done in every election since perhaps the Civil War, Republicans swept the four Chester County row offices on yesterday's ballot.
With few voters knowing the names of all individual candidates, the result was a measure of overall Republican Party strength as it pushed back against gains Democrats have made in recent years, especially in closing the voter registration gap.
"Our candidates were well-qualified, and the voters responded," said Joseph E. "Skip" Brion, the county GOP chairman.
Noting that Chester County voted for Barack Obama in last year's presidential election, Brion said it swung back toward its more traditional Republicanism this year.
The GOP campaigned on a platform of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" - arguing that the county's fiscal health and stability were the results of Republican governance.
The Democrats sought to shape the race in partisan terms, saying the GOP candidates were too conservative and out of touch with a changing county.
The Republicans all won easily.
Republican Controller Val DiGiorgio beat back a challenge from Democrat Jim Reilly, a retired company executive.
In the treasurer's race, Republican Ann Duke, a lawyer and former member of the West Chester Borough Council, defeated Democrat Barbara Kipp Stone, a financial analyst.
Republican Frank McElwaine, a retired corporate budget director, beat Democrat Mike McGann, a former newspaper reporter, in the election for clerk of courts.
Republican Steven J. Dickter, a family-practice doctor in West Chester, won the race for coroner over Democrat Megan Lynott, an optometrist.
Row offices are relics of 19th-century Pennsylvania politics that have survived into the 21st. Row officers generally don't set policy.
The clerk of courts keeps track of criminal records. The treasurer issues checks and invests funds. The coroner investigates homicides and other unusual deaths. The controller serves as the county financial watchdog.
There was little passion in the voting - no major local issue driving people to the polls. It was a day for what political pros call super voters - people who show up election after election.
"I believe in voting; it's my civic duty, it's my duty," said Bill Shea of Berwyn, a retiree from the oil pipeline business.
If there was any passion, it seemed to come from Republicans fed up about what's going on in Washington, not in West Chester.
"I'm very upset with the Democratic Party right now, especially what Obama is doing," said Pam Rickenbach, a substitute teacher.
Chester Countians chose to keep two sitting judges of the Common Pleas Court - Robert J. Smith and William P. Mahon - who had come up for a yes-or-no retention vote.
Contact staff writer Tom Infield at 610-313-8205 or tinfield@phillynews.com.
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