GOP looks for openings in Camden County election

The Democratic Party in Camden County has been dominant in local elections for so long that campaign results seem like foregone conclusions.

So when opportunities for local Republicans present themselves, as they have this year with an open mayor's seat in Cherry Hill and a chance to take control of the Gloucester Township Committee, GOP politicians are obliged to say how they're going to reverse two decades of losses.

With the economy still floundering and polls showing high distrust of the government, Camden County Republicans are hoping to cash in on their role as the minority party, said GOP consultant Richard Ambrosino.

"The Democrats are confident. Well, we're confident too. That's what you say," he said. "People are hurting right now. They're looking for a change."

With no statewide or congressional races on the ballot, voter turnout is projected by both sides to be relatively low. With fewer votes to be counted, those votes generated through get-out-the vote drives become that much more valuable.

But the Republicans will have to contend with the vast disparity in fund-raising between them and the Democrats.

In the Board of Freeholders race, Democratic candidates Louis Cappelli Jr., a lawyer, and Scot McCray had over $145,000 to spend in the campaign compared with $2,175 for Republicans Joshua Rocks, a 31-year-old planner with the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, and Eugene Lawrence, a 59-year-old workplace-ethics consultant, as of Oct. 11, according to the latest filings with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

McCray, a 32-year-old assistant vice president at CAMcare, the Camden health clinic, was appointed to the seat in April when longtime Freeholder Riletta Cream retired. He said that even with the inherent advantages of running on the Democratic ticket he has been going door-to-door "three or four nights a week."

"I'm not taking anything for granted," he said. "I'm the new person. I need to let people know who I am."

In Cherry Hill, where Mayor Bernie Platt is calling it quits after a long career, Republican Stephen Buividas, an attorney for Camden City during the administration of former Mayor Milton Milan, is running against Democrat Chuck Cahn.

Cahn, 56, owned an office equipment company that supplied many school districts in New Jersey. He sold it in 2004.

Buividas, 43, who has drawn controversy for being late on his property tax bills - he says he's paid them off now - is casting Cahn as offering more of the same.

"People have had enough of the same political party and the constant tax increases, the money the township continues to spend without our input," he said.

Buividas is the son of Cherry Hill real estate agent Jim Buividas.

County Democrats have been fending off such critiques for years, arguing that the county tax levy has dropped for three straight years under their leadership, though spending had not, and they have had to spend from past budget surpluses to achieve those tax savings.

The tax levy increased this year to $271.6 million, with rates climbing by 8 percent.

McCray defended the Democrats' record but also presented himself as a politician distinct from the party he represents - though he declined to name specific areas in which he differed from other Camden County Democrats.

"I don't agree with everything the (freeholder) board has done," he said. "But this board has done very well by its residents. And that's why you see the results you have."