In the wake of Mayor Gilmore's State of the Township Address Hamilton GOP mayoral candidate John Bencivengo expressed his view that the speech was "all fluff and no stuff. The Mayor certainly talks the talk, but he never walks the walk," he continued.

"It's certainly amazing how the Mayor can stand before a group of people and continue to rewrite history," commented Bencivengo. "Just look at some of the claims he made and it's easy to see that they are based in fantasy."

Mayor Gilmore stated in his address that the Hamilton Police Department remains the "best equipped" officers anywhere in the country. "That's hogwash," Bencivengo said. "The police were in dire need of new cars this year and the Mayor purposefully left out any funding for such a purchase, as well as a quarter million dollars in essential overtime, in his budget. How does he expect Hamilton's officers to do their jobs when he doesn't give them the necessary tools," he added. "Thankfully, the Republican majority on the Council was able to find some money to purchase five new cars for our police department and add back the necessary overtime that Gilmore took away so that they can continue to keep Hamilton safe."

Bencivengo also took exception to the Mayor's claims that he presented the Council with a "lean" budget that even it was unable to find cuts in. "That's nonsense," he said. "The Mayor presented a budget that illegally included $5.7 million as revenue, when the money really belonged to our schools. Thankfully the Council found this 'error' before it cost Hamilton taxpayers down the road," added Bencivengo. "Although the Mayor claims that he presented a budget that contained no tax increase, his $5.7 million gimmick reflected an enormous tax increase. His budget wasn't lean, it was illegal," he continued.

The mayoral hopeful further expressed his disagreement with the Mayor's speech when the Mayor expressed his views on the transit development. "The Mayor commented that the transit development, like the Hamilton Marketplace, would be a great benefit for all of Hamilton. However, the two projects cannot be compared," stated Bencivengo. "The Hamilton Marketplace is successful because it is a purely commercial ratable. I, along with the Council majority I believe that the transit development could also be successful, but it needs to be commercial in nature," he added. "As of now, it is nothing more than a massive housing development that will stress our roads, schools, and our pocketbooks."

Bencivengo also took exception to the Mayor's call for the Council to sit down with NJ Transit to find "common ground" on the transit development. "Where has the Mayor been over the past year," Bencivengo asked. "Several times the Council has expressed its willingness to sit down and work out a compromise on the transit development and every time the Mayor has vetoed any such compromise effort. As Dave, Dennis, Tom, and Kelly have stated before, they are more than willing to sit down with NJ Transit and any other interested parties to work out a deal on the transit development, and they, along with myself, hope that the Mayor will finally come to the negotiating table as well. However, if anything is going to get done, the Mayor's current attitude of 'It's either my way or the highway' is going to have to change," Bencivengo concluded.