John Bencivengo

HAMILTON- On the night of a GOP fundraiser for Mayor John John Bencivengo: Politicker file photoBencivengo attended by 300 people, Bencivengo expressed incredulity that Hamilton Democratic Party Chair John Kroschwitz wants to file a criminal complaint against him for holding the event on township property.

"This is a deliberate violation of a township ordinance passed back in April of 2000 that prohibits any political fundraising in all township buildings," Kroschwitz complained Thursday night.

Bencivengo said the ordinance was not designed to encompass the Sayen House and Sayen Gardens, which are home to events of all kinds.

"The Friends of Sayen (a not-for-profit 501c3 corporation) run the house, and we paid $400 to have our event there," Bencivengo said of his fundraiser, where the mayor and his allies charged $50 a head.

State Sen. Joe Pennacchio has released the names of three Mercer County supporters for his U.S. Senate bid. 

Pennacchio is backed by Hamilton Mayor John Bencivengo, Robbinsville Mayor David Fried and Hightstown Mayor Bob Patten. 

Hamilton Mayor John BencivengoStrengthened by what he described as a "shared vision with my people, a cause to be accomplished and a dream come true," John Bencivengo officially became mayor of Hamilton today as he was sworn in by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith in the ballroom of the Nottingham Firehouse in front of a crowd of 350 people.

"I wish that I could have given a more cheerful address today," said Bencivengo in a nod to the town’s $10 million budget deficit. "But even if our fiscal circumstances had been better, even if we had ample surplus, I’d be saying the same things. It should be our goal, no matter the circumstances, to do more with less."

The former Republican Party municipal chairman and fired government worker ran and won on a platform of restoring common sense and accountability to government. Today Bencivengo swore always to remember that working families fund the town, and promised to present the 2009 budget on time in July.

He made the second of these vows in defiance of the record of his predecessor, Glen Gilmore, who sat on the document last year until a judge ruled he had to release it to the Township Council prior to the November election. The release of the 2008 budget, which initially showed a $5 million shortfall, helped propel the Republican Bencivengo to victory over Gilmore by fewer than 500 votes.

Hamilton Mayor Glen Gilmore today said he was disappointed but not shocked by the results of an election he lost earlier this month by 51 to 49%, and wouldn't speculate on the details of a comeback.

Asked about rumors that he would challenge Rep. Christopher Smith in 2008, Gilmore left the door open.

Slapped on Election Day with a front page headline notifying voters in Hamilton Township that there is a $5 million shortfall in the budget, Mayor Glen Gilmore said he is confident Hamiltonians will judge him on his full body of work as mayor.

"They came in at the last minute but we have laid the foundation to withstand that," said Gilmore in the Colonial Firehouse, addressing the Republican Township Council's successful efforts yesterday to release the town's financial assessment in the hours before Election Day.

Republican mayoral candidate John Bencivengo peruses the town's financial assessment statement in Hamilton.

It’s all politics in Hamilton a day before Election Day as Republican mayoral candidate John Bencivengo climbs out of his sport utility vehicle and walks into the office of Council President Dave Kenny.

Kenny and the Republican Council have been fighting with Democratic Mayor Glen Gilmore over the town’s budget and pressuring the mayor through the courts to release details of Hamilton’s financial health before, and not after, the mayoral election.

Moments earlier, the appellate division of the state Superior Court upheld Kenny’s appeal, and denied Gilmore’s motion to issue a stay in the release of the town’s annual financial statement. Now Bencivengo watches as Kenny receives by fax the financial statement from Bowman and Company, the company charged with preparing the information.

Dismissing the protocol that says the champion needs to enter the ring last, Hamilton Mayor Glen Gilmore sat on stage before GOP challenger, John Bencivengo, made his entrance today in the ballroom of the Nottingham Fire House.

General election politics in most towns gets ugly come October. In the politically charged Hamilton, where everything hits a little earlier, the candidates have been trading freely and often. Months ago, Bencivengo went after Gilmore on gangs and the mayor’s open space plan. Gilmore’s camp in turn hit Bencivengo on the latter’s attempts to sell anthrax-proof hand lotion to terror-spooked postal workers, and floated a rumor that an overwrought Bencivengo would soon be exiting the race.

The GOP-controlled Hamilton City Council today lashed out at Mayor Glen Gilmore, charging the Democrat with sitting on the town’s budget and riding out the election before notifying taxpayers of a 25 % tax hike.

"Under law the budget was supposed to be produced by August 10th, but he wants to put it off," complained Council President Dave Kenny, who said the most obvious preliminary numbers to jump out at him were from a recent auditor’s findings showing $4 million in increased spending and $2 million in decreased revenues, among other add-ons.

In response to Republican challenger John Bencivengo's call for ten debates, Hamilton Mayor Glen Gilmore said he would settle for three engagements.

"Mayor Gilmore's not doing ten debates," said Gilmore spokesman Doug Suessegger. "The mayor's got a town to run."

The candidates already had one debate at Steinert High School. Suessegger said the mayor would be available to do two more prior to the election on Nov. 6.

GOP mayoral candidate John Bencivengo faces two-term incumbent Glen Gilmore

In the Hamilton race for control of City Hall pitting Democratic Mayor Glen Gilmore against Republican businessman John Bencivengo, the dynamic involves that old struggle for the town’s identity, and the argument comes with particular urgency in a summer of countywide gangland violence that hit Hamilton hard last week.

Population near 90,0000, Hamilton looks like Jersey’s final, 40-square mile fortress of cris-crossing highways where every blue collar Davy Crockett backed up to the edge of the state can take a last, rifle-swinging stand at an affordable life for himself and his family.