Published: November 06, 2007 11:42 pm      

Republican Wallet edges Cooper in Jackson Township supervisor race

MUNDYS CORNER — Republican John Wallet defeated Democrat George Cooper by a narrow margin in the race for Jackson Township supervisor.

The two candidates were just about tied in the township’s first and second wards. But Wallet garnered 60 percent of third ward votes, giving him a final 100-vote edge over Cooper.

“I spent all day and all night there,’’ Wallet said of the deciding precinct after learning he won. “I’m excited and ready to get in there and get busy.”

Wallet said he spoke to his challenger shortly before the polls closed, and neither discussed the election.

“George is a class act.

“I respect him, and it was a clean race,’’ Wallet said. “We spoke tonight about hunting and guns like we always do.”

This year’s race for the six-year supervisor term vacated by the late Supervisor Robert Stephens, who died earlier this year from cancer, was a friendly one.

And that is a big difference from the 2003 general election, when a record 58 percent of the township’s registered voters turned out at the polls. A war over zoning had been ongoing in the township, pitting neighbor against neighbor, Justice for Jackson vs. Neighbors Who Care.

Four years later, the race for supervisor came down to party lines, because neither candidate fingered a specific issue or platform. And they only ran for office because they were asked.

Cooper, a former supervisor who vacated his seat six years ago to run for district magistrate, said both candidates were strong because each had local government experience.

Wallet, a member of Jackson Township Water Authority, agreed. He said that, if elected, he planned to bring his experience as a superintendent for a highway construction company and with the authority to the township level.

Both men said they were happy with the current team of supervisors, and would continue to support the township’s trend toward economic growth.