Republican Dana Pasqualone has returned to the Washington Township Council after being appointed to fill the seat of Richard Bennett, who resigned last month after getting caught on a surveillance video mailing venomous, anonymous letters to two women on the school board.
Pasqualone was elected to the council in 2016 at the age of 27 – one of two Republicans on a five-member council with a Democratic mayor — and became a Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader one year later. She returns as the lone woman on an all-Republican council – the GOP also flipped the mayoral post in 2024 – in Gloucester County’s largest municipality.
She will run in a special election this fall for the 37 months of Bennett’s term. Democrats have until August 28 to select their candidate.
Bennett was charged with harassment and forgery.
When Pasqualone ran in 2016, she was the top vote-getter, running 893 votes ahead of the top Democrat on the ballot, Thomas Sparacio, a cement union leader and fifteen-year planning board member.
Washington Township has shifted Republican in recent years, with Donald Trump carrying the town by over ten percentage points in 2024; he had won by five points in 2020 and by eight points in 2024. Four years ago, Jack Ciattarelli carried Washington Township by over seventeen points; the municipality voted for Republican candidates for U.S. Senate and Congress in 2024, and State Sen. Paul Moriarty (D-Washington Township), a former mayor, narrowly lost his hometown by 139 votes in 2023.
Republicans won three council seats in 2022 and two more in 2024. Anthony DellaPia defeated incumbent Mayor Laurie Burns last year with 54% of the vote.
Mount Ephraim
John Saban, the chief of staff for the Democratic legislators in the 4th district – Moriarty and Assemblymen Dan Hutchison (D-Gloucester Township) and Cody Miller (D-Monroe) – has been appointed to a vacancy on the Mount Ephraim Borough Commission.
He replaces Joseph Wolk, who died last month after serving as a commissioner and mayor since 1987.
“John stands ready and is equipped to meet the needs of our community,” said Mayor Susan Carney and Commissioner Michael Marone. “John will be a strong, visionary, inspiring Commissioner who will serve the community well. We look forward to working together with John as part of our team as we continue our progress to make more positive differences for our town.”
Saban, a lifelong resident, will be on the ballot for an unexpired term for the non-partisan seat in November.
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February 21, 2023 -
