WEST CHESTER TWP. — A generation ago, candidates campaigning for a Butler County public office didn't stray much beyond the borders of Hamilton and Middletown.

        West Chester Township — called Union Township until a recent name change — received only token attention. It was tucked away in the county's southeastern cor ner, on the periphery of county politics. Dwarfed by Butler's two largest cities, West Chester had more farms than subdivisions and far fewer voters than Hamilton and Middletown.

        Cindy Carpenter began working for Republican candidates for Butler County offices in the early 1970s.

        “Conventional wisdom used to be that whoever won Hamilton would win the county,” said Ms. Carpenter, who was elected on Nov. 7 to her second term as county clerk of courts. “But the numbers no longer reflect that.”

BUTLER CO. VOTING POWER

Voting   Dem. Rep. Ind. Nov. 7 Hamilton 3,118 6,397 26,914 58% Middletown 3,236 5,460 20,300 57% Fairfield 2,559 8,999 29,546 58% Fairfield Twp. 711 2,540 7,164 69% Liberty Twp. 813 4,581 9,072 73% W. Chester Twp. 2,169 11,407 23,584 66% Butler Co. 17,243 50,886 148,020 62%

        Butler County's political landscape has changed dramatically in recent years. West Chester Township, one of Ohio's fastest growing communities, has blossomed into a formidable political power in the county and the Tristate.

        The Nov. 7 election illustrated West Chester's increasing political muscle. Without heavily Republican West Chester, Robin Piper would not have won the bitterly contested prosecutor's race.

        Mr. Piper had fewer votes in Hamilton and Middletown than Democratic incumbent Dan Gattermeyer, but won the election largely because he thrashed his opponent in West Chester Township, 15,354 to 7,347.

        That 8,000-vote gap more than offset Mr. Piper's losses in Hamilton and Middletown. He beat Mr. Gattermeyer by 6,206 votes.

        “The West Chester area had a great deal of impact in the ultimate say in county races,” said Eric Rademacher, co-director of the University of Cincinnati Poll. “If growth and high voter turnout continues in West Chester, the potential is very good for it to become even stronger in overall county politics.”
       

Key to GOP dominance

        West Chester's population has almost tripled in 20 years. The township's estimated population of 60,000 is 5,000 higher than Middletown's, 16,000 higher than Fairfield's and only 2,000 lower than Hamilton's.

        The heavy influx of affluent, well-educated conservatives into West Chester Township helped usher in an era of Republican dominance and has made the southeastern portion of Butler County as influential as Hamilton and Middletown.

        “There's a higher concentration of Republican voters in West Chester, Liberty and Fairfield townships than in any other part of the county,” Mr. Piper said. “As a Republican, I counted on strong support from those areas.”

        Ms. Carpenter said in this past election, the Republican strength in West Chester enabled her to campaign more in communities where her support was weaker, such as Hamilton.

        She credits southeastern Butler County — West Chester, Liberty and Fairfield townships — with helping her unseat the Democratic incumbent clerk of courts four years ago.

        “They made the difference,” Ms. Carpenter said.

        In West Chester, registered Republican voters outnumber Democrats by a 6-to-1 ratio. In Hamilton, it's 2-to-1, and in Middletown, it's 1 1/2-to-1.
       

Independents lean to GOP

        As in other Butler communities, West Chester's independent vot ers far outnumber either the Republicans or the Democrats. But most of their independent voters lean Republican, said Carlos Todd, chairman of the Butler County Republican Party.

        “The voting record of independents show they definitely are slanted to the conservative philosophy,” he said.

        Historically, Hamilton and Middletown have tended to be more Democratic than other parts of Butler because of their high numbers of union and blue-collar workers.

        West Chester is anything but blue collar. With upscale subdivisions sprouting like wildflowers, West Chester has attracted affluent conservatives from Hamilton County and corporate managers from out of town.

        “We get more of the corporate influence,” said Dave Gully, West Chester Township administrator. “A lot of the managerial types and professional types tend to be Republican.”

        West Chester residents also exercise their power at the voting booths.

        In the Nov. 7 election, 66 percent of the township's registered voters cast their ballots. That's 9 percentage points higher than in Hamilton and Middletown.

        The demographic profiles of Liberty and Fairfield townships are similar to West Chester's, making the southeastern quarter of Butler an invaluable source of votes and money for Republican candidates.
       

Challenge for Democrats

        John Moser, a retired Butler County Common Pleas judge, was chairman of the county's Republican Party from 1960 to 1979, an era when Democrats were at least as strong as Republicans.

        “When I was party chairman, I would have loved to have had the West Chester of today,” Mr. Moser said. “In the '60s, most of West Chester was farm land. In those years, Republicans depended heavily on the west side of Hamilton, a couple of wards in Middletown and rural areas.”

        Said Don Daiker, chairman of the Butler County Democratic Party: “West Chester and Liberty townships are formidable challenges for Democratic candidates. The affluence of the area tends to move it in the Republican direction.”

        West Chester's economic development has been as explosive as its residential growth.

        The township's easy access to Interstate 75, its proximity to Hamilton County and its abundance of vacant land made it one of the Tristate's hottest development spots.

        The creation of the Union Centre Boulevard interchange on I-75 in 1998 has lured a half-dozen restaurants, two large office buildings in the Centre Pointe complex and an upscale Marriott Hotel and meeting facility.

        The Union Centre interchange also has helped to land the new national distribution center and corporate offices of Cin Mar, publishers of Frontgate catalog, and new facilities of Totes Isotoner Corp. and Beiersdorf Inc., a distribution center for health-care and skin-care products.

        The interchange also prompted Procter & Gamble to expand its facility in that area.

        And this month, Liz Claiborne Inc. officials confirmed they will build a $55 million distribution center on a 42-acre site off Union Centre. It is expected to create 300 jobs.
       

Growth likely to continue

        The tax-assessed value of property in West Chester Township exceeds $1.5 billion, Mr. Gully said.

        “That's almost higher than the rest of the county combined,” he said. “We've had an extremely high rate of growth, and people are investing in our township.”

        West Chester has an impressive list of influential leaders. They include Mr. Todd, U.S. Rep. John Boehner, Ohio Rep. Gary Cates, Butler County Auditor Kay Rogers, Judge Stephen Powell of the 12th District Court of Appeals and Judge Rob Lyons of Butler County Area I Court.

        West Chester's residential growth has slowed in recent years from its frenetic pace of the '80s and early '90s.

        With West Chester's undeveloped land diminishing, the most rapid residential growth in the county has shifted to Liberty and Fairfield townships.

        But Butler officials expect West Chester to continue getting bigger.

        “Its population growth has slowed somewhat,” said Mike Juengling, county development director, “but it's still growing fast. Once Liberty and Fairfield townships' most easily developable land is gone, more builders will return to West Chester.”

Children's adds research space
West Chester flexes muscle
Best bet to find flu shot: stores
'Night of Fright' and fire
Cabaret theater coming to Newport complex
New United Way leader familiar face in Tristate
RAMSEY: Living history
Christian school's 2nd campus takes root, thrives
Mason gains another chunk
MCNUTT: Community art
HOWARD: Neighborhoods
Buckeye Egg facing fifth contempt filing
Court limits adult kids' ability to sue over parents' wrongful death
Covington man indicted in death of neighbor
Driver's condition critical after head-on crash
Elections panel to hear charge
Excellence rocks at Anderson H.S. rally
Fairfield assistant principal resigns over dispute with boss
Family says mutilated man was looking for cars
General Assembly schedule undecided
Justin to stay with Ohio couple trying to adopt
Licensure board drops complaint about review
Louisville firm weighs starting a water taxi
Man found fatally shot was accused of having sex with a minor
Pardon asked for preacher
Politicking banned at Baptist meetings
Some criticize plan to move mentally retarded
Teen-ager hit while in jail, suit alleges
Thousands send gifts across globe
Unfinished business haunts Bosnia anniversary gathering
Voting problems subject of hearings
Witnesses contradict police over shooting
Woman convicted in mother's death
Kentucky News Briefs
Tristate A.M. Report