HAMILTON

LOWE

NORTH SMITHFIELD — First-time candidate Paulette Hamilton was the first-place finisher in the town administrator primary yesterday, and will face incumbent Robert B. Lowe, who came in second.

According to the secretary of state’s office, Hamilton won with 545 votes, an 81-vote margin over Lowe, who had 464. Conservation Commission Chairman Donald P. Gagnon was third with 370 votes and Ernest Alter was fourth with 255 votes. That gave Hamilton 33.4 percent, Lowe 28.4 percent, Gagnon 22.6 percent and Alter 15.6 percent of the vote.

In the town’s nonpartisan primary system, Hamilton and Lowe will now run in the November election.

Hamilton said she was pleased but not surprised by the first-round win.

“All the comments we heard about were people really wanting change,” she said.

She said she thought voters saw her as the best candidate to bring the town’s disparate interests together and deal with the implications of land development and the need to expand the tax base.

“I think it’s probably my ability to improve communication, better judgment and the ability to get people to work together,” Hamilton said.

While Hamilton basked in her victory, thanking boisterous supporters during a celebration at Gator’s Pub, Lowe went on the attack almost as soon as the results were called into his VFW election night headquarters.

He ripped Hamilton as a stalking horse for the School Department who would raise taxes by giving the school blank checks to spend.

“Now I know who my opponent is,” Lowe said. “Now we can expose her for the tax-and-spend person that she is.

“She has been a plant for the school system from the beginning,” Lowe said. He called her 533 votes, “the block of people who have a cause and their cause is to get all the money they can for education.”

Lowe is a veteran of two decades in town politics. Besides a stint on the School Committee, he served nine terms in the General Assembly before running for town administrator in 2004. But he was seen by some as vulnerable this year after the 2006 vote, when he beat newcomer Alter, but got only 55 percent of the vote.

He had also taken a pro-development position on many issues, saying the town needed to expand its commercial tax base to pay for things such as the middle school. It was his administration that completed the negotiation to connect the town to the Woonsocket city water system and saw the passage of a new sewer bond. He was also a proponent of the 120-acre Dowling Village shopping complex

Gagnon was philosophical about the outcome.

“Although I have been serving the community for over 30 years in various capacities, this was my first foray into the political arena, so the loss is not something that I did not think could happen,” he said.

“I think I ran a dignified and honest campaign and I think that was the proper way to approach it,” he said. “It was quite an experience, but the loss will give me an opportunity to reflect on the process and also free up some of my retirement time for more family-oriented activity. I congratulate the winners and wish them both the best of luck in the general election.”

NORTH SMITHFIELD TOWN ADMINISTRATOR

(Totals include mail ballots)

100% of precincts reporting

jhill@projo.com