Freeholder Election To Be Held On January 14th
Field of Candidates Looks To Be Widening
By Art Gallagher
The Republican County convention to elect a Monmouth County Freeholder to fill the coming vacancy caused by Freeholder Director Rob Clifton’s ascension to the State Assembly will be held on Saturday January 14th, according to GOP Chairman Joe Oxley. The location and exact time has yet to be determined.
A quorum, 50% plus 1, of all Republican County Committee members, as certified by the Superintendent of Elections, must be present for the election to be to be official.
Howell Mayor Bob Walsh is a candidate. Those considering entering the race include Holmdel Deputy Mayor Serena DiMaso, former Freeholder Bill Barham, Wall Committee member George Newberry, Keyport Councilman Bob Burlew, Atlantic Highlands Councilman Peter Doyle, Manalapan Deputy Mayor Ryan Green, former Middletown Committee member Tom Wilkens and former Howell Mayor Joe DiBella.
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Curley will not endorse a Freeholder candidate
Ryan Green Takes A Shot At Holmdel Township Committee
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Howell Mayor Bob Walsh would be the best choice. Walsh is a little arrogant — cocky, really. He also has an ego, but I expect that from a winner with a track record of successful accomplishments. Walsh is also smart and well liked. I trust him. I’d vote for him.
By contrast, former Howell Mayor Joe DiBella is clearly the weakest of any of the candidates mentioned above. DiBella was an extremely unpopular mayor. (He was almost recalled.) DiBella is not that smart and he is not that trustworthy. I would vote for whomever is running against DiBella.
Wow — this tool 2 seconds for the haters to come out. Dibella is not a candidate and its too bad he is not. He was (and remains) wildly popular as mayor and should have been a freeholder but lost in the farce at Brookdale a few years back (where he actually won). The R’s then lost in the general for the first time in like 20 years. He was never almost recalled. Some clowns tried to muster support against him but never even filed anything nor stated their issues. It was a bad joke and they humiliated themselves. He’s the strongest candidate in the field by far and most electable. He is not running though since he told a bunch of us he is not a candidate. Its a shame he is not running. He’d win in a landslide. I did hear Jim Gray is considering a run along with Gus Toomey.
Joe DiBella hasn’t been the Mayor of Howell for many years now. That said, DiBella pays to maintain a website in which he falsely claims that he is still the Mayor of Howell Township. How sad that this little wannabe can’t seem to let go and come to terms with reality.
“Mayor” DiBella???
WHOIS Results for mayordibella.com
You are pathetic. When you go to what appears to have been mayordibella.com you get to the howell republican site. any idiot can try and call up archive web pages. Why be such a liar as they guy does not keep a web site. So jealous and over a guy not even running anything. The web site you mention belongs to the howell republicans so stop lying about the guy already Also, why not show yor name you gutless coward?
Howell supports Bob Walsh and former Mayor DiBella supports him too. This was reported at a county committee meeting in Howell already.
Art,
It would be nice if you can post as much non biased background info as possible on the candidates, especially the less known names as the field firms up.
I for one would like to know about some of those dark horses who might make an excellent Freeholder.
Since we as county committee people actually get to perform our job; it would be good for us to make an informed decision.
Of course, we should be doing our own due diligence as well, rather than just taking orders from our chairs.
So what? Now I’m not on the list?
Welcome back Art.
Walsh has to be a front runner. He has been working hard since last year to build support and has the guy (you know who) on his side who has picked more winning Freeholder candidates then anyone else. Whether he wins could depend on who else jumps in the race. Newberry and Dimaso would also be front runners. Of course if both of them jump in it could help Walsh by splitting the opposition vote. In retrospect Dibella might not have been a bad choice years ago but I think his time is past. Bill Barham will not get it. He pissed off too many people and then took his ball and went home last time. As to the others I say who? Although jumping in now is a good strategy on their part for building name recognition. It should be an interesting race. The dirt on this race is that that Howell Chairman John Costigan and the half the Howell committee he controls will not back Walsh. This is because Walsh kicked the crap out of the Republican establishment in Howell a few years back and Costigan is not a forgiving person. Of course to my way of thinking this is a big plus for Walsh.
Word has it that the party leaders want Barbara McMorrow to step up. With only one woman on the board, she would bring added balance and is very electable. She may have a hard time at a convention but with other deals to be made, don’t rule this out.
Ahhhh Clarence,
Wasn’t McMorrow a Democrat after leaving the Republican Party?
Sorry, that disqualifies her for me. As well, not sure where she is with her “cited health reasons” for leaving the Board previously.
Sure, I will consider Bob Walsh.Newberry just ran for re-election and won. I believe he owes it to Wall Twp to finish most of his term.
But again, I would like to hear about some new names.
[…] the prospect of being Curley’s running mate in November and hopes to have his support at the January 14th convention which will elect Clifton’s successor. Clifton, the current Freeholder Director, is vacating […]
when she took the seat on the Freehold Twp. Committee, she promised them she’d not run again for Freeholder, staying in town..like Serena, but she has previously said she really wants the Assembly, as soon as a seat opens up..Walsh is the one working for it hardest, this go-round..we need a proven fundraiser, one who has a proven winning record, knows government and budgeting, and not a trainee..we need to keep the county solid R, with proven winners..
am quite sure Mr. Burlew is Keyport local chair, not a councilman.. ( we lost in Keyport this year, just sayin’).. also, let’s keep in mind this coming year is Presidential, with a huge turnout, many of whom are once-every-4-years voters.. we need a slate that can run hard and well against the Dems. led by, God save us, Obama and Pallone, and Menendez, all real, too-familiar names..fortunately, our popular County Clerk Claire French will do well, as will Dir. Curley.. the running-mate needs to be strong, too.. don’t forget, on the other side,we have the good-looking young”upstarts,” Mayor Hornik of Marlboro, and Mayor Doherty of Belmar, who’d likely love to move up, and one can’t cut out Mrs. Mallet, who has said she may go again, hoping for some outside big-Dem 2012 money, this time.. so, pay attention, think, and vote with the whole picture in mind, folks, not just a “fav” son or daughter!..
Ed Burlew is the party leader, not sure if he is chair. Bob Burlew is the Councilman.
is currently on the c.c. list as c.c. man in Keyport’s district 1.. Bob is also code enforcement in Keyport, is 2nd v.p. of the Affiliated Club, and, I believe,is now also their chair.. neither Ed nor Bob is currently listed as a councilman, in the county’s 2011 directory of officials.. guess it’s up to them to clarify for us!
I stand corrected
If there are concerns about meeting the 50% requirement, then it’s a poor choice of date, it’s the MLK weekend which many people turn into a Disney vacation or a long ski weekend
a short time window in which to fill this type of vacancy, it is statutory..the sooner the new freeholder is chosen and sworn in, the better he or she ( and we) will have it, in their learning the job, establishing incumbency, and preparing to run, two years in a row.. to anyone who already had vaca plans, well, we will miss you..to those who care enough to be around, please do plan now to show up and vote on the 14th of January, heaven knows we’ve been hearing all the blathering about “full committee votes” long enough.. well, here’s your chance, people!..