4 Candidate Slates As GOP Fights Over Toms River Mayor-Council

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Toms River Republican voters will have a crowded slate to choose from when they go to the voting booths in June, after three full slates of candidates for mayor and council have filed to run for the nomination.

The victors in what is sure to be a brutal race will then take on a full slate of Democrats in an election that could result in a significant change in the complexion of the Toms River governing body.

Councilman Maurice Hill, who is running for mayor, announced Tuesday that three Republicans have joined him in his campaign. Matt Lotano, Josh Kopp and Kevin Geoghegan are running for the three at-large council seats that are up for election in November. Geoghegan filled an unexpired term but lost in the 2017 election that saw three Democrats elected to the council.

Hill's group, running on the Toms River We The People platform, joins a race that includes a slate running with Councilman Dan Rodrick, who also is seeking the mayoral nod from Republicans, and the Regular Republican Club slate headed by former Ocean County prosecutor Joseph Coronato.

The Rodrick slate includes Ken Londregin, a vice principal in the Old Bridge Township schools; George Lobman, an engineer and 45-year resident of the North Dover section, and Justin Lamb, a Lavallette police officer who challenged Maria Maruca in the 2017 Ward 1 council election.

Coronato is joined by Ginny Rhine, a member of the Toms River Regional Board of Education; Christian Momm and John Meehan. Meehan has served on the Board of Adjustment.

The Democratic slate is Jonathan Z. Petro running for mayor, with the council slate of Michele Williams, a Toms River school board member and former principal at St. Joseph Grade School; Karin K. Sage, an attorney and shareholder on the Business and Commercial Litigation team at Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, P.A. in Woodbridge; and Drew Boyle, a math teacher in Brick with his master's degree in educational administration and supervision from Rutgers University.

Hill said his running mates joined him after they were turned down by the Regular Republican Club's screening committee for the council race.

"They wanted to run on a slate with me and I have agreed as we have the same goals for Toms River," Hill said.

Lotano is a principal in the commercial Lotano Development Corp.; Kopp is a director of Kopp Electric Company and U.S. Army veteran, and is a member of the Silverton First Aid Squad. Geoghegan is a retired Toms River police officer and member of the Silverton Volunteer Fire Department and Silverton First Aid Squad.

"The Toms River We The People ticket will continue to pursue opportunities to purchase open space and reduce residential overdevelopment, focus on the downtown and Caudina redevelopment areas which will provide more jobs and a vibrant Downtown Toms River and continue to vigorously support our schools as they battle Trenton to restore state aid to our district and preserve our children and grandchildren’s futures," Hill said.

Rodrick said his slate "is a group of conservative candidates that are deeply concerned about the future of Toms River. Property taxes are already out of control and high density development threatens our quality of life."

He won election as Democrat in 2017 but switched to the Republican party in 2018; Rodrick has said he was a Republican for years before switching to the Democrats in what he says he thought would result in strong efforts to stop overdevelopment in Toms River, but returned to the GOP when he felt nothing was being accomplished by being with the Democrats.

But he has been critical of what he refers to as "the establishment GOP."

"Under the direction of indicted Republican Chairman George Gilmore, township officials have already joined in talks with developer Jack Morris and BASF, the current owner of the Ciba-Geigy property. Roughly the size of Hoboken, the site has a development potential of over 6,000 units. Out-of-control development is devastating for taxes, schools and our quality of life. It cannot continue. Gilmore’s handpicked slate, led by Joe Coronato, must be stopped. The future of Toms River depends on it."

Gilmore is on trial in federal court in Trenton on income tax fraud charges. Jury selection began Monday.

Hill, too, has been critical of Gilmore, and said he believes "it would be difficult running against the Gilmore Machine." He resigned from the Regular Republican Club over the handling of the screening process and vote for a mayoral candidate, and a preexisting campaign funding account that Hill was a party to has been frozen.

Hill said he didn’t realize just how difficult fund-raising would be as a result.

"Many of the people and businesses who have supported my campaign in the past are reluctant to contribute to me for fear of retaliation from Mr. Gilmore. While I don’t mind fighting the Machine I will not do it with one hand tied behind my back."

Geri Ambrosio, president of the Toms River Regular Republican Club, and Al Manforti, chair of the club, did not respond to an email requesting comment or information on the Regular Republican Club's slate of candidates.

Rhine, Momm and Meehan each have been quoted on the Toms River GOP Facebook page as looking forward to serving Toms River and counting on support.

Petro, meanwhile, said the Democrats are looking to do more to make improvements to life in Toms River.

"I’ve always been proud to call Toms River home, but I know this township has the potential to once again be a beacon for folks and families to put down their roots," he said. "We can do more, not just on escalating taxes and development missteps, but on improving the quality of life and increasing community engagement ... to make this town a better place for all of us.”

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