GOP Mayoral Debate On Tap In Toms River: How To Watch

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Toms River Republican voters will have an opportunity to hear from the four candidates seeking the party's nomination as candidate for mayor.

The four candidates — incumbent Mayor Maurice "Mo" Hill, Geraldine "Geri" Ambrosio, Councilman Daniel Rodrick and Robert Bianchini — were invited in April to the debate to formally discuss issues facing Toms River and to try to persuade voters to make them the Republican candidate.

The debate is set for 6 p.m. Thursday, May 18, and will be livestreamed on the Hudson Media Group's YouTube channel and on Vimeo on the company's website. It was arranged by Pat O'Melia, president of Hudson Media Group and host of the "Shore Show," which focuses on the Toms River-Seaside Heights tourism scene.

While the campaign officially kicked off when the candidates filed their petitions on March 27, it has been unofficially underway since Hill was sworn in as mayor in January 2020.

Rodrick, who challenged Hill and Joseph Coronato in the 2019 election, has remained adversarial since losing in the 2019 GOP primary, opposing the township's budgets on a yearly basis and demanding cuts even as the township's municipal purposes tax rate remained flat. He has demonstrated his opposition to development by voting against routine resolutions for items such as performance guarantees on developments that were approved by the Planning Board several years before Hill became mayor.

In a text message to Patch Thursday morning, Rodrick said he will not be attending the debate. He said he was told Hill would not be attending the debate because of a fundraiser being held for Hill Thursday night.

"Given that Mayor Hill will not be at the debate, I will not be going either," Rodrick said. "The people of Toms River want to see a debate between the frontrunners."

A request to Hill's campaign for comment was not immediately answered.

The unofficial campaign has had the undercurrent of the division among Toms River Republicans, between those who support Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore and those who split from him in April 2019, after Gilmore was convicted in federal court of failing to pay payroll taxes and submitting a false loan application.

Hill split from Gilmore and campaigned for mayor after Coronato was chosen as the party's candidate during the screening committee process. The fight turned publicly ugly when Hill filed suit to gain access to campaign funds raised on his behalf, and Hill's victory over Coronato and Rodrick in the 2019 GOP primary solidified the split. A pardon from President Donald Trump in January 2021 spared Gilmore prison time, and he has been trying to reestablish his control over the Toms River portion of the Republican Party ever since.

A vote earlier in 2023 over the official GOP club representing Toms River went in favor of the Republicans of Toms River, the club established by Hill and his supporters in 2019, in spite of Gilmore narrowly winning re-election as chairman of the Ocean County Republican Party.

Ambrosio remained loyal to Gilmore through his ouster as Ocean County GOP chairman in 2019, when he was forced to step down over the conviction, and has been a vocal critic of Hill as part of the Toms River Republicans, who were ousted as the official party of the township.

She has been a regular presence at Township Council meetings over the last 18 months, and has taken up positions opposing a number of township moves, including the controversial downtown redevelopment project that has two 10-story apartment towers slated for the former Red Carpet Inn property.

Bianchini is a new entrant into the fray, and is running on a platform opposing the downtown redevelopment plan and overdevelopment.

Hill has not shied from any of the challengers, with campaign literature attacking Rodrick over his switch in 2018 from the Democratic to the Republican party after he was elected to council, and calling him "a con man."

Hill's campaign has attacked Ambrosio, accusing her of being beholden to special interests with the claim she has received an endorsement from the Toms River Jewish Community Council —the same allegation that has been made against Hill going back to the 2019 campaign. The Toms River Jewish Community Council has not endorsed anyone, its representatives told the Asbury Park Press.

Note: This article has been updated with comment from Councilman Daniel Rodrick.