In Toms River, GOP Still Holds Strong

TOMS RIVER, NJ — As the dust settles from nearly eight months of bitter campaigning in Toms River, there are a few takeaways from Tuesday's election results.

First, Republicans still hold sway strongly in the township. Second, Democrats are gaining ground, albeit slowly. Third: Voter participation in years where there isn't a presidential election continues to be less than stellar.

The unofficial tallies from Tuesday's election gave Republican Maurice "Mo" Hill a slim, 265-vote margin over Democrat Jonathan Petro. (There are provisional ballots to be counted, and mail-in votes have until Thursday to arrive.)

The close mayoral vote tally was not unexpected, because of the endless stream of vitriolic campaign literature directed at Hill, much of which centered on accusations that he is unduly influenced by the Orthodox Jewish community. Petro, who was accused of being anti-Semitic because of some of the campaign literature, made a strong showing, winning 26 of the 63 districts. Hill won 36 districts, and the two tied in one district.

In the council races, by contrast, the Democratic candidates were the top vote-getters in just three districts. Matthew Lotano, Joshua Kopp and Kevin Geoghegan all won by more than 2,400 votes each, with Geoghegan's margin the smallest at 2,425 over Michele Williams, 11,612 to 9,187, according to unofficial vote totals.

Voter participation was higher in this year's election, with more than 22,000 votes cast in the mayoral race. That's 10,000 votes more than were cast in 2015, when Mayor Thomas Kelaher won his current term, defeating Susan Pontoriero by more than 2,300 votes. But the number of voters going to the polls remains below 50 percent; there are more than 65,000 registered voters in Toms River, and fewer than 34 percent went to the polls on Tuesday, despite the hotly contested mayor's race.

The contentiousness that marked the campaign likely will not die down any time soon, because zoning concerns will be on the front burner when Hill, Lotano, Geoghegan and Kopp take their oaths of office in January.

High on the list will be the issue of minimum lot sizes that flared up in mid-September. Toms River has a minimum lot size in some zones of 10 acres, and negotiations have been underway to possibly reduce that to 7 acres, as part of a settlement of religious discrimination claims with the Justice Department.

However, when a potential ordinance change was leaked, it became a campaign issue, with claims that a secret deal had been struck with the Orthodox Jewish community for a 2-acre zoning provision. The claims fueled rumors that Hill was being unduly influenced because Hill's neighbor, Scott Gartner, had threatened to sue Toms River over its current 10-acre provision.

Council President George Wittmann tabled the discussion until after the new council is sworn in. What will happen at that point — and how the Justice Department views the situation — is unclear.

The council will remain a 5-2 split between Republicans and Democrats. There had been some improving bipartisanship prior to the September conflict over the zoning issue. Hill has at times praised the bipartisan efforts of Democrats Laurie Huryk and Terrance Turnbach, so whether those fences are mended will be worth watching.

Hill will undoubtedly be on the hot seat from the start. The closeness of the mayoral outcome shows even Republicans were willing to throw off party ties if they believe a candidate does not have their best interests at heart. Those doubts were seeded continuously, going back to the three-way primary, when Hill won the Republican nomination after breaking with the township's Republican Club over its ties to George Gilmore.

Hill's break with Gilmore, after the then-Ocean County GOP chairman was convicted on two counts at a federal tax evasion trial, made him a target within the party. His friendship with Gartner, who is Hill's neighbor, became the easiest point of attack.

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