{"id":2958,"date":"2019-04-01T05:03:32","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T09:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=2958"},"modified":"2019-04-01T05:03:52","modified_gmt":"2019-04-01T09:03:52","slug":"t-r-councilman-opens-salvo-against-regular-gop-recruits-entire-slate-to-run-against-partys-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2019\/04\/t-r-councilman-opens-salvo-against-regular-gop-recruits-entire-slate-to-run-against-partys-picks\/","title":{"rendered":"T.R. Councilman Launches Salvo Against Regular GOP, Recruits Slate to Run Against Party’s Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Dan

Dan Rodrick and his slate to challenge the regular TRGOP organization. (File Photos)<\/p><\/div>\n

There\u2019s a shakeup underway in Toms River\u2019s Republican circles, with a maverick contingent led by a current councilman set to challenge the party-favored candidates who are running for mayor and council.<\/p>\n

Councilman Dan Rodrick leads the ticket, seeking to replace fellow Republican Thomas Kelaher as mayor. The regular Republican organization has tapped former Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato for the seat.<\/p>\n

In a press release heavy on references to indicted party chairman George R. Gilmore and various high-density real estate development projects ongoing in town, Rodrick said his team represents a conservative, anti-development slate of candidates. Rodrick was first elected as a Democrat to the council, but quickly switched to the GOP after opposing Gov. Phil Murphy\u2019s policies, especially his deal with Sen. President Steve Sweeney to cut tens of millions of dollars from Toms River schools.<\/p>\n

Rodrick\u2019s ticket includes a former candidate, Justin Lamb, a local attorney and police officer who mounted a legitimate challenge in the primary election against longtime incumbent Councilwoman Maria Maruca, though Maruca went on to win both the primary race as well as the general election to keep her seat. Lamb\u2019s father serves as a councilman in Lavallette.<\/p>\n

GOP Councilman Maurice \u201cMo\u201d Hill is also planning to mount a primary challenge against the favored Coronato, however is not running as part of a completely separate slate of candidates.<\/p>\n

The regular Republicans are supporting labor leader\u00a0John Meehan, school board member Ginny Rhine and Christian Momm, a pharmaceutical executive, for the available seats on council. Meanwhile, Rodrick\u2019s ticket includes Lamb, Dr. Ken Londregin, a vice principal in the Old Bridge Township school district and engineer George Lobman, who serves as director of the Utility and Transportation Contractors Association.<\/p>\n

The group came out swinging in a scathing statement issued to the press over the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cMayoral candidate Joe Coronato is a land use attorney who has made a career out of getting developers what they want,\u201d the group said. \u201cAs an attorney, he represented developers in front of both the planning and zoning boards. Mr. Cornato\u2019s work made possible the recent construction of both Riverwood Chase and Cox Cro Crossing, both high density complexes in North Dover.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement called the regular Republicans a \u201cslate of unelectable, pro-development candidates with a bad record on taxes\u201d led by George Gilmore, who has been indicted on federal tax-related offenses and is set to begin trial shortly.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the direction of indicted Republican Chairman George Gilmore \u2013 township officials have already joined in talks with developer Jack Morris and BASF \u2013\u00a0 the current owner of the Ciba-Geigi property,\u201d the statement said, promoting an anti-overdevelopment agenda. \u201cRoughly the size of Hoboken, the site has a development potential of over 6000 units.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u201cI\u2019m running for mayor to put a stop to over-development and to stabilize taxes,\u201d said Rodrick. \u201cI will not approve the development of Ciba-Geigi \u00a0and I \u00a0have a plan to cut $3 Million from our budget in my first 3 months as mayor.\u00a0 I can\u2019t do it alone, so I\u2019ve assemble a slate of true conservatives that will support my agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Jersey\u2019s primary elections will be held June 4.<\/p>\n

<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a shakeup underway in Toms River\u2019s Republican circles, with a maverick contingent led by a current councilman set to challenge the party-favored candidates who are running for mayor and council. Councilman Dan Rodrick leads the ticket, seeking to replace fellow Republican Thomas Kelaher as mayor. The regular Republican organization has tapped former Ocean County […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3],"tags":[821,820,335,11],"class_list":["post-2958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","tag-dan-rodrick","tag-election-2019","tag-justin-lamb","tag-toms-river-nj-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/pjimage.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}