{"id":3006,"date":"2019-04-17T18:09:28","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T22:09:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=3006"},"modified":"2019-04-17T21:00:59","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T01:00:59","slug":"toms-river-mayoral-hopefulls-gilmore-should-step-down-from-gop-leadership-county-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2019\/04\/toms-river-mayoral-hopefulls-gilmore-should-step-down-from-gop-leadership-county-post\/","title":{"rendered":"Toms River Mayoral Hopefuls: Gilmore Should Step Down From GOP Leadership, County Post"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ocean

Former Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato at a press conference in 2018. (Photo: Daniel Nee)<\/p><\/div>\n

Following his conviction on charges related to tax evasion on Wednesday<\/a>, three prominent Toms River political figures have called on Ocean County Republican Chairman George R. Gilmore to resign his post.<\/p>\n

Joseph D. Coronato, who most recent served as Ocean County prosecutor and is now running for Toms River mayor, released a statement saying he was \u201csaddened\u201d by the news of Gilmore\u2019s conviction, but still hopes he steps down.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a former prosecutor, I have the utmost respect for our legal system,\u201d said Coronato. \u201cWhile I am deeply saddened by this news on a personal level and respect his constitutional right to appeal the verdict, I am hopeful George does what is best for the party and steps aside as Chairman while he continues his legal fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toms River Councilman Maurice \u201cMo\u201d Hill, who is also running to represent the Republicans in the township\u2019s mayoral race, likewise called for Gilmore\u2019s resignation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Gilmore\u2019s insistence on holding on to his positions of public trust despite being convicted by a jury of his peers does not serve the best interest of the people of Ocean County or the Republican Party,\u201d said Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile I understand that Mr. Gilmore plans to appeal his convictions, I hereby call up all Republican elected officials in Ocean County and NJ Republican Chairman Doug Steinhardt to prevail upon Gilmore to do the right thing and resign from his offices,\u201d Hill added.<\/p>\n

Yet another candidate for Toms River mayor, Councilman Dan Rodrick, similarly called on Gilmore to step down from his positions. Rodrick had already taken aim at Gilmore while he was under indictment, urging fellow Republicans to support his slate of candidates for council over those supported by Gilmore\u2019s county Republican organization. Additionally, he called on Coronato to drop out of the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chairman should step down and so should his hand-picked candidate for mayor, Joe Coronato,\u201d said Rodrick. \u201cJoe Coronato has worked with developers and his relationship with the chairman will make him unelectable in November.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilmore serves as county Republican chair as well as chairman of the Ocean County Board of Elections. He could face up to 35 years in federal prison following his conviction on multiple counts of white collar offenses, ranging from tax evasion to lying on a loan application.<\/p>\n

As expected, the leader of the Ocean County Democratic organization also called on Gilmore to resign from his position on the elections board.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must maintain the public\u2019s trust in our election system,\u201d said Wyatt Earp, county Democratic chair. \u201cNow that the Republican chairman and Board of Elections Republican appointee George Gilmore has been found guilty of a felony, at the least he should resign from his position on the Board of Elections to maintain the citizens\u2019 faith in our election process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gilmore\u2019s law firm represents numerous Ocean County municipalities, including Seaside Heights. A council meeting in Seaside Heights on Wednesday was uneventful and the news was not discussed.<\/p>\n

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

Following his conviction on charges related to tax evasion on Wednesday, three prominent Toms River political figures have called on Ocean County Republican Chairman George R. Gilmore to resign his post. Joseph D. Coronato, who most recent served as Ocean County prosecutor and is now running for Toms River mayor, released a statement saying he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3],"tags":[829,821,827,691,828,11],"class_list":["post-3006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","tag-2019-toms-river-mayoral-election","tag-dan-rodrick","tag-george-gilmore","tag-joseph-coronato","tag-maurice-mo-hill","tag-toms-river-nj-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/DSC_0009.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3006","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=3006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}