{"id":861,"date":"2017-05-16T01:41:23","date_gmt":"2017-05-16T05:41:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/?p=861"},"modified":"2017-05-16T01:41:23","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T05:41:23","slug":"toms-river-gop-primary-challenger-i-stood-up-to-14m-firehouse-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/2017\/05\/toms-river-gop-primary-challenger-i-stood-up-to-14m-firehouse-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Toms River GOP Primary Challenger: I ‘Stood Up’ to $14M Firehouse Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Justin

Justin Lamb and Maria Maruca (Campaign Photos)<\/p><\/div>\n

Responding to revelations that he or his followers were called\u00a0\u201canarchists\u201d in a memo written by a high-ranking Toms River Republican club official, Justin Lamb, who is running to replace incumbent Maria Maruca on November\u2019s ballot to represent Ward 1, said Tuesday that his motives in opposing a $14 million firehouse construction referendum were pure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re calling my volunteers anarchists,\u201d said Lamb, who publicly posted on social media that he was making calls against the referendum, which ultimately failed. \u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on with this club, but the reason I\u2019m running is because someone eventually has to stand up and say enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lamb was responding to an article posted by the Ocean County Politics blog<\/a>, in which\u00a0Republican Club President Robert DiBiase was quoted as saying in an e-mail to club members: \u201cWe will continue to expose them as the anarchists they are!\u201d<\/p>\n

DiBiase, the article stated, was forwarding a\u00a0memo written by school board member\u00a0Christopher Raimann who accused Lamb of spreading misinformation about the firehouse project, which would have combined Toms River Fire companies 1 and 2 into a single, three-story firehouse.<\/p>\n

The $14 million plan was swiftly defeated, 535-306, on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two informational meetings they had were at difficult times for people, and then you had the election on Mother\u2019s Day weekend for a seven hour window,\u201d said Lamb, who accused township officials of failing to provide enough information about the plan, which sources say could have made room for the township to hire paid firefighters who would be stationed on the building\u2019s third floor.<\/p>\n

Lamb\u2019s candidacy came under fire last week, when the Republican club released information showing that Lamb\u2019s previous voting record showed him voting in Island Heights and Lavallette, but not Toms River.<\/p>\n

Lamb told Shorebeat Tuesday that he grew up in Lavallette, owns a property in Island Heights, but for the past year has been living at Buermann Avenue and is eligible to run for office. A check of tax records showed Lamb does, indeed, own the Toms River property.<\/p>\n

Lamb, who is courting votes on both sides of Barnegat Bay \u2013 Ward 1 includes the entirety of the township\u2019s barrier island as well as several mainland bayfront neighborhoods \u2013 said he wants to cut administrative costs at town hall and be a watchdog for residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cA serious, surgical look needs to be done on the budget,\u201d said Lamb, a Lavallette police officer. \u201cI\u2019m a Republican, a conservative, and that\u2019s my stance.\u201d<\/p>\n

His opponent, Maruca, said the council this year reduced a potential tax increase to a minimal $22 tax increase, even with the loss of Superstorm Sandy aid and a badly-damaged tax base still hurting from the storm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve proven myself as a resident of Ward 1 on both sides of the bay,\u201d said Maruca. \u201cI\u2019ve been through a lot together with the residents of Ward 1. We\u2019re committed to see that everybody gets back in their home. I think I\u2019ve worked hard for the residents of Ward 1, and they seem pleased.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lamb is hoping to pull off a repeat of his father\u2019s maverick Republican victory in Lavallette. In 2004, his father, Robert Lamb, ran for council along with now-mayor Walter LaCicero against the wishes of the Republican organization. Both won. Lamb remains on council in Lavallette.<\/p>\n

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

Responding to revelations that he or his followers were called\u00a0\u201canarchists\u201d in a memo written by a high-ranking Toms River Republican club official, Justin Lamb, who is running to replace incumbent Maria Maruca on November\u2019s ballot to represent Ward 1, said Tuesday that his motives in opposing a $14 million firehouse construction referendum were pure. \u201cThey\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,3],"tags":[335,336,11],"class_list":["post-861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","tag-justin-lamb","tag-maria-maruca","tag-toms-river-nj-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/lamb_maruca.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861","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=861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shorebeat.com\/tomsriver\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}