A just filed lawsuit seeks to ensure that one candidate is near certain to win a seat on the Toms River Council, FAA News has learned.
Earlier this year, Toms River Councilman Dan Rodrick was elected to the mayoral position. At that point a vacancy was created in his Ward 2 council seat which does not expire until 2025.
The Council has selected George Lobman to fill the vacancy for the remainder of 2024.
An election will be held later this year to fill the vacancy for 2025. The primary elections will be held on Tuesday, June 4.
Kevin Geoghegan and William Byrne have filed petitions to run in the Republican primary election.
Susan Gato Payne is the sole candidate who filed a petition to run in the Democrat primary election.
Byrne is Rodrick's handpicked candidate. On the other hand, Geoghegan is aligned with ousted Mayor Maurice Hill. Geoghegan previously served on the council in an at-large seat from 2020 through last year when he was defeated in the Republican primary along with his running mates and then-Mayor Maurice Hill.
Essentially, the upcoming Republican primary election is gearing up to be a race between a Rodrick supporter - who would support Rodrick's current majority on the council - and a Hill supporter who would boost opposition against Rodrick.
This primary election is important as Toms River typically votes Republican in the general elections, therefore whichever candidate wins in the primary elections is likely to take victory in the general elections.
However, things have taken a major twist as Geoghegan has just filed legal action alleging that Byrne's candidacy must be voided on several procedural grounds.
Obviously, if Geoghegan succeeds in court, he is very likely to regain a seat on the council.
According to his filing in New Jersey Superior Court in Ocean County, Byrne was a long-time Democrat and only changed parties to Republican very recently. Accordingly, his switch has not even gone into effect yet. Glaringly, he left blank the "what party are you a member of" column, indicating that he could not honestly assert to already be a member of the Republican party.
Additionally, there were a number of irregularities with Byrne's petition, including that Councilwoman Lynn O'toole notarized the Oath of Allegiance and she was the signer of the nominating petition. As a sitting council member and overseer of the Clerk's Office, she has a conflict of interest in the election of incoming council members.
In addition, the Affidavit of Person Who Circulates Petition and Witnesses Signatures was not properly notarized.
The petition also failed to include a functioning campaign email address as required by state law.
Moreover, Byrne requested that the "Regular Republican Club of Ocean County" be his official slogan, despite not having submitted any documentation that the club endorses this candidacy.
Finally, the County Line Bracketing structure violates several constitutional rights.
The complaint, which names as defendants Byrne, O'toole, Rodrick, and Ocean County Clerk Scott Colabella, seeks an injunction barring Byrne from being placed on the election ballot.
Geoghegan initially submitted his objections to Byrne's petition to Colabella mere days after the petition was filed. Colabella ignored the objections, saying that "after speaking to the Township Attorney, Byrne was found to be a member of the Republican party, and that rest of the objections were beyond his purview."
As the primary elections will take place in less 2 months, Geoghegan filed a Motion for Order To Show Cause, seeking a hearing on short notice.
Agreeing that the matter is emergent, Ocean County Superior Court Assignment Judge Francis Hodgson signed the Order To Show Cause and scheduled a hearing on April 29.
To join a FAA News WhatsApp Group, click here.
To join the FAA News WhatsApp Status, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment