Mark Caliguire to screen for freeholder in Somerset

In a letter he sent today to Somerset County Republican Committee members, second-term Montgomery Township Committeeman Mark Caliguire announced he intends to seek their support to replace retiring Freeholder Rick Fontana.

“The current financial crisis requires leaders with innovative solutions that lower taxes.  I’ve been on the front line of the effort to do that in Montgomery and I’m eager to add my energy, ideas and business experience to the considerable talents already assembled on our Freeholder Board,” said Caliguire, a former New Jersey deputy attorney general who owns a privately held specialty paper company with 100 employees.   

“In Montgomery, I implemented a groundbreaking program that incentivizes municipal employees to develop and present ideas that produce real and recurring savings,” he added. “That program has motivated our staff to be our partner in efficient government and saved taxpayers significant dollars.  This represents the kind of approach I’ll take in county government.”

Caliguire said he wants to carry the discussion beyond shared services by identifying which services truly must be performed by local government and which can be more efficiently performed through regionalization or by county government. 

“In Montgomery, we’re about to shift police and EMS dispatching responsibilities over to the county and save our taxpayers about $600,000 a year,” said the candidate. “This is a great example of delivering a quality service more efficiently and I applaud the Freeholders for this initiative.  But, we can and must do more.  I’ll work with local officials to help them lower their tax bills by expanding this effort to other areas.”

The committeeman screened for freeholder two years ago in a losing bid, when Assemblywoman Denise Coyle vacated her freeholder seat to successfully run for a seat in the legislature.

To date, Bernards Committeeman John Carpenter and former ten-year prosecutor Thomas Roughneen have also submitted letters of interest to Somerset County Republican chairman Dale Florio and the GOP committee concerning the vacant freeholder seat.