In spite of it all, Strada still a long shot in Toms River

Richard StradaThe race for mayor in Toms River has already seen one campaign fly off the rails, a GOP party boss in turmoil and the machinery of an old guard in peril as the townsfolk stand at the brink of a federal Superfund site that’s as big as the City of Hoboken.

In the midst of all of this, the three candidates for top dog in this Ocean County town of almost 90,000, with an annual $84 million budget, faced a sleepy audience last night in the gated retirement community of Greenbriar located off Route 70. This is a traditionally Republican burgh that’s been home to a GOP Council and for the most part a Democratic mayor since Toms River went from a township committee to a borough council form of government in 2002. Democrat Richard Strada, a former mayor, believes he has a legitimate shot at swinging the town into the blue column.

Following the back-to-back meltdowns of GOP Council President Gregory McGuckin’s campaign (unpaid tax liens) and Republican boss George Gilmore (alleged conflict-of-interest land deals), the Republicans stood up Tom Kelaher, a late entry attorney who appears to be in the bone-up stages of his campaign with less than a month left.

But Strada has more to worry about than Kelaher.

Councilman Carmine IntesoThe independent GOP candidacy of Councilman Carmine Inteso, like Strada a former mayor from the township committee era, will likely play a significant factor in the race. Inteso’s running an aggressive public campaign, and he was the lone candidate in the debate last night who routinely climbed out of his chair, walked to the front of the stage, and engaged the older crowd with a booming voice. He drew the biggest post-debate circle of senior citizens.

"He was the only one I could hear," said one man in his 60's. "He won."

While businessman Inteso is claiming to be the unbossed Republican, Strada, a dean at Ocean County College, is arguing that the GOP in Toms River - of which Inteso has been a part - simply doesn’t deserve a leadership role. Strada says he’s the one who’s exposed the Republicans, and now he deserves to succeed Democrat Paul Brush, who’s not seeking re-election.

"Forty-four percent," Strada told the crowd. "That’s how much municipal property taxes went up in four years, versus 2 percent when I was on the committee. Do the math.

"Do the math." It’s his campaign slogan, and a page ripped straight out of the South Jersey Democratic Party play-book in this year when Dems are trying to make incursions into longtime Republican strongholds. Strada’s message is fiscal responsibility and integrity.

But part of the trouble for Strada in addition to the presence in the race of Inteso and the fact that George W. Bush won in this town in 2004, is that the State Democratic Party hasn’t responded to his battle cry, and he’s slogging into clutch time with depleted coffers.

"You’d think they’d recognize that we have a great opportunity here," said Strada of the Democrats. "It’s as though they’ve made the decision that this is going to remain Republican." With state Sen. John Adler’s announcement that he would be challenging GOP incumbent U.S. Rep. Jim Saxton in the 3rd congressional district, Strada said he is hopeful Adler puts in an appearance here before Election Day next month.

The machine GOP appears to be in major regroup mode.
Tom Kelaher, left, greets Toms River resident Bill Thomas
Entering the race as the gentleman-outsider to replace the fallen McGuckin, Kelaher is a former Ocean County Prosecutor, deputy state Attorney General and U.S. Marine, a respected community elder who last night stuck to the basic GOP script. "The governor’s talking about selling our roads to for-profit corporations, and I’m really opposed to that," said the GOP candidate. Later in the debate he referred to Abbott School funding as "money going down a rat hole."

Sprinkling his speech with references to American history, Strada highlighted his career as a teacher and his lifelong commitment to the public interest. Then Inteso was jumping to his feet and reminding the audience that he had been a naval officer, even pilfering the public-private dichotomy from Strada, and apparently casting the more glamorous public role of Navy man against that of school teacher, leaving the chair-bound Strada to shake his head in wonderment.

Inteso didn’t get specific, but declared that he would work as mayor to bring a major employer to Toms River, possibly to locate on 1,700 acres of redevelopable land, site of the Ciba-Geigy Superfund site that the town is waiting to get mediated.

"We live here and play here, but we don’t work here," said Inteso. "The reality is that 15,000 to 20,000 people get in their cars and drive to work somewhere else. We should be the East Coast headquarters for something."

Toms River resident Florence Rosenthal asked Strada if he would give up his job as dean at the college to serve full-time as mayor. Strada gave a nervous "no" answer. Answering the same question, Kelaher said he would work full time for whatever the public thought the job was worth.

Inteso poured his stage presence into the breach later with the remark that while Democrats and Republicans would butt heads with a mayor in one party and a council in the other, he as an independent would be able to work with both and prevent the stagnation of government.

"To hear the debate on its face, you’d think that Carmine won," said Strada running mate Gary Clifton and Strada, helping himself to a cup of coffee as the candidates mingled after the debate, said Inteso was as much an Independent as Teddy Roosevelt was a Bull Moose.