Post by admin on Sept 1, 2006 15:59:29 GMT -5
CANDIDATE: Gibadlo to seek unexpired freeholder term
ISSUE: Controversy forced Leonard Inzerillo from race
Dems back ex-businessman
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 09/1/06
BY JOSEPH SAPIA
STAFF WRITER
Monmouth County Democrats have picked their candidate — a retired Middletown businessman — to run for a one-year unexpired term on the county Board of Freeholders.
J. Gregory Gibadlo was chosen Thursday night to replace Leonard Inzerillo, who won the Democratic primary in June but dropped out of the race last week amid concerns about overdue campaign finance reports.
"I have the time to do this. This is going to be a full-time job for me," Gibadlo, 59, said Thursday night. "We really now have to just get to it."
Gibadlo will run with Barbara McMorrow, also 59, a former member of the Freehold Borough Council who is seeking a full three-year term on the freeholder board.
"I'm thrilled with my running mate," McMorrow said. "He brings a great deal of (business) experience."
Their Republican opponents are incumbent Freeholder Anna Little, 38, for the one-year term and Andrew Lucas, 29, a member of the Manalapan Township Committee, for the full term.
"I'm looking forward to a spirited campaign," Little said. "I"m happy my opponent's been chosen so we can get to the issues."
Gibadlo stressed the need for fiscal responsibility in county government.
"We just can't allow open checkbooks," he said. "That's the type of thing I'm going to go after."
Gibadlo said that in his career as a hotel/tourism/hospitality executive, "I've certainly met a wide, cross range of people"
"You have to learn to keep your eyes open, look for tips. That's what I'm going to do as freeholder," he said.
"Barbara and I will be making the rounds, finding out what the issues are," he added.
Gibadlo beat out two other candidates: Amod Choudhary, 41, of Colts Neck, a lawyer and township school board member; and Jason Butkowski, 26, of Freehold Township, a spokesman for the state Senate Democrats in Trenton.
McMorrow praised the Democrats for picking a candidate in a vote rather than making an appointment.
"I'm glad it was a democratic process," she said. "The voice of the people was heard. As we brought the voice of the people here, we'll bring it to the people in Monmouth County."
There are 872 seats on the county Democratic Executive Committee, but only 647 are currently filled; 145 members attended Thursday's meeting to vote. County chairman Victor V. Scudiery declined to reveal the vote totals.
Democrats had wanted Inzerillo to drop out by Sept. 20, the deadline for replacing his name on the Nov. 7 general election ballot, thus removing an issue before it became a political one in the election.
Inzerillo, 56, of Middletown dropped out for that reason, although the finance reports were not tied to the freeholder race. Instead, they involved an exploratory committee Inzerillo formed for a 2005 state Assembly bid and the late filing to the state Election Law Enforcement Commission was blamed on a confusion within the campaign.
This story contains information from a previous Asbury Park Press story.