Democrats hope to make past inch-by-inch gains count in Monmouth

Monmouth County GOP Chairman Adam PuharicATLANTIC HIGHLANDS - Just one day after the 2007 general election, Monmouth County GOP Chairman Adam Puharic posted the results on his party’s website and noted gleefully that the Republicans had sumo tossed the Democrats out of the circle in every non-municipal contest - with the exception of one: a freeholder match between Democrat John D'Amico and Republican Jeffrey Cantor.

At that point, D'Amico-Cantor was undecided, and Puharic mused about the possibility of humiliating the Democrats with a shutout. But post provisional and absentee ballots, D'Amico squeaked out a victory and became the second Democrat in as many years to win a seat on the Monmouth County Freeholder Board, in a traditionally Republican stronghold.

The Democrats hyped that as significant, one more foot in the door following Barbara McMorrow’s win the year before.

Even heading into Election Day, State Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Cryan had played down what insiders foresaw as Sen. Ellen Karcher’s demise when he again advised reporters to keep their eyes on D'Amico.

Among the Democratic establishment, Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex) took Karcher’s loss the hardest, while Cryan and County Chairman Victor Scudiery agonized over Jack Hill’s failure to become sheriff, but couldn’t resist reveling in D'Amico’s win and the idea that in the next election they could flip the freeholder board into Democratic Party hands.

Saturday at the Monmouth County Democratic Convention at the Shore Casino in Atlantic Highlands, Scudiery stood on-stage with his party’s brand new 2008 nominees for freeholder - Amy Mallet of Fair Haven and Glen Mason of Hazlet. Freeholder candidate Glen Mason of Hazlet

"We are going to walk away jovial and happy in November," said the county chairman, who kicked off the event by acknowledging the party’s power players in the room: Sen. Frank Lautenberg, U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone and U.S. Rep. Rush Holt.

With those three on the ballot in a presidential year, Scudiery hopes the Democrats can chip out at least one more win from the two freeholder contests and thereby reverse the balance of power from 3-2 Republican to 3-2 Democrat.

"There’s definitely an opportunity this year because you’d anticipate a strong turnout," said former Neptune Mayor Mike Beson, who had eyed his own run for freeholder but backed down when Mason and Mallet emerged as the party’s choices.

Leonard Inzerillo also told party leaders he wanted to be considered as a freeholder candidate before officially withdrawing his name Saturday.

"We’re facing a different type of election for the county this year," Leonard InzerilloInzerillo said. "We started with Freeholder McMorrow getting down there. Now, you know it’s real hard to get anything accomplished when you’re in the minority."

Inzerillo and other Democrats on Saturday boasted that D'Amico’s presence on the board had already begun to wilt the GOP. Mallet in her acceptance speech said the two Democratic freeholders together pressured the majority in the 11th hour to pass a budget with no additional taxes.

When he went to the microphone to accept his party’s nomination, Mason, a retired detective and seven-year member of the Hazlet School Board, said, "I believe I can make a difference. I will work with Barbara McMorrow and John D'Amico to build on the positive change that they have already accomplished."

Born in Port Monmouth and raised in Keansburg, Mason said the school board in Hazlet under his leadership as board president has succeeded in passing conservative budgets. "I’m a retired person on a fixed income," he said. "We have to watch these taxes."

Newly elected Marlboro Mayor Jonathan Hornik, who provided Monmouth County Democrats with their other significant cause for celebration last year as he blew out incumbent Robert Kleinberg in the 12th legislative district’s biggest town, introduced Mallet at Saturday’s convention.

"If my election was about anything, it was about change," said Hornik, the first Democrat elected in Marlboro in 16 years. "Change is something we have to be embrace."

Alluding to a federal corruption probe of the Republican-controlled freeholder board that resulted in bribery charges in 2005 against the late Republican Freeholder President Harry Larrison Jr., and other scandals that have plagued the board, the mayor noted a quote from the Asbury Park Press referring to the Republican Party’s edge in experience in the area of county governance.

"I’ve got news for you," Hornik said to applause, "if you get your experience from the last 20 years on the freeholder board, it’s not the experience we need. Club Monmouth must end."

Even though the headlines might have been humiliating for them last year, Democrats maintain that with Mallet, Mason and the right dynamics in an even election year - particularly given the presence on the ballot of Pallone, whom State Committeeman Bob Salmon of Marlboro described Saturday as the most popular person in Monmouth County government - they are now poised to seize control of the county.

"I want to say, this is going to be a great year for us because we're going to be in the majority," Pallone told Saturday's crowd. "And I've watched it build with Barbara and John D'Amico and now finally this year I believe we're going to have four Democrats on the Board of Freeholders. It's going to make a difference, it really is."