Carmine Inteso

 Toms River Mayor Thomas KelaherReflecting on when he first moved to Toms River over 50 years ago, Thomas P. Kelaher said there were more chickens and chicken coops than people and houses, and now the Ocean County shore town has a population of almost 100,000 and is the seventh largest municipality in the state.

Still, it has some distance to go before it becomes a full-fledged city, as New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg reminded Kelaher when they lunched several days ago at a meeting of mayors.

"When he asked me to describe the characteristics of Toms River, I told him we did have 600 miles of streets and he said, ‘Tom, that’s nice, but in New York City we have 6,000 miles of streets,’" said Kelaher, 75, who was sworn in as the town’s second elected mayor at Town Hall on Tuesday.

The Ocean County Observer has endorsed Democrat Richard Strada for Mayor of Toms River and is recommending the election of Democratic Council candidates.  READ

Drawing a contrast between himself and his opponents, Toms River Councilman Carmine Inteso, Jr., promises that serving as mayor will be his only job if he's elected. Inteso is a Republican running as an Independent against Democrat Richard Strada and Republican Thomas Kelaher.

Toms River mayoral candidates, left to right: Democrat Richard Strada, Independent Carmine Inteso, and Republican Tom Kelaher
The 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 town 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. Democratic Councilman Richard Strada, a former mayor, believes he has a legitimate shot to swing the town convincingly into the blue column.

Former Ocean County Prosecutor Thomas Kelaher will replace Gregory P. McGuckin as the Republican candidate in the Toms River Mayoral race.

The Toms River Municipal Committee met tonight and elected Kelaher to fill the ballot spot left vacant by McGuckin, who formally dropped out of the race earlier today.

Kelaher, 74, served for five years as Ocean County Prosecutor before retiring in June.

Five years later, Republicans could be the beneficiary of "Bob's Law" -- a New Jersey Supreme Court decision to allow Democrats to replace Robert Torricelli on the ballot with Frank Lautenberg in the '02 U.S. Senate race. In two of the state's larger towns, where Republicans could win mayoral seats they had held until recent years, their potential success could be impeded by flawed candidates. A change of candidates -- it's administratively feasible to do that for at least another month -- could change the races entirely.

In Toms River, population 89,706, the Internal Revenue Service has over $120,000 in federal tax lients against Council President Greg McGuckin, the Republican candidate for Mayor. And in Hamilton Township, population 87,109, John Bencivengo, the GOP mayoral candidate, faces allegations that he sought to profit over an Anthrax scare at the Hamilton Post Office after 9/11.

Toms River Council President Greg McGuckin, the GOP candidate for Mayor, "has more than $120,000 in federal tax liens filed against him," according to an Asbury Park Press report.  "The liens totaling $121,913.87, are for unpaid individual income taxes from the years 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005," according to the news story.  McGuckin faces Democrat Richard Strada, a former Mayor, and Carmine Inteso, a Republican Councilman running as an Independent.

Toms River has been around since the 18th century, but this year's mayoral race will only be the second ever in this Ocean County town of 89,706.

That’s because the town, which until last year was officially named Dover Township, changed its form of government in 2003 from a Township Committee that appointed the mayor to the more common mayor/council setup. Since then, odd alliances and rivalries have taken shape, giving way to a Democratic mayor, Paul Brush, and a council controlled completely by Republicans.

Now that Brush is not seeking a second term, Democrat Richard Strada, a former committeeman who served a brief stint as Mayor under the old system in 1978, is facing off against Republican town council President Gregory McGuckin. Councilman Carmine Inteso, another Republican, is trying to enter the race as an independent along with a slate of three council candidates, but his petition has been challenged in court.

The race for Mayor of Toms River got interesting yesterday -- just hours before the primary closed.  Former Republican Mayor Carmine Inteso  filed an independent slate in Dover that cost the GOP some votes.  The Ocean County GOP organization candidate for Mayor, Council President Gregory McGuckin, won the primary with 55% and now faces Richard Strada, who served as Mayor in the 1970's and ran for Congress against Christopher Smith in 1992.  The incumbent, Democrat Paul Brush, was elected as an Independent in 2003 -- the first Mayor directly elected by the voters -- and is not seeking a second term.