GOP Outspends Dems Three Times Over In Toms River Race

Heading into Election Day, Toms River Republicans are outspending Democrats in the race for mayor and council, and doing so by a wide margin.

Mayor Thomas Kelaher and John Sevastakis, George Wittman and Maurice Hill (all incumbents) have spent more than three times the amount former mayor Paul Brush has spent with his slate of Robert Bianchini, Mary Malagiere and Matthew Sage. Meanwhile, the lone independent candidate, Donald R. Flett, has done so little spending he is not required to report it to the state.

Kelaher and his team have spent just under $60,000 through the end of October, while Brush and his team have spent just below $17,000. Flett comes in at under $4,000.

Kelaher’s re-election campaign has received support from a number of area law and engineering firms, most of them traditional contributors to local republican campaigns. These include Citta, Holzapfel & Zabarsky; Dasti, Murphy & McGuckin; and Kelaher, Van Dyke & Moriarty. Kelaher’s largest single business contributor was Henry J. Mancini & Associates, which contributed $1,000 to his re-election fund.

Those same firms (among others) also contributed to the individual campaigns of the GOP’s three council candidates. Along with money contributed to Kelaher’s individual campaign, those monies were then pushed to the joint campaign fund for all four candidates.

From its $67,900 in total contributions through October 27, so far the Committee to Re-Elect Kelaher, Sevastakis, Wittman & Hill has spent $59,837 in the Toms River election cycle.

For the GOP, these figures are roughly on par with other local races, including Brick, where Republicans have spent about $50,000, but less than neighboring Berkeley, where the local GOP’s campaign has spent about $26,000.

Toms River Democrats have not kept pace. Combined they have spent $16,947 through the end of October, most of that focused on the mayoral race.

Brush’s campaign has spent $12,047 through November 1. He has received contributions from several unions (Sheet Metal Workers Local Union #27 and Plumbers & Pipefitters Local #9, both $500), and a $1,000 contribution from the firm of Carluccio, Leone, Dimon, Doyle, Sacks.

The fund for the Democrats’ council team, by contrast, had spent under $800 through November 3. The largest recent contribution to their fund came from Sheet Metal Workers Local Union #27 ($1,500). That low figure is because most of the Democrats’ council spending has come individually, with the candidates spending in the neighborhood of $1,600 each on their campaigns. Between the three individual candidates they have spent a total of $4,900.

Toms River Democrats have outspent Democrats in neighboring Brick Township ($9,600 as of Friday), but trail well behind spending in neighboring Berkeley Township, where the campaign for Varano, Egan, Mazzella & Olsen has spent more than $40,000 through Oct. 28.

Trailing far behind has been Flett’s independent candidacy. His campaign has not spent more than $4,000, nor has he received any contributions of $300 or more. Because of this, he is not required to file detailed information with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 8.