TOMS RIVER, NJ – Ocean County GOP Chairman George Gilmore met with Toms River Jewish Community Council leaders for dinner this week as he hashed out a plan B for his campaign to unseat Toms River Mayor Maurice Hill in November.
According to insiders, Gilmore met this week with Baruch “Booky” Kalusznyer and Sam Ellenbogen, leaders of the Toms River Jewish Community Council to work to pull the Orthodox Jewish community block vote from Hill, into Gilmore’s camp.
Gilmore is endorsing former decertified Toms River Regular Republican Club President Geri Ambrosio for mayor. Gilmore recently negotiated a $90,000 per year job for Ambrosio with loyalist Mayor Carmen Amato as a tax assessor in Berkeley Township.
At first, Gilmore sought to decertify the Republicans of the Toms River GOP club, but that vote failed after Ocean County GOP Council voters rejected it.
The fight between Hill and Ambrosio in June’s primary election will revolve around which side can garner the Orthodox Jewish bloc vote and support. In 2019, Hill won a three-way primary election between himself former Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph Coronato, and Dan Rodrick.
Rodrick, who the Jewish community has scorned over the years over his resistance to allowing for overdevelopment and deregulating land requirements for houses of worship in town, has not yet indicated he is running for mayor in 2023.
Ambrosio and Hill will now have two months to court the influential bloc vote that could determine who the Republican nominee is in June.
Although Hill has been supportive of the growing community over the years and maintains a close relationship with Jewish community leaders, some are upset because they feel Hill did not go far enough in accommodating houses of worship on small properties. Although Hill did reduce the acreage requirements, some in the community want the acreage requirement abolished.
If Ambrosio agrees to abolish the acreage requirements for houses of worship, she will surely garner the community’s support in June.
After losing Wednesday’s election to decertify his rival GOP club in Toms River, Gilmore promised unity amongst Republicans.
The next night, he was plotting once again to undermine the party’s decision saying he will be announcing his final lineup of candidates soon, saying he is replacing one of the candidates on his ticket.