Scarpelli replacement expected after new year
GOP council president wants time to interview Dem candidates
BY PATRICIA A. MILLER
Staff Writer

Council President Anthony Matthews wants to keep the selection process for a new mayor as nonpartisan as possible.

So Matthews, a Republican, has proposed a subcommittee of him and Councilwomen Ruthanne Scaturro and Kathy Russell to interview the three people whose names were submitted by local Democratic chairman Michael Blandina on Dec. 15.

“The only way to truly avoid some of that is to have Kathy Russell sit on the committee,” Matthews said. “I just want to make sure for something as important as this is, to have both sides represented.”

Russell is the lone Democrat on the seven-member council. Longtime Democratic Mayor Joseph C. Scarpelli resigned on Dec. 8. Scarpelli cited “personal reasons” for his departure.

Former Mayor and state Assemblyman Daniel F. Newman Sr., former Councilwoman Kim Casten and Planning Board Chairman Daniel Kelly were the three names Blandina submitted.

Blandina called the creation of a subcommittee a “delaying tactic” on the part of the Republicans, a charge that angered Matthews.

“All three of these individuals are known in town,” Blandina said. “We didn’t give them strangers. It’s politics as usual and the people of Brick Township deserve better.”

Matthews disagreed.

“I invite him to sit in front of the council and talk about partisanship,” Matthews said. “They knew about this [Scarpelli resignation] for a while. They hesitated so there would be no general election for mayor this November.”

Matthews said he knows little of Newman, Casten or Kelly’s views.

“Danny Newman has not been an elected official in Brick since I’ve been involved,” he said. “I know nothing of his education, exactly what he did. I know he has a plumbing business.”

Matthews said he does not know Casten or Kelly well either.

“We want to make sure people are on board and can work very well together to get things done,” he said. “We are talking about choosing the mayor of Brick Township for the next 11 months.”

The council probably will not make a decision until after the holidays, Matthews said.

“We have to set up meetings, see when they are available for interviews,” he said. “With everything else going on, that’s probably a little more realistic. We have a job to do. We are going to do it efficiently and we are going to make the right choice.”

Blandina said he submitted the three names to the Township Clerk’s Office and the council president less than a week after Scarpelli resigned.

“The committee believed it more important to have someone at the helm to lead us through next year and keep the government up and running,” he said. “That’s why we gave them the names in less than a week since the resignation took effect.”

But Matthews said he found the names of the suggested replacements by reading a newspaper article last Friday morning.

“Why would he [Blandina] wait until Friday at 4 p.m., after the council packets went out?” he said. “He couldn’t pick up the phone? I cannot use a newspaper article as my legal document to say these are the candidates they are submitting.”

Blandina said he followed the same procedure used after former Mayor Steven Zeboyan resigned back in 1994.

“I hope they follow precedent and have a new official in the seat within two weeks after that,” he said. “We put up people who are familiar with government, not necessarily candidates for next year’s election. I just don’t want to drag the process out for political reasons.”