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Sue Kiley and Gerry Scharfenberger are likely GOP running mates for Monmouth County Freeholder
Middletown Township Committeeman Gerry Scharfenberger is the only declared candidate for the Monmouth County Freeholder seat vacated by Serena DiMaso taking office as a member of the New Jersey General Assembly. The Monmouth County Republican County Committee is scheduled to fill the vacancy in a special election/convention on February 3 at iPlayAmerica in Freehold Township.
Hazlet Deputy Mayor Sue Kiley is seeking the GOP nomination for the full freeholder term of the seat currently held by disgraced Freeholder John P. Curley. That nomination is will also be awarded on February 3. Kiley is the only known candidate circulating petitions for the nomination as required by the Party By-Laws.
Assuming he is elected on February 3, Scharfenberger will resign from the Middletown Township governing body. He will be eligible to be sworn in as a freeholder upon County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon certifying his election.
Scharfenberger has served on the Middletown Township Committee since 2005. He served six years as Mayor and two years as Deputy Mayor. A PhD in Archaeology, Scharfenberger is an adjunct professor at Monmouth University. He is the Acting Director of the NJ Business Action Center and the Director of the State Office for Planning Advocacy, a position he is expected to retain for the foreseeable future in the Murphy Administration.
A registered nurse, Kiley retired from her corporate job as V.P. of Sales for a major healthcare company in 2013. She is currently the business administrator of the OLPH-St. Agness Roman Catholic Parish in Atlantic Highlands. First elected in to the Hazlet Township Committee in 2014, she served as Mayor last year and is doing her second stint as Deputy Mayor this year. She was reelected in 2017 with 57% of the vote.
Curley will not have the Monmouth GOP nomination for reelection. He was Censured and Reprimanded by his fellow Republican freeholders last month for sexually harassing County Employees and other atrocious behavior. Curley has not yet declared his intentions for the coming election. His options are 1) seek the Democrat nomination for freeholder; 2) challenge Kiley in the GOP primary; 3) file to run as an Independent; 4) or not run.
Curley has thus far resisted calls for his resignation.
