Politics & Government

Monmouth County Freeholders Face Contested Primary

Four Republicans and two Democrats will run in the June 4 primary election.

Incumbent Monmouth County freeholders face a primary battle for the Republican line from Bayshore Tea Party challengers on Tuesday.

Two seats on the board are open this year — those of Director Thomas A. Arnone of Neptune City and Deputy Director Serena DiMaso of Holmdel. Each is seeking a full three-year term.

Bayshore Tea Party-backed Republicans for Conservative Leadership candidates Brian Largey and Edward Pekarsky, both from Middletown, will challenge the incumbents in the primary.

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The Democratic primary will be uncontested with Brian Froelich of Spring Lake and Lawrence Luttrell of Holmdel running.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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Independent candidates (as well as school election candidates) have until Tuesday to file for the general election.

Republican Candidates: 

Thomas A. Arnone

Arnone was sworn in to a three-year term on the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders on Jan. 6, 2011, according to the county website. Currently serving his third year in office, he became director of the Board of Chosen Freeholders in 2013. 

Arnone previously served as an elected official in Neptune City.

He is involved statewide as the former president of the New Jersey Conference of Mayors and an active member of the New Jersey League of Municipalities and the State Resolutions Committee and Nominating Committee.

Arnone is a graduate of Neptune High School and attended Brookdale Community College. Since 1983 he has owned and operated a small business in Monmouth County, T. Arnone’s Landscaping. Arnone is currently the Vice President of Property Management at PRC Group, West Long Branch.

Serena DiMaso

DiMaso was sworn in to her first elected term on the Board of Chosen Freeholders on Jan. 3 and named deputy director, according to the county webpage. She was appointed to the board in 2012 to fill the seat vacated by Freeholder Robert Clifton, who became a State Assemblyman to the 12th legislative district in January 2012. 

DiMaso served on the Holmdel Township Committee since 2002, and was mayor from 2006 to 2010 and deputy mayor in 2011.

She currently serves on a number of community groups and is as an active member of the Holmdel First Aid Squad.

DiMaso holds a Juris Doctorate degree from St. John’s University School of Law and is a member of the New York State Bar. She is also a graduate of St. John’s University, College of Business Administration with a B.S. in management with minor concentrations in economics and marketing. She is also a 2004 graduate of the Christine Todd Whitman Excellence in Public Service Series.  

Brian Largey

Largey is a first time Freeholder candidate and considers himself a “conservative republican.” He believes “spending is out of control” and that “we need a smaller government,” according to his campaign website.

The focus of the Republicans for Conservative Leadership party is on lowering taxes, supporting pro life measures and defending second amendment rights.

Largey is a 1986 state police graduate and is employed by the law firm Largey, Largey & Whitehead in Middletown. 

Edward Pekarsky

Pekarsky, 34, is running for public office for the first time. Born in the Soviet Union, Pekarsky moved to America at an early age but understood the effects of communism, he said.

He was active in Monmouth County’s Young Republicans Club in the 2000s, which at the time was diminishing due to corruption, he said. In 2009, he joined the Bayshore Tea Party, which reinvigorated his interest in being involved in politics on the citizen level.

Pekarsky stands for individual freedoms, a free economy and smaller government, he said. Monmouth County’s budget has grown from $350 million in 2001 to the current $481 million, an increase Pekarsky sees as unjustified.

He hopes to cut the level by 3 to 5 percent in his first year as a freeholder and reallocate money to bring more private businesses into the county to generate more jobs for local residents.

Pekarsky graduated from Hofstra University in 2001 with a degree in International Management. He was in the financial services industry for 10 years and has experience in an analytical research role, studying economies, markets and investments.

Democratic Candidates: 

Brian Froelich

Froelich calls the Board of Chosen Freeholders a “Republican monopoly” in which ethical lapses have cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Most recently, he confronted the Freeholders and asked the members to disclose unreportable campaign contributions made by Birdsall Services Group and its employees.

Froelich is an entrepreneur and has been a businessman in both large and small enterprises for decades, according to his campaign website. Brian has also worked as a certified public accountant, as well as an attorney, and he has been active in (and on the Boards of) several civic, business, and charitable organizations. 

Lawrence Luttrell

In 2012, Luttrell ran for local office in Holmdel and lost the race to a Republican newcomer. At that time, he stood for “accountability over accounting gimmicks” stating that government over estimates its deficit as to appear successful when averting it.

Luttrell graduated from the University of Miami with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and History. He then completed graduate school at St. Thomas University of Law in Florida. He has been the municipal prosecutor and law clerk for Holmdel and has been employed by the Law Office of Lawrence W. Luttrell, PC, Hightower and Rudd and Uni-Tel Technologies, Inc.


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