Levy will challenge
Kershaw, Ammiano
Race for committee seats
will be contested this fall
Newcomers Stevens,
Levy will challenge
Kershaw, Ammiano
By linda denicola
Staff Writer
After several years of uncontested races, there will be a contest in Freehold Township this fall for two available seats on the Township Committee.
Two Republicans and two Democrats have filed to run for the two three-year seats on the governing body that will be up for grabs in the November general election.
Incumbent Republicans Raymond A. Kershaw, who is serving as Freehold Township’s mayor this year, and Anthony J. Ammiano, deputy mayor, will be facing off against Democratic newcomers Jason L. Levy and Danielle D. Stevens.
The June 3 primaries will be uncontested.
Levy, 31, lives on Harvard Oval, and Stevens, 24, lives on Cedar Court.
Levy is a pharmaceutical sales representative for Solvay Pharmaceuticals, based in Marietta, Ga. His territory is Monmouth and Ocean counties.
Stevens works for the state Assembly Democratic Majority Office in Trenton and handles constituent relations.
Stevens is also a student at Douglass College, New Bruns-wick. She is presently in the master of public affairs and politics program, pursuing a degree in public policy. In addition, she is a Democratic county committee member in Freehold Township.
Stevens said her interest in politics and the concerns of her community led her to run for office.
"I’m concerned about sprawl. When we moved here in 1986, there were still farms. Now there is rampant development and too much traffic congestion," she said.
Stevens graduated from the Freehold Regional High School District’s International Studies program at Freehold Township High School.
Levy is a lifelong resident of Monmouth County. He grew up in Manalapan and attended Manal-apan High School. He graduated from the University of (Newark) Delaware with a bachelor of arts degree in political science. In January 1999, he moved to Freehold Township with his wife, Nancy. The couple has one daughter, Brianna, 23 months old, and they are expecting another child in the summer.
This is his first run for public office.
"As a resident of Freehold Township, I want to get involved with something that I feel strongly about. I can’t think of anything better to get involved in than the town where I live," Levy said.
Like Stevens, he is concerned about taxes and the complications of growth, but he said he is also concerned about the uniformity of the committee.
All five members of the Town-ship Committee are Republicans, and there has not been a Democrat on the governing body for several decades.
"My biggest concern is that we are not really doing what is best for the residents by having one party on the committee. The five people on the committee all represent the same view, and they always pass things unanimously. It makes you wonder if there are other sides that are not being explored. In an election, people should have a choice. By my running, I’m giving people a choice," Levy said.
The incumbents, Kershaw, 61, of Sunnybrook Drive, and Ammiano, 52, of Canterbury Drive, ran unopposed three years ago.
Kershaw was appointed to the committee in 1991 and has been re-elected since that time. He is retired from an industrial gas company and now works as a substitute teacher for the Monmouth County Vocational School District. He has been an active member of the community for more than 20 years.
Before serving on the Township Committee, he was chair of the zoning board and before that he was on the Planning Board.
A New Jersey native, Kershaw said his descendants came over in 1662 and his family tree includes an ancestor who fought at the Battle of Monmouth.
Kershaw said he loves serving on the committee and wants to continue to see that the township remains a great place to live. He has served as mayor three times and has officiated at 48 wedding ceremonies.
He said the committee will continue to work on zoning issues and on acquiring open space. In addition, he said the members of the governing body want to continue to work with the county and state on trying to control traffic flow though the township.
Kershaw chairs the social services and public works subcommittees. He supports the establishment of a passenger rail line through western Monmouth County.
Ammiano works as chief financial officer/treasurer for a Del-Sano Contracting Corp., a commercial contractor in Union. He is seeking his second three-year term.
He has lived in Freehold Township for seven years with his wife, Maria, and his son A.J., who graduated from Freehold Borough High School and is a freshman at Monmouth University, West Long Branch.
Ammiano said he is running again because he likes what he is doing at the township level and wants to continue initiatives that he and the rest of the committee have been working on. They include controlling growth and working out the community’s traffic problems, he said.
The committeeman is on a number of boards, including the transportation board.
"I’d like to see more done in reference to the MOM [Lakehurst to Monmouth Junction] rail line. I think that would alleviate a lot of commuter traffic problems," he said.
Ammiano also serves on the parks and recreation subcommittee.
"We’ve placed a big emphasis on recreation for the children with the [planned] opening of Opatut Park. There will be a wide variety of sports going on there. The basketball courts and multipurpose fields will all be lighted," he said.
Last year, when Eugene Golub and David Salkin ran for re-election there was no contest. The year before that Dorothy Avallone ran unopposed for her seat on the committee.
According to the 2000 census, Freehold Township had 31,537 residents; up 6,827 people from the 1990 figure of 24,710 residents.