BY MICHELLE ROSENBERG
Staff Writer
HOLMDEL — Holmdel Republicans elected Rocco Pascucci and Alan Bateman to run for the two open seats on the Township Committee this November.
Pascucci and Bateman, who ran with the backing of the Holmdel Republican Committee, beat out Valerie Neiss in the June 7 primary. Pascucci received a total of 877 votes, Bateman received 732 and Neiss received 588.
Pascucci and Bateman beat Neiss in all 10 districts, except District 4, where Neiss beat Pascucci by two votes, and District 7 where she beat Bateman by four votes. Neiss also garnered more absentee votes, receiving 20 to Pascucci’s 14 and Bateman’s 13.
“I thought both sides ran a really good issues-based campaign,” Bateman, who is the chairman of the Holmdel Republican Committee, said. He said that he and Pascucci look forward to moving on to the November campaign.
“The most important thing at this time is that we’re united as a party, and concentrating together on the election in November,” Bateman said.
Neiss said that she feels the split in the party is the reason for her defeat.
“I think I would have won if there would have been an open primary with everyone on the line. Unfortunately, here in Holmdel, only 13 people on the county committee nominated the two candidates and that is the reason I ran, and that is unfortunately why I was put off the line. But if everyone here would have received the line in Holmdel, I am sure I would have turned out to be the winner,” she said.
Pascucci said that bringing the party together is his and Bateman’s primary goal.
Taxes and spending will be among the focal points of the November campaign, Bateman said.
He said that he and Pascucci have a lot of the business experience and skills to ensure that tax dollars are being spent in the most efficient way possible.
Pascucci said they would concentrate on keeping taxes down, improving recreation, and getting the township a reasonable library.
“[We] want to keep our town beautiful and safe, but we need the rateables to do this,” Pascucci said.
“Good luck to the candidates, and I hope they run a good race because they have a lot of work to do,” Neiss said.
Bateman and Pascucci will run against Democratic incumbents Janet Berk and Tony Orsini.
The committee currently has a Democratic majority of three to two.