BY KATHY BARATTA
Staff Writer
Joe Locricchio MANALAPAN – Citing a chronic health condition as the reason, Repub-lican Committeeman Joseph Locricchio has announced he will resign his seat on the Township Committee effective May 1 and will end his run for a state Senate seat in the 12th District.
Locricchio’s term on the committee is due to end Dec. 31. He was not seeking re-election to the township governing body, but was planning to run for a seat in the state Senate. He would have faced state Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, who is running for Senate, in the June primary.
He said he was making the announcement with a heavy heart.
Locricchio said he made the decision to resign from the committee now and to end his Senate bid after receiving test results last week which indicated he will face at least one surgery and a long period of recuperation.
“I resigned because I can physically no longer do the job and I won’t dishonor the office and I won’t dishonor the party I belong to and most importantly I won’t dishonor the residents who elected me because I can’t discharge my duties,” he said.
Locricchio said Beck had called him to extend her regards and best wishes for a quick recovery. He said he will support Beck in her bid to unseat Democratic incumbent Ellen Karcher.
“Even though I have my differences with Jen Beck, I have even more with Ellen Karcher and at the end of the day we (he and Beck) are both still Republicans and I will do what is needed to see the Republicans take back the 12th District,” he said.
Manalapan Republican Party Chairman Steve McEnery called Locricchio’s resignation from the Township Committee unfortunate and wished Locricchio a speedy recovery.
McEnery said the Republican Party has until May 16 to submit three candidates for the rest of the committee members to consider for appointment to finish out the remainder of Locricchio’s term.
Locricchio initially ran for a three-year term on the committee in November 2003 and lost by 88 votes to Democrat Drew Shapiro. Locricchio teamed up with Andrew Lucas and both were elected to the committee in November 2004, beginning their terms in January 2005.