By Sunayana Prabhu
The Monmouth County Sheriff is an elected official authorized by the constitution of the state of New Jersey to a three-year term. The sheriff is also the chief executive of the 605-member agency based in Freehold which consists of four divisions: law enforcement, communications, special operations and corrections, as well as the administration of the Monmouth County Police Academy and the Office of Emergency Management.
Candidates for Monmouth County Sheriff this year include Republican incumbent Sheriff Shaun Golden, Democrat Larry Luttrell and Independent Joshua Leinsdorf.
Golden is the 76th sheriff of Monmouth County and a lifelong resident of the area. He has had a career in law enforcement and public administration for nearly 25 years. Prior to being elected sheriff in 2012, Golden served as undersheriff, responsible for the county’s 9-1-1 communications center. He also served as a police officer in Colts Neck and Toms River. Additionally, Golden has worked as a certified paramedic for Monmouth Ocean Hospital Service Corporation and a volunteer firefighter and EMT.
Leinsdorf filed as an Independent from the nonpartisan Independent party. He was a 2017 Democratic candidate for District 13 of the New Jersey State Senate. Leinsdorf also ran as an Independent candidate for the same district. He resides in Atlantic Highlands.
Holmdel-based lawyer Luttrell won enough write-in votes to win the Democratic nomination for Monmouth County Sheriff in the June 7 primary elections. Larry Luttrell’s political life has included campaigns for county commissioner in 2013, 2014 and 2018, and for local office in Holmdel in 2012 and 2017.
Sheriff Shaun Golden (R-incumbent):
“I think in Monmouth County, at the end of the day, I see a lot of cooperative effort in both parties. Between all of our elected officials and a lot of initiatives that go on here in the county, I do see some cooperation among the parties. And I think our voters are very much educated to local issues. They love the county they live in, they love their local towns, and I know that
they are focused on keeping it that way for their families, for their kids, for their businesses and schools. So, all of those things are very important to them. I know when I travel around the county, those are the issues that people really want to talk about – the school systems for their kids, making sure of their safety and all the programs that we’re delivering for their families in protecting their families. So, there’s a lot of obvious national rhetoric around issues and policies. But at the end of the day, I’m really proud to serve as sheriff and run for election again and ensure keeping Monmouth County a safe place to live, the county I grew up in all my life. I think our elected officials here feel the same way and we’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done and make Monmouth County a safe and affordable place and a great place to raise your family and do business in.”
Joshua Leinsdorf (I):
“Most people agree that the nation faces severe economic and social problems. The argument is over how to respond. The Sheriff is a mostly administrative position whose most important job is running the jail. There have been two deaths at the Monmouth County Correctional Institution since May; one the result of a prisoner assault, the other a drug overdose due to contraband. The Sheriff also evicts people, sells foreclosed properties, serves subpoenas, and supplies security for the courthouse.
Traffic deaths in Monmouth County are running at twice the rate of last year. I support a fines-only use of speed cameras on state and county highways, without points or penalties for drivers exceeding the limit by more than 12 miles per hour.
I favor the widespread availability of Narcan and fentanyl test strips so drug users can protect themselves from fatal overdoses.
I also support strict regulation of automatic weapons. I disagree with the Supreme
Court’s decision to treat the subject of the Second Amendment, “A well-regulated militia,” as a preface with no operative meaning. Its claim that the Amendment extends to “all bearable arms, even those that were not in existence at the time of the founding” is equally absurd. Guns that shoot four bullets a minute and must be reloaded after every shot need less regulation than those that automatically shoot between six and 25 bullets every second.
I was elected to three terms on the Princeton Regional School Board, where I served on the Finance Committee during an $82 million facilities reconstruction. I formulated an adult employment program for a school district, so I know what skills are needed for people to lead productive law-abiding lives. I am not a lawyer and have spent most of my professional life in education. I favor crime prevention, which means ensuring that the public knows what the laws are in advance so they can obey them. I am running as a non-partisan independent and think it is a conflict of interest for a sheriff to be the leader of a political party in the county where she or he serves.”
Larry Luttrell (D):
“In his farewell address, George Washington warned that the tribalism of partisan politics could destroy our country. That sentiment was echoed nearly 100 years later by Abraham Lincoln when he famously quoted Christ that a “house divided against itself cannot stand.” I believe most people are moderate. Unfortunately, the current climate of demonizing someone of a certain political belief forces many people to retreat to the cover of partisanship. I registered as a Democrat at 18 because I wanted to show my appreciation to the congressman that nominated me to apply to West Point. At the same time, my wife registered as a Republican because she loved Ronald Reagan. Yet here we are over 30 years together married with three children. The only thing people despise more than politics is the politicians that play games. The sheriff is the chief elected law enforcement officer of EVERY resident of Monmouth County regardless of party affiliation. Despite being sheriff, my opponent is also the chairman of the County Republican Party. As such, he is constantly playing politics. A perfect example is his
recent attempt to blame bail reform for the surge in auto thefts in Monmouth County despite the fact that such thefts have actually gone down statewide since bail reform went into effect in 2017 and have gone up in states like Ohio that don’t have any bail reform. Thefts are up in Monmouth because the criminals know that our County Sheriff has no coordinated response to investigate and take down their criminal enterprise unlike the NJ State Police and other Counties in NJ. You can’t serve two masters. Therefore, you can’t serve as sheriff to everyone when you are also the boss that must serve a political party. I came within one percentage point of winning in 2018 in a red county because registered Republicans and independents who lien conservative believed that I was the right person for the job; not because of the column where my name was listed on the ballot. Therefore, if elected Sheriff I intend to serve as an independent from the day I take the oath of office. I will also appoint people, be they Republican, Democrat or independent, to leadership positions because they are the right people to serve my agenda; 1) driving the auto theft rings out of Monmouth and 2) closing the gap in opioid addiction recovery by converting the abandoned juvenile detention center into the state’s best Medicaid inpatient substance abuse treatment center.”
The article originally appeared in the October 27 – November 2, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
