OCEANPORT – During an interview last month with The Two River Times, Jay Coffey was adamant that he would not consider a run for another mayoral term.
But passionate constituents can be convincing.
According to Coffey, following that article’s publication, he received phone calls, emails and personal exchanges asking him to rethink his decision, a collection of correspondences that preceded a political intervention of sorts.
“Three weeks ago I was invited to a house in Oceanport and when I walked in it was a gathering of about 100 people. It was designed to convince me to run again. And I still didn’t commit. I wasn’t there yet intellectually. It’s a four-year commitment on the part of me and my family that I wasn’t ready to make.”
After further discussions with friends and supporters, and a blessing from his family, Coffey has reconsidered.
With a Monday evening Facebook post, he officially tossed his hat into the ring as an independent mayoral candidate.
“It took me the better part of a month to get my head wrapped around what’s been going on in Oceanport and how I wanted to react to it. If I’m not satisfied with the way things are being handled, the only way to change it is to participate in the change,” Coffey said in a May 15 interview.
Coffey said his mindset to leave politics in the rear view after a single term was his plan coming in four years ago, when he defeated two-term Mayor Michael Mahon as a write-in Democratic candidate.
And bowing out gracefully was the path he was resigned to after this past year on the dais, a period in which Coffey admitted he felt ineffective while working with an all-Republican council.
The mayor and governing body did not see eye-to-eye on issues concerning the borough’s now shuttered recycling center, the transition of the environmental commission to a committee, and the ongoing development of Fort Monmouth, among other topics.
It’s the reason, Coffey said, that while he’s campaigning he’ll also be working to change the borough’s current form of government to a nonpartisan one, meaning elections would be conducted without party ties.
He’ll need to obtain about 1,200 signatures on a petition to have the question appear on the ballot this November.
“Party affiliation on the local level doesn’t mean anything,” Coffey said. “That may sound trite, but on the local level, all anyone cares about is if their garbage is getting picked up, if roads are clean, are the parks in good shape, and am I getting the most bang for my tax dollar.”
Coffey said running on an independent ticket with Meghan Walker, a board of education member and registered Democrat, and Tom Tvrdik, a Republican, demonstrates that idea.
Two seats are open on the borough council and current council members Joseph Irace and Stephen Solan have registered to run in the June Republican primary election. They’ll be running against three additional Republicans in Keith Salnick, Thomas Porowski and Michael DePonte.
No Democrats filed for the council race, nor the mayoral race, which left a clear path for Republican candidate and current council member, Robert Proto to win a seat that was expected to be vacated by Coffey.
However, after Monday’s announcement, the competition is just beginning.
This article was first published in the May 16-22, 2019 print edition of The Two River Times.
