On April 12th Point Pleasant Beach Republicans for Change Team led by Councilman Paul Kanitra and his running mates Arlene Testa & Douglas Vitale during a Judge mandated Column position drawing for upcoming June 4th Primary were drawn for first position. The second column position will be occupied by the Point Pleasant Beach Republicans Team led by incumbent Mayor Stephen Reid and Councilmen Thomas Toohey and  Thomas Vogel.  

The court mandated column position drawing stemmed from an order made by Judge Marlene Ford Lynch on April 10th in response to a law suit initiated by Councilman Paul Kanitra contesting the results from a highly controversial Point Pleasant Beach Republican Club Vote in which Mayor Stephen Reid was endorsed by 5 votes. The March 25th vote was held under a cloud of accusations that unregistered voters, non-resident voters and non-registered Republican voters participated in the endorsement club election.  Judge Ford declared the March 25th Club’s endorsement vote as null and void citing that the vote was not conducted in accordance with the procedures required by the Constitution and By-Laws of the club. Despite Judge Marlene Lynch Ford’s ruling making the Club’s vote null and void – in a Social Media Statement made by Mayor Stephen Reid he goes on to say “ We were successful in securing the Point Pleasant Beach Republican Club’s nominating committee endorsement and the full club’s endorsement and the process was followed in both cases. In fact, all candidates that participated in both processes agreed to the rules prior to each vote including Paul Kanitra’  When reached for comment Councilman Paul Kanitra said, “ It’s unfortunate how the Mayor keeps misrepresenting the facts. He references how we all had an agreement before the vote, but neglects to say how we all agreed that all club applicants would be registered Republicans only. I played by those rules and he didn’t. The court essentially agreed with me that there were massive irregularities with the voters who were allowed to participate and the process overall.”

The June 4th Primary Election in Point Pleasant Beach is shaping up to be a contentious one.