Plan for Herskowitz to Run Quashed by County

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hershel-herskowitzLakewood, NJ – Supporters of Hershel Herskowitz, who lost the Republican primary election for the Lakewood Township Committee last month to State Senator Bob Singer, have learned that a plan for Herskowitz to fill the slot of independent candidate Shalom Egert has been rejected by the Ocean County Clerk.

Some states have a “sore loser” law intended to stop most candidates who lose a primary election from coming back later in the year to run in the general election. Many states, such as New Jersey, accomplish the same requirement by having simultaneous registration dates for the primary and the general election. In the case of Herskowitz, the day he ran against Senator Singer was the final day to register to run as an independent in November’s election, effectively ending his campaign if he lost the primary, which he did by a relatively close margin.

Supporters of Herskowitz approached him with the idea of taking over the independent slot occupied by 23-year-old Shalom Egert, who agreed to step aside for Herskowitz, the owner of Toys for Thought, a Lakewood toy store.

Herskowitz told the Yated his week that, initially, he was not interested at all in running again. “After the recent primary,” he said, “I was ready to move on.” However, due to frustrations expressed by various residents regarding large increases in their property taxes, Herskowitz thought he’d give it a shot if he was permitted to run.

Herskowitz’s supporters contacted Ocean County Clerk Carl Block, shortly before he vacated his post to move on to another job, to confirm Herskowitz’s eligibility to run in Egert’s slot.

Herskowitz told the Yated that those who contacted the clerk’s office never heard back from Mr. Block, but that others got wind – possibly from the clerk’s office itself – of the attempt by Herskowitz to run again and proceeded to put it to bed. Herskowitz subsequently received a four-page letter from a county lawyer explaining why the switcheroo was illegal.

“The claim was based on a prior case from 1957,” Herskowitz told the Yated. “The lawyer stated that because I would need to obtain additional signatures in order to run in the slot I would have taken over, that is tantamount to registering anew, which I would not be permitted to do, not having registered prior to deadline. This claim, however, is flawed at best and we could likely overturn it,” said Herskowitz.

So will he fight it in the courts?

“No, I won’t,” Herskowitz told the Yated. “But it’s not so poshut that it is an open-and-shut case. I just can’t fight City Hall.”

{Source: Yated Ne’eman USA}


9 COMMENTS

  1. Had the elections been held AFTER the Lakewood residents received the new tax bill – Hershel would have won in a landslide.

    He would still have a strong chance of winning the November election as a write-in. The county cannot interfere with that.

    Stay tuned.

  2. The members of the vaad are all chashuv members of the lakewood kehila for a very long time. They only have the best intentions for the yeshiva and the community. It is impossible to keep everyone happy at once but they try their best. Look at all the good that they do for the Lakewood Community. Hershkowitz lost fair and square. Bob Singer won and we have to live with that. This is called Democracy.

  3. They will always win unless we watch the next election like they do in E”Y we need. so square maybe fair no way

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