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COUNCIL CANDIDATES SEEK NEW CHAPTER IN BRICK POLITICS
By Keith Hagarty
As the time winds down to Election Day, November 6, the eight candidates vying for four seats on the township council are asking for the support of Brick's voters.
The candidates are seeking four, four-year terms on the township council.
The three Republican incumbents seeking another term on the council are Ruthanne Scaturro, Michael Thulen and Anthony Matthews. They will be joined by board of education member Brian DeLuca. The four candidates on the Democratic ticket are Paul E. Panuska, Anthony G. D'Elia, Michael Mauro and Anthony W. Lazroe.
For the GOP ticket, led by mayoral candidate Steve Acropolis, this campaign is about turning a page in Brick politics following the sudden resignation of former Democratic Mayor Joseph Scarpelli, who was indicted on federal charges for accepting money from a developer for project approvals.
Meanwhile the Democratic ticket, led by incumbent Mayor Dan Kelly, who was appointed to the position following Scarpelli's resignation, also view the election as a time to move forward in Brick, with a fresh new slate of faces and ideas.
Outlining The Incumbents
For the Republicans, their platform centers on ethics and restoring the public's confidence in their elected officials.
For the GOP ticket, Scaturro, 56, of Halsey Drive, has been a council member since 2003. A lifelong Brick resident, Scaturro is a member of the Brick Chamber of Commerce, where she served as president in 1999, a past president and current member of the Brick Rotary Club, charter member of Brick UNICO, and League of Women Voters. She has earned the 2002 Good Turn Award from the Boy Scouts of America and is the director of the Brick Hospital Association.
Scaturro earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cabrini College, and is married with six children and three grandchildren.
Thulen, 51, of Linden Avenue, has sat on the council in his present term since 2003. He also served as a councilman from 1993 to 1997. In addition to his former duties as council president, Thulen has also served as commissioner of the Brick Township Municipal Utilities Authority (BTMUA) from 1992 to 1994, and also worked for the BTMUA as a construction manager and engineering inspector/master-captain.
A Brick resident of over 23 years, the former Eagle Scout is married with two sons and a daughter, and has volunteered to coach for Brick Recreation soccer and the Brick National Baseball Team.
Matthews, 57, of Brushy Neck Court, has also served on the council since 2003, and last year held the position of council president. Working as an award-winning advertising executive, Matthews has been an active volunteer for 12 years with the Laurelton Fire Co. Auxiliary Volunteer, as well as coaching Brick B-MAC Softball and Brick Pop Warner, where he was honored as the 2002 Volunteer of the Year.
A Brick resident for 15 years, Matthews is a graduate of Richard Stockton State College and is married with three daughters.
DeLuca, 52, of 17th Avenue, currently serves as president of the township board of education, and works as an assistant vice president for Merrill Lynch.
A newcomer to the council elections, De- Luca has been on the board of the education since 2001, having served two terms from 2001 to 2004, and 2006 to present, and has also held the position of vice president. In addition, DeLuca was appointed as a member of the township zoning board of adjustment last year, and has been a volunteer with the Brick Mat Rats Recreation Wrestling program and the Brick Recreation Soccer program.
A Brick resident for 21 years, DeLuca is married with two sons and a daughter.
Spotlighting The Challengers
The Democratic ticket is excited about the potential direction of the municipality under their watch.
Despite being a replacement on the Democratic ticket for former candidate Fred Underwood, who removed himself from consideration for health reasons, Lazroe, 63, of Midstreams Rd., is no stranger to local politics. He briefly ran for a council seat in 2005 before stepping aside to allow current councilwoman Kathy Russell to run instead.
With over 20 years of executive experience in government and human services, Lazroe has been a member of the Brick Housing Authority from 2001 to 2006, serving for four years as the vice-chairman, and has also been a member of the township planning board for the last three years.
Lazroe currently serves as the director of the Office of Grants and Contracts at Monmouth University, and was the development coordinator for the College of Education and Human Services at Montclair State University.
From 1997 to 2000, Lazroe was the vicepresident of operation for Keyes-Martin- The Bruno Group, where he wrote Brick's Neighborhood Preservation (NPP) Grant and also wrote the Drug Free Community Grant, and also served as Brick's director of community services from 1984 to 1992.
Born in Jersey City, Lazroe moved to Ocean County in 1984 and raised three daughters in Brick.
Raised and educated in Brick, Panuska, 51, of River Park Drive, is now a physical education and health teacher at Lake Riviera Middle School and a member of the township board of education
As a member of the Brick Township High School football team, Panuska was a standout athlete and played on the 1974 State Championship football team, and later served as an assistant coach on the high school's football and wrestling teams.
Panuska serves as head wrestling coach and assistant track coach at Lake Riviera Middle School, and as an advisor for the Brick Mat Rat program in the Brick Recreation Department. Panuska also holds the honor of being a Life Scout of the Boy Scouts of America and is a member of the Elks.
After graduating from the University of Southern Connecticut in 1979, Panuska is now married with three children, two of which are in the Brick school system.
D'Elia, 44, of Azalea Drive, is a newcomer to local politics, having worked for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority for over 16 years and currently serves as a supervisor in the traffic operations center. Prior to his Turnpike position, D'Elia held various capacities for private companies in New Jersey.
A U.S. Navy veteran, D'Elia served in the military from 1982 to 1986, attaining the rank of Petty Officer 3rd Class, with an overall evaluation of 4.0 for four years, which is the highest evaluation score that can be received, before receiving an honorable discharge in 1986.
A Brick resident since 1989, D'Elia is married with three children who currently attend school in Brick.
Mauro, 50, of Worth Street, is currently employed by Schering-Plough in Kenilworth as a project manager in support of their integrated technologies for the medical community.
Prior to his current position, Mauro was employed for 16 years at Bell Laboratories in Holmdel (later known as AT&T) as a project manager in the media and communications department where he developed and maintained a key portion of the company's website. He specialized in leading teams and managing various projects for the development of multimedia programs.
Mauro is actively involved in the Brick community theatre, helping with both set construction and set design.
A 14-year resident of Brick, Mauro has two children currently attending Brick Township High School.
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