Nowicki quits race
for Howell council
By kathy baratta
Staff Writer

Howell Township Council candidate Marcie Nowicki has withdrawn from the race and will be replaced on the Republican ticket by former council candidate Pete Tobasco, according to Joseph DiBella, who is running on the same ticket.

Nowicki remains a member of the Howell Board of Education.

Juan Malave remains on the ticket with DiBella and Tobasco in the race for three four-year terms on the governing body.

Nowicki told a Greater Media News-papers reporter she decided to remove herself from the running in order to help effect a unified party ticket.

Before Nowicki’s withdrawal from the race, there were a total of six people seeking to run in November as Republican candidates against two Democratic incumbents and one Democratic newcomer for three council seats. The Democrats are Joseph Deckhut and council incumbents George Pettignano and Kimberly Alvarez.

Nick Krumins, Thomas Frese and Jennifer Thoens were running on a Republican slate separate from Nowicki, DiBella and Malave.

All six filed as regular Republicans. A previous identification of Krumins, Thoens and Frese as Howell First Repub-licans by Greater Media Newspapers was incorrect. Howell First Republicans is a registered name of a faction of the Howell Republican Party that is not running any candidates in this year’s election.

DiBella confirmed that when Nowicki decided to drop out of the race, talks to develop a combined ticket ended with neither team being able to effect a compromise ticket that was mutually acceptable to all parties.

According to DiBella, their original hope was to avoid a June primary battle.

"After the petitions were filed, we felt it was worth one last try to avoid a primary. Mrs. Nowicki stepped forward and basically offered herself up in order to demonstrate how serious we were in making a compromise," he said.

DiBella said John Forman, the municipal chairman of the Republican Party in Howell, had offered to run one of the other three — Krumins, Thoens or Frese — on the line with DiBella and Malave.

"Our respected opposition chose to decline the offer. However, Mrs. Nowicki decided to continue to demonstrate she was a team player and stick by her decision originally made to effect a compromise," DiBella said.

The decision to run Tobasco in Nowicki’s place, DiBella noted, was easily made due to the fact that Tobasco had been a finalist in the initial candidate selection process.

The campaign of Krumins, Thoens and Frese is being managed by Robert Schomaker, the husband of Republican Councilwoman Cynthia Schomaker.

Neither the councilwoman or her husband could be reached for comment by press time.

A June 4 primary will be held in order to pare down to three the number of persons that will run on the Republican ticket in the November general election.

Special Deputy County Clerk Bertha Sumick in the Clerk of Elections office could not be reached for comment Monday to say whether such a substitution of one candidate for another will be allowed.

Monmouth County Republican Party Chairman William Dowd told Greater Media Newspapers last week that he was going to give the party line to DiBella, Malave and Nowicki — the candidates endorsed by Forman — in the June primary.

Reached Monday for comment following the news of Nowicki’s resignation, Dowd said he believed that since the ballots had not yet been printed — a process that will not start for at least another two weeks — Tobasco could be run in Nowicki’s place on the ballot.

"They may have to take it before a judge but I think they’ll be allowed to do it," Dowd said.

DiBella said he believes a precedent for the primary substitution was set in the last governor’s race when Republican Bob Franks ran in place of acting governor Donald DiFrancesco, who withdrew from the process after filing a petition to run.