Horgan has been a member of the Red Bank Council since 2008. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Monmouth County Democrats selected Red Bank Councilwoman Kathy Horgan Wednesday night to fill the ballot vacancy created a week ago when Asbury Park restaurateur Marilyn Schlossbach bailed out of the race for one of two District 11 state Assembly seats.
The selection, at a meeting of Monmouth County Dems in Asbury Park, puts two Red Bankers in the running for district seats in Trenton, though in different chambers of the Legislature. Heading up the GOP’s 11-district ticket is incumbent state Senator Jennifer Beck, herself a former borough council member who still lives in town.
Horgan, a council member since 2008, joins fellow Democrat Vin Gopal in the pursuit for an Assembly seat, and Ray Santiago, the slates state Senate candidate.
On the ticket with Beck are incumbent Assembly members Mary Pat Angelini of Ocean Township and Caroline Casagrande of Colts Neck. Beck and Casagrande, along with Little Silver’s Declan O’Scanlon, represent the pre-apportionment 12th.
Also in the race is independent Dan Jacobson, publisher of the Asbury Park-based triCity News.
Horgan, a former member of the zoning board, is the council’s liaison to the the Education and Technology committee an advisory group that isn’t listed on the borough website it oversees. She’s also the governing body’s link to the Environmental Commission.
By day, Horgan is the liaison to the board of trustees at amfAR-The Foundation for Aids Research in Manhattan. She could not be reached for comment.
The absence of Horgan and fellow council member Ed Zipprich from the borough council chambers Wednesday evening contributed a cancellation of the governing body’s semimonthly meeting for lack of a quorum. Also missing were members Sharon Lee, who Mayor Pasquale Menna said was out of state tending to her son, who was sick, and Juanita Lewis, who he said was stuck at her day job.