Council president does not file for reelection – Star News Group

POINT PLEASANT BEACH — Borough Council President Rosa Crowley, whose current term is set to expire on Dec. 31, 2024, did not file with the Point Pleasant Beach Republican Club to run in the upcoming primary election, according to club president Glen Paesano.

According to the Ocean County Clerk’s candidate list, six candidates were put forward for the June primary municipal elections in Point Pleasant Beach — three Republicans and three Democrats. However, Council President Crowley is not on the clerk’s list, which sets up uncontested Republican and Democratic primaries in the borough, since three council seats are up for election this year.

The deadline to file as a candidate for the June primaries was March 25 at 4 p.m., according to the New Jersey Department of State’s Voter Information Portal. Mr. Paesano confirmed this on Tuesday night; when asked if Ms. Crowley, a Republican, had filed with the borough’s regular Republican Club, he said, “She did not.”

Her nonfiling comes amid allegations of antisemitic remarks made to her neighbor, Jason Kaplan, who is Jewish. The allegations arose after a video taken of the Feb. 27 altercation between Ms. Crowley and Mr. Kaplan were posted to several social media sites including YouTube, which appears to show Ms. Crowley calling Mr. Kaplan a “Jew.” 

A police report completed in early March determined that she did say “Jew” as well as “judio,” the Spanish word for the same. An investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Bias Crime Unit also determined that Ms. Crowley has consistently denied having made “any racial comment” toward her neighbor.

In a Wednesday text message to The Ocean Star, Ms. Crowley said that she would be away until after press time. She did not respond to further requests for comment before press time.

Three seats on the borough council are up for grabs in Point Pleasant Beach’s council primary election in June — two full three-year terms in seats currently held by Council President Crowley and Councilman Michael Ramos, as well as one unexpired one-year term in the seat currently held by Republican Councilman Jack Pasola, who also did not file for reelection with the club.

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