Barham win a vote of confidence for chairman

Monmouth Beach’s William Barham wasn’t the only winner in Saturday’s special election for freeholder. The race was the first real test of Frederick Niemann’s young tenure as chairman of the Monmouth County Republican Committee, and one he passed with resounding results.

Harry Larrison, the longest-serving member of the country’s oldest-surviving form of government, resigned recently due to his declining health. The announcement afforded the committee a short campaign season to fill a seat held by Larrison since February 1966.

In his farewell speech, Larrison made clear that Barham was his choice as successor. But 39 years is a long time to wait in line for one of those five coveted freeholder seats, and a competition ensued.

In the end, it came down to Barham and Keyport Mayor John Merla, two men with contrasting personal styles: Barham, the polished-speaking businessman and party bureaucrat with friends in high places; Merla, the plain-spoken Garden State Parkway supervisor who became mayor of his small town in his 20s.

In many ways, the tone of the campaign mirrored the one which propelled Niemann to power in the spring. At the time, a group called Monmouth County GOP for Change successfully ousted longtime county chairman William Dowd for what they felt was his almost singular decision to run Matawan Mayor Robert Clifton as a replacement freeholder candidate for the embattled Edward Stominski. Merla was at the center of that movement.

Merla again battled against the establishment in this race, using watchwords like “good ol’ boys,” “handpicked” and “new blood.” He contended that even though there was a committee election to replace Larrison, the party hierarchy was already behind Barham, and perhaps hadn’t learned the lessons of months before.

But as much as this was a Merla vs. Barham contest, the vote was a referendum on Niemann’s job approval as chairman and the satisfaction level of committee members in their party’s direction. Unlike in months before, the party’s disgruntled voices didn’t resonate, and Niemann’s position seems well secure for now.