Hazlet officer wants to face Oxley for sheriff BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer HAZLET — By his own admission, Glen Mason is a competitor and he doesn’t like to lose. “Did you ever go into a game or a competition of some sort and expect to lose? Probably not, and I’m the same way,” Mason said. “When I go after something, I expect and want to win.” According to Mason, the race to become Monmouth County Sheriff will be no different. The 26-year veteran of the Hazlet Police Department will be retiring in 2007, and has thrown his hat into the ring to take on Sheriff Joseph Oxley. Mason said he has no problem with Oxley and the job that he has done since taking office in 1996, but he wants to try some new things at the county’s top spot. “I think that people need to be utilized better and that’s one of the big things I want to do right away,” Mason said. “Things like prisoner transportation need to be done differently. Over the years I’ve made notes and I still have them, and I’m glad I do because when I become sheriff, I want to do a lot of the things on my list.” Mason feels that now is the time to run for sheriff because of his impending retirement and because he also wants to stay in law enforcement. He said for his campaign he wants to view things from the eyes of the county’s taxpayers. “I’m a taxpayer, and so I keep on thinking about what I can do as the sheriff to more effectively spend our tax dollars,” Mason said. “I want to help Monmouth County as best as I can.” Besides being a police detective in Hazlet, Mason has also spent six years on the Hazlet Township Board of Education, where he currently serves as president. He also holds a seat on the Hazlet Democratic Executive Committee. “I have leadership capabilities and I have proven myself to be a person that can handle the job of sheriff in Monmouth County,” Mason said. An advisor to Mason, Andrew Bace, said that Mason will start campaigning and get a committee together at some point next month. “This is his opportunity to still stay in law enforcement even after he retires from the Hazlet Police Department,” Bace said.