Four vie for two seats in Middletown
With first Dem win in decades last year, party majority now at stake
BY JAMIE ROMM Staff Writer

Open space and tax relief are two of the top issues being debated in the race for two seats in this year's Middletown Township Committee election.

Sean Byrnes

Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger and Committeeman Thomas Hall's seats will be up for grabs on Nov. 6, with Hall not seeking reelection. Republicans Scharfenberger and Tristan Nelsen will be running against Democrats Janet Moscuzza and Sean Byrnes in an election that could potentially swing the Middletown Township Committee toward the Democratic side.

Sean Byrnes, 44, is a father of five and is a Monmouth County native who grew up in Red Bank. He entered the Coast Guard Academy, New London, Conn., where he graduated with a degree in government. He served from 1985-87 as the operations officer and navigator of the Coast Guard Cutter Gentian operating out of Atlantic Beach, N.C. While aboard the Gentian, his service included time as a deck watch officer, boarding officer, communications officer and morale officer. He also graduated from the Coast Guard's Maritime Law Enforcement School.

Janet Moscuzza

From the Coast Guard he started a career in law and is currently a municipal prosecutor. Byrnes has served on the Red Bank Board of Education, Red Bank River- Center and is a founding board trustee with the Parker Clinic in Red Bank and has been a leader of many groups in the local YMCAs.

"I've always had an idea that I wanted to get into public service," Byrnes said. "I wanted to have a greater impact on a greater level."

He said he wanted to look at Middletown's taxes, especially when it comes to community affairs.

"I'm going to take a close look at how the taxes are appropriated," Byrnes said. "At some point you have to say that 'that's enough.' You can't bond everything."

Byrnes also wants to see a party swing toward the Democrats in Middletown.

"When one party is in charge for 20 years, things go unchecked," Byrnes said. "Someone has to make sure that there are checks and balances."

Tristan Nelsen

Janet Moscuzza, 63, said that it took some convincing to get herself to run for public office, but she is doing so because of her love for the township.

"I thought I could make some changes around here," Moscuzza said. "People my age have been moving away from Middletown due to tax issues, and I want to change that."

Moscuzza was a physical education and health teacher from 1971 to 2001, and worked for Dow Jones & Co., W.R. Grace & Co. and Marine International Corp. prior to teaching. She is a lector and Eucharistic minister at the weekend and daily Masses at St. Mary's Church in New Monmouth. She was on the Core Committee for the Renew Program at her church.

She hopes to make it easier for residents to access information about their community and government.

"I want to make the government a little more transparent," Moscuzza said. "Things such as the Web site is slow to update things, and the budget is garbled. I want to be able to read things and know what is going on."

On the Republican side, Tristan Nelsen, 35, has no previous government experience but has several years of community service involvement. She has lived in Middletown her entire life and is currently working as a manager for continuing medical education with Elsevier Inc. Nelsen is an active member of the Friends of the McLeod Rice House at Croydon Hall and was involved with the recent Timmy's Tour De Shore fundraiser.

Gerard Scharfenberger

"I have some nice new fresh ideas to work with the township," Nelsen said. "Applying for grants is something that I have done with my nonprofit organizations for years."

She hopes to use her past experience to better a town she has lived in for 35 years.

"I really love this town and want to keep it a great place to live," Nelsen said. "My nonprofit background is perfect when it comes to applying for grants."

She also is a proponent of acquiring open space and the Green Initiative, a township plan to reduce its energy use and pollution output. Both issues are central to running mate Mayor Scharfenberger's platform.

Scharfenberger, 48, just completed his first three-year term on the committee and hopes to continue the work that he has started over the years. He is employed as a principal archaeologist with Richard Grubb and Associates and serves as an adjunct professor of anthropology at Monmouth University. He and his wife, Geraldine, have two children, Alannah, 16, who attends High School South, and Daniel, 9, who attends Middletown Village School.

He feels that it is important that voters stay the course by keeping him in office. The Green Initiative is still in its early stages, according to the mayor, who spoke of his further plans at the National Conversation on Climate presentation on Oct. 4. He said that new initiatives such as the Dock and Roll shuttle bus were steps into making Middletown more environmentally friendly.

Scharfenberger said that open space is something that is also important to him, and that he wants to make sure that it is used correctly.

"I think we've done a lot in the last three years," Scharfenberger said. "I want to see things through to the end."