Former Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Vincent Barrella to run as an

Independent for Assembly from the 10th Legislative District

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Point Pleasant Beach, NJ – Former Point Pleasant Beach Mayor Vincent Barrella yesterday filed an Independent nominating petition officially joining the 10th Legislative District Assembly general election race. “I know some people think an Independent run for Assembly can’t succeed. I believe that with the right candidate it can. I think that I am that candidate and, if I am able to get my message out, I believe the voters of the 10th Legislative District will agree.” – Vince Barrella.

Barrella served two terms as Point Pleasant Beach Mayor from 2008 through 2015 having twice won elections running as an Independent. He led Point Pleasant Beach back from the devastation of Superstorm Sandy. Mayor Barrella has held leadership positions in Countywide and Statewide organizations of elected officials and he testified on numerous occasions before both Assembly and Senate committees. He is a retired tax attorney and CPA and is currently the Chair of the Department of Legal Studies & Taxation at Pace University.

Mayor Barrella will be running under the banner of Integrity-Experience-Leadership. “I’m running for Assembly because I believe the people of Ocean County and the 10th Legislative District want and deserve someone in Trenton who will put the people’s interests ahead of their own and the interests of a political party.” – Vince Barrella.

Integrity was the hallmark of his eight years as Mayor of Point Pleasant Beach. Unlike the incumbent Assembly Republican, who has used his position to further his law practice, Mayor Barrella did not seek to benefit personally from his time in office and will not to do so if elected to the Assembly. He often jokes that as New Jersey politicians go he is quite the failure, having entered office in 2008 driving a used Chevy Malibu and continuing to drive that same vehicle into 2015, his last year in office, until it finally gave out with more than 199,000 miles on it.

His experience and leadership skills stand in stark contrast to those of his Democratic opponents both of whom have never run for, or held, public office. “I have always encouraged others, especially women and younger people, to run for office, but I do wonder about the

agenda of those who, instead of first running for municipal or county office, decide to start at the top.” – Vince Barrella

Pension reform, property taxes, school funding and adequate and safe medical staffing are among some of the issues facing Trenton that will have a direct impact on the residents of the 10th district and Ocean County in general.

“Seniors are most at risk as a result of inadequate staffing at nursing and health care facilities — safe staffing levels are for many simply a life or death issue. In order to achieve true property tax relief we not only need to continue to control the cost of delivering services, but we must also restructure our system of raising money to pay for those services. Simply stated, we are overly dependent on property taxes. Reforming our State pension system is essential to our economic well-being, but plans that serve primarily to punish political enemies are as bad as those that seek to place the burden of fixing the broken system entirely on our taxpayers. Revisiting and revamping how we fund our schools is essential since our future success as a State is dependent upon a well-educated work force.” — Vince Barrella

The importance of property tax reform and the development of alternative funding sources cannot be overstated. These issues are at the core of resolving many of the other issues confronting the State. Mayor Barrella has long recognized this, and for many years has attempted to persuade our District 10 legislators of the importance of moving forward on them. Sadly, our current legislators have been unwilling to do so.

More detailed positions on these and other issues will be posted on our Facebook page “Barrella for Assembly” and on our soon to be unveiled website. Critical to getting the campaign’s message out is funding – as an independent Mayor Barrella does not have access to the money available to major party candidates. Please visit the campaigns Facebook page for instructions on how to contribute and become part of building better government in New Jersey.