Formica Drops Out of Assembly Race

Frank Formica, the longtime Republican Atlantic County freeholder, has dropped out of the race for Assembly after announcing his candidacy in November.

Formica said Friday he made the decision “with a heavy heart and sincere regret,” and cited recent developments in two lawsuits pertaining to his personal business, Baker Boys LLC, on Mill Road in Pleasantville, as the reason.

That leaves former Brigantine Mayor Phil Guenther, Freeholder John Risley and Somers Point Councilman James Toto as the Republican contenders for the seats now held by Democrats Vince Mazzeo and John Armato.
The lawsuits are related to two former employees who suffered injuries on the job that led to amputations.

 “This action is being taken after extensive discussion with (Atlantic County Executive) Dennis Levinson, (Atlantic County Republican Chairman) Keith Davis, my political consultants and the advice of my attorneys,” said Formica. “We all have come to the conclusion that the potential negative effects of these developments will prove challenging to me, my family and my campaign and could prove to be detrimental to the entire ticket and our overall campaign.”

The lawsuits have already been used against Formica politically.

Last year Atlantic County Democrats running for three freeholder seats — Celeste Fernandez, Maureen Leidy and Barbara Butterhof-Rheault — criticized Formica and Freeholder Jim Bertino, who manages the Baker Boys facility, for the incidents in their campaign last year. None of the three Democrats won election.

Neither Formica nor Bertino is being personally sued for wrongdoing in the suit.

Formica had said he was running for Assembly to help reform state law to tighten rules on use of mail-in ballots, after a large number of votes were cast for Democrats in the November election via the mail-in system in Pleasantville and Atlantic City.

He was re-elected in November, but his margin tightened considerably after mail-in ballots were counted.

Formica said at the time he was concerned a political machine was paying people for their mail-in ballots.

Formica has been involved in a bipartisan effort with Mazzeo, Armato, state Sen. Chris Brown and U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew, D-2nd, and others to demand that NJ Transit reopen the Atlantic City Rail Line.

 NJ Transit recently announced the rail line will resume service May 24.

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