County GOP Taps Polhemus To Run For Another Term As Sheriff

One more time.

Eighty-three-year-old longtime Ocean County wanted to run for another term and the Ocean County Republican Organization granted his wish last week.

"The sheriff to my knowledge has been running a good operation over there," Ocean County Republican Chairman George R. Gilmore said today. "The sheriff has said that he wants to run."

When asked if he thought was up to another term, Gilmore replied "I see no impediment to his running and winning."

has served as Ocean County Sheriff since 1985. Prior to that, he was police chief of the Seaside Heights Police Department and served 35 years in the department.

He will be challenged by Democrat George "Bob" Armstrong, 68, whose career in law enforcement spans over 40 years, said Ocean County Democratic Club Vice President Marta Harrison. Armstrong lives in Toms River.

"Bob Armstrong is a very vigorous man who will run a very vigorous race and make a great sheriff," Harrison said today.

Armstrong served as a special agent with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations and later as a special agent for the federal Bureau of Investigation, according to his website.

Armstrong then began a second career as state investigator/detective with New Jersey Department of Criminal Justice and later as a special agent/forensic accountant with the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation.

The county GOP organization also nominated incumbent Freeholders and for three-year terms. They will be challenged by Democrats George Cevasco of Brick and of Beachwood.

The filing deadline to run in the June primary is 4 p.m. April 2.

Come back to Berkeley Patch for updates on this story.