Frank A. Self, a former Monmouth County freeholder and Middletown mayor who had been a TWA pilot, has died. He was 87.
“Mayor Self had a commanding presence and personality wherever he went. Even after leaving public office, Frank’s love and passion for our community never waned,” said Middletown Mayor Tony Perry. “He continued to volunteer and be present at the same public events and ceremonies he had attended as an elected official for many years.”
He began his political career in 1976 as a candidate for the Middletown Township Committee at a time when Democrats had a 4-1 majority. He defeated two-term Democratic Committeeman Thomas J. Lynch, Sr., a former mayor, by about 1,000 votes in an election where turnout exceeded 80%. Self was boosted by President Gerald Ford’s 6,000-vote plurality in Middletown and Gov. Brendan Byrne’s unpopular state income tax.
When he took office, Self and Ralph Siciliano were the only two Republicans on the council. (Siciliano was the GOP candidate for Congress in 1976, losing to Democratic Rep. James Howard by 25 percentage points.) Self became the lone Republican after Siciliano lost his bid for a third term to Democrat Frank Callahan in 1977.
In 1979, Self easily won re-election to a second term, defeating Democrat Patrick Gaynor, the Middletown Sewerage Authority chairman, by roughly 3,700 votes, 61%-39%.
Self was elected to the freeholder board in 1980 when he and fellow Republican Clement Sommers unseated two-term Democratic freeholders Ray Kramer and Thomas J. Lynch, Jr. by nearly 4,000 votes. Kramer, the mayor of Asbury Park, and Lynch won in the 1974 Watergate landslide and were re-elected in 1977. Lynch, a Middletown planning board member, was not related to the Middletown township committeeman.
With Ronald Reagan carrying Monmouth County by 49,386 votes (57%-40%) against Jimmy Carter, Self was the top vote-getter in the freeholder race with 96,713 votes; Sommers received 95,272, followed by Kramer (91,905) and Lynch (90,304). Republican Bill Lanzaro ousted Democratic Sheriff Paul Kiernan that year.
Republicans also won control of the Middletown Township Committee, with Joseph McGrath and Paul Linder ousting Democratic incumbents Allan MacDonald and Francis Callahan. That gave the GOP a 3-2 majority.
On January 1, 1981, Self became both the mayor of Middletown and a Monmouth County freeholder. Republicans won two more Middletown Township Committee seats in 1981 after Robert Waller and James Maher, Jr. unseated two-term Democrats Robert Eckert and Richard Kelly to take a 5-0 majority.
He served as mayor again in 1982, but declined to seek re-election to a third term.
In 1983, Republicans tried to recruit Self to run for an open State Assembly seat in the 13th district. Richard Van Wagner (D-Middletown) was giving up his Assembly seat to take on State Sen. Jack Gallagher (R-Middletown), but Self declined to take on Assemblyman Bill Flynn (D-Old Bridge) and his running mate, Matawan Councilwoman Jackie Walker.
Instead, he sought a second term as a freeholder and was on his way to winning a rematch with Lynch before a Stolen Valor allegations cost him and Sommers their seats.
Lynch and his running mate, Oceanport Councilman John D’Amico, won, giving Democrats a majority on the freeholder board. Lynch ran about 4,500 votes ahead of D’Amico, who beat Sommers by roughly 1,500 votes. Self ran 7,000 votes behind his running mate and resigned his freeholder seat in December.
The Stolen Valor controversy held Long Branch Councilman Frank Pallone, Jr. oust State Sen. Brian Kennedy (R-Sea Girt).
Self, a naïve of Alabama, remained active in local government as a commissioner of the Middletown Sewerage Authority and later became the township’s public works director.
Perry called Self “an incredibly dedicated public servant.”
“On behalf of the residents of Middletown, I extend my heartfelt condolences to his family, as well as our gratitude for his service to our town,” Perry said.