Two Republican candidates for Ocean County Commissioner want a building trades member to be named to the Ocean County College Board of Trustees.
The move by Jennifer Bacchione and Rob Arace is the latest step toward a bid by the Ocean County Republican organization to build relationships with organized labor.
The two suggested the appointment of Lynn Canfield, a Beachwood resident who is a field representative of the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworker Local 5, as their candidate.
Higher education in 2024 looks a lot different than it did just 10 or 15 years ago,” said Bacchione.
“No longer are all students expected to go to college just because it was the ‘norm.’ We have to expand our county college curriculum to include vocational courses and opportunities.”
Bacchione is the president of the Berkeley Township Board of Education, and Arace is the mayor of Manchester. They are strong favorites to win two open county commissioner seats after toppling incumbents Gary Quinn and Bobbi Jo Crea in an Ocean County GOP screening committee vote.
The two took a clear shot at another Republican incumbent, Virginia Haines, the liaison to the county college and the county vocational high school, saying it was another commissioner, Frank Sadeghi, who has worked toward increased cooperation between the two schools. The waiting list for vocational and technical classes is over 500.