Hearing Over Toms River School Board Ballot Postponed

TOMS RIVER, NJ — The hearing on a challenge to one of the candidates for the seat representing Toms River on the Toms River Regional Board of Education has been postponed, according to court filings.

A show cause hearing had been scheduled for Tuesday on the request by Kathy Eagan to have George Lobman disqualified as a candidate over his nominating petition. Eagan's complaint alleges Lobman was not present for every signature on his petition, despite swearing on the petition that he witnessed the signatures.

Eagan's complaint also named Toms River Councilwoman Lynn O'Toole, who notarized Lobman's signature attesting to having witnessed the signatures, and Toms River Mayor Daniel Rodrick, alleging he had circulated the nominating petition to gather at least some of the signatures instead of Lobman and accusing Rodrick and O'Toole of conspiring to get Lobman on the ballot.

On Aug. 22, Donald Burke Jr., the attorney representing Lobman, O'Toole and Rodrick, filed a dismissal motion that claimed Eagan waited too long to file her objection to Lobman.

In the motion, Burke cites the law that candidates have four days from the filing deadline to file an objection, but cited an incorrect date for the school board candidate petition deadline.

Candidates had until 4 p.m. on July 28, 2025, to file to run for school boards. Burke cites June 28.

Eagan filed her objection to Lobman's petition with the Ocean County Clerk's Office on Aug. 1; a stamp shows it was received at the clerk's office at 4:02 p.m.

Burke also argues Eagan's complaint should be thrown out because she's not alleging the petition signatures were fraudulent, just that Lobman did not witness them all.

"Ultimately, plaintiff's effort to invalidate defendant Lobman’s candidacy amounts to little more than an attempt to manipulate technicalities to suppress electoral competition," Burke's motion to dismiss says. "That is not the purpose of election law, and it is not the role of this Court to serve as a gatekeeper for political incumbency."

On Monday, Eagan's attorney, W. Timothy Howes, requested an adjournment of the hearing because Eagan had surgery scheduled for Tuesday and because he had a court conflict with another case, and requested a hearing next week, because of the pending deadline Ocean County must meet to finalize ballots and get them printed for the Nov. 4 election.

The hearing on the motion to dismiss had been set for Sept. 26, which Howes said is beyond the Sept. 21 date when vote-by-mail ballots are slated to be mailed to voters.

Ocean County Superior Court Judge Robert Brenner set a hearing for Sept. 4 on the motion to dismiss, according to court records.