Wildwood, New Jersey Commission Election Will No Doubt Be Wild

The upcoming Wildwood, New Jersey Commission election is guaranteed to live up to its name … WILD, as in Wildwood.

In a day and age where it has become difficult to find people to even run for public elective office … in Wildwood, a crowded field of 14 people are running for the three open seats on the Wildwood City Commission.

In this candidate profile, we will look at one of the slates of 3 candidates, who are running in columns 3, 4 & 5 on the November 7, 2023 election ballot.

Former Wildwood Mayor Gary DeMarzo is running. He was railroaded and ultimately vindicated of bogus criminal charges from years ago.

DeMarzo is running with another former Wildwood Commissioner Edward "Chip" Harshaw and retired Wildwood Deputy Police Chief Rocco DiSilvestro.

DeMarzo is a retired police officer, who has a Masters Degree in Public Administration, a Commercial Helicopter Pilot and he is currently a Municipal Manager.

In addition to his time on the City Commission, Harshaw served for more than 20 years on the board of education; many of those years as Board President. He retired after more than 40 years as a high school teacher.

DiSilvestro served for more than 30 years on the Wildwood Police Department.

There has been a lot of drama in the Wildwood government as the current Mayor, Pete Byron has faced criminal charges on multiple fronts.

Two other former City Commissioners currently face criminal charges for allegedly improperly taking medical health benefits at taxpayer expense.

Over the years, DeMarzo has never been shy to comment to the public. He recently released a recorded video that is both serious in nature and at times it’s delivered with the skill of a polished comedian.

We will take a look at the other candidates running in the Wildwood Commission Election in future coverage.