Twelve days before the filing deadline Middletown Township Committee Member Patrick Short (D) is undecided about seeking a second term on the governing body.
Short told me he has yet to make a commitment to running this evening at the Northern Monmouth Chamber of Commerce's Meet the Mayors networking event.
Short broke the decades long GOP deadlock on the Township Committee in 2006 in the wake off Operation Bid Rig and the anti-Iraqi war turnout. He has been an outspoken critic of the GOP majority in his 2 1/2 years in office. The following year voters split their ballots, electing Democrat Sean Byrnes and Republican Gerald Scharfenberger and splitting control 3-2 GOP.
Threatened with the loss of control for the first time in 20 years, last year the Middletown GOP woke up to the fact that they could no longer cruise to victory and waged an all stops out campaign, complete with devastating opposition research on one the the Democratic candidates.
I don't know what Short's considerations are, but politically he should consider 1) will the top of the ticket help him, i.e. is Corzine more popular in Middletown than Obama was last November? and 2) can he defend the record of his first term and whatever material the GOP opposition research team will exploit this time out that they let slide last time?
Steve Massell will be the GOP candidate.
Take the plaque Pat.
The Healey Mirage
18 hours ago
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5 comments:
Say it ain't so Art! I was so looking forward to the zany Mr. Short running again. I'd love to hear his explanation on his role in the infamous petition scandal. Or his obscene e-mail to Mayor Brightbill and the rest of the T.C. Or his attack on the director of the Drug and Alcohol Alliance. Or his brilliant call to re-appoint a volunteer who has made a career of suing everyone in sight including Middletown. What will the local papers do without him?
Dear Pat -
It is not worth the cost to fight these slimy party machines. They don't care about anything but their power. You could probably help the town by giving an opposite opinion, but it is not worth what these nasty people will try to do to you.
Short's the opposite all right - the GOP tries to make the town better, while Short thinks up ways to degrade the town. I guess you can consider that an "opposite opinion." Hey anonymous 9:49 - what do you have to say about Short's exploits in the first post? You think that's an admirable person? Since when is pointing out a person's record, "doing something to you?" This sounds eerily like the number one Short cheerleader from Lincroft - the one who wants to turn back the hands of time to the horse and buggy days along Route 520.
I get the feeling we'll be seeing Pat Short jumping around with a zany sign on Route 33 for Freeholder.
Shortsighted, short-tempered,short on manners, short on issues, short on helping the community, Short's days are over.
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