Elections results a mixed bag

The municipal elections are over, but they didn’t pass without some controversy, surprises and good old political mudslinging.

Middletown’s incumbent Republican candidates Patrick W. Parkinson and Raymond O’Grady each won another three-year seat on the Township Committee, but Parkinson’s 31-vote victory over Beverly Bova-Scarano was met with the Democrats demanding a recount.

Parkinson is on the receiving end of a sexual harassment lawsuit filed Oct. 25 by Municipal Clerk Rosa Garcia. The Republicans say they are now planning to file a complaint with the state against the Democrats who handed out copies of Garcia’s lawsuit against Parkinson to commuters at the Middletown train station days before the election.

The Republicans allege the Democrats broke the election law by not including a tagline on each distributed copy indicating who paid for the lawsuit’s reproduction.

Bova-Scarano said she felt the most important issue was that voters were aware of the lawsuit before casting a vote.

How the recount and the Republicans’ complaint will pan out is anyone’s guess, and whatever happens, the township and its residents should not be made to suffer.

The Republican stronghold in Holmdel toppled after two Democrats won two three-year seats on the Township Committee that will give the Democrats a three-member majority in January.

In a surprise upset, Democrats Janet Berk and Anthony M. Orsini defeated Mayor Art Davey and Gary Aumiller, both Independent candidates, and Republicans Robert Reddington Jr. and Valerie Niess.

The victory gives the Democrats their first majority in more than 30 years.

Democratic committeeman Larry Fink has been a minority member of the committee throughout his tenure and with the win he becomes the senior member of the new majority.

Republican committee members Terence Wall and Serena DiMaso, who have enjoyed leading the committee majority, will have to take a back seat to the Democrats come January.

The two Republicans said they are sure both parties will work together for the township. Only time will tell.

Keyport Republican John Merla will step back into the mayoral seat he left in the early 1990s.

Merla was elected the borough’s youngest-ever mayor in 1990 at the age of 29. Now at the ripe of age of 40, Merla is looking to shake things up in the borough by getting rid of waste in the borough’s administration.

It will be interesting to see what kind of changes Merla will make after he takes office in January.