Democrats sweep all local races Middletown Short breaks party's drought BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer Short Following years of Republican domination, a Democrat has finally broken through. Patrick Short (10,809 votes) defeated Republican J. Timothy Sodon (10,292 votes) on Nov. 7 to land a seat on the Middletown Township Committee. Short will become the first Democrat to win a committee election since 1989, when Robert Murray and Frank DeVito won, according to Township Public Information Officer Cindy Herrschaft. Short will replace longtime Committeewoman Rosemarie Peters, who instead focused this year on her successful run for county surrogate. For Short, the victory was much more than just an individual accomplishment. "I'm happy for the people of Middletown because this is a very big win for them," Short said. "And I'm excited for all of them." Among the items that Short, 52, has on his to-do list are delaying a property revaluation in the township, working to end pension and benefits for township officials, looking at the budget to see where the township can save money and designing a policy to prevent those who have contracts with Middletown to hold office simultaneously. Short thinks that residents wanted a change from the full committee control that the GOP had. "I think people wanted to see a two-party system," Short explained. "Residents also want to be kept abreast of what is going on and that will be my intent." Short also admitted he may have taken an "unconventional" approach in campaigning, but it was one that worked for him. "Since even before the primary, I think I was very visible in the community and I worked very hard to get the word out about what I was trying to do and people noticed that," Short said. "Plenty of people have come up to me and said they had never seen anybody out there as much as I was and I appreciate the fact that they took notice of this." "I had a clear message of what I wanted to do. I laid out a plan to control spending and help the township become more efficient. These were some of the things that made a difference in the end." Sodon also felt that he had a clear message and outlined his goals. But in the end, he came up "Short." "It was close and I am definitely disappointed," Sodon said. "I think I had a good following but a lot of what occurred on the national level may have trickled down to the local level. Overall, the Republicans in this area didn't do very well." However, the way Middletown voted in the U.S. Senate race would seem to indicate otherwise. According to unofficial results posted on the township's Web site, Republican Thomas Kean Jr. handily defeated Democrat Robert Menendez in Middletown by a tally of 12,377 to 8,557. Deputy Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger said he was surprised to see that a Democrat prevailed, but that he is willing to work with his new committeeman-elect. "I thought Tim Sodon was a great candidate and so of course I am disappointed," Scharfenberger said. "Patrick Short has not been involved very much with local government previously and I know that he has jumped around a bit with party affiliations, so it remains to be seen how everything will work out." Sodon said that his opponent made many promises during the campaign, and he'd like to see them kept. Short still wants to tend to matters concerning the idea to build a sports complex in Lincroft ("It's in the wrong location presently but I like the idea"), and issues concerning the West Front Street bridge ("It should be replaced in its exact location"). "It's about time we listen to the people of this town and let their voices be heard," Short said.