Mendelsohn roasts rivals in farewell speech Councilman has feuded with party since primary loss BY KAREN E. BOWES Staff Writer “If I’m too critical, they’ll spite me, and I don’t want that to happen to me.” — Neil Mendelsohn MATAWAN — Lame duck Councilman Neil Mendelsohn decided to go out with a bang last week, calling the mayor “repugnant” and comparing the Matawan political scene to “The Wizard of Oz.” Mendelsohn didn’t pull any punches at Thursday’s Borough Council meeting. The outgoing Democrat spent over 20 minutes saying exactly what he thought — good or bad — of every member of the governing body and a few borough employees as well. “I don’t know if there’s going to be another meeting and I won’t let this opportunity go,” Mendelsohn said. “I need closure,” he said. It’s been a difficult year for Mendelsohn. As an incumbent, he failed to win the Democratic primary against newcomers Robert Bunyon and Joseph “Bud” Mullaney, the father of sitting council President Meghan Mullaney. When the elder Mullaney’s running mate dropped out of the race midway through election season, the Democrats still chose not to back Mendelsohn for a new term. Instead, the party went with former Councilman Michael Cannon, a longtime Republican who switched political parties in order to run on the Democratic ticket. To Councilwoman Mullaney, Mendelsohn said, “I don’t envy you. It is said that winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. ... It is not winning, but love that is the only thing. Everything else is empty and void without it.” Mendelsohn referred to Mayor Mary Aufseeser as “a former friend.” Although he did not use her name during the speech, he later confirmed that he was speaking about the mayor. “I have seen a side of her that I now find repugnant,” Mendelsohn said. Specifically, Mendelsohn was angered by the mayor’s refusal to consider his choices for borough attorney. Still, Mendelsohn had only good things to say about Pasquale Menna, the Red Bank councilman who serves as the borough’s current attorney. “Pat Menna, you are wise. You are eloquent. You are so busy,” Mendelsohn said, then asking Menna to please find time to help his town. In general, Matawan politics are “like a movie,” Mendelsohn said. “Figure out the movie and you’ll figure out who is who in real life,” Mendelsohn said. “And the wizard is not a good person.” So who’s the wizard? “I’d rather not say,” Mendelsohn said Monday. “I think if you speak to other people they’ll tell you. I still need to be able to live in my town.” So will he run for council again? “I’m not a masochist,” he replied. “It’s been an ordeal.” Although Mendelsohn will no longer be sitting on the dais, he will continue to be involved in the borough. “God can cleanse you even in dirty water,” Mendelsohn said at the meeting. “That is the sermon I heard when I went church last Wednesday. My mission now is to clean our dirty water.” Mendelsohn was not just making an analogy. As a member of the Bayshore Regional Watershed Council, he said he hopes to continue on in his to work to improve the borough’s lakes and streams. “To the point where there’ll actually be fish in Lake Matawan again,” Mendelsohn said. Mendelsohn explained that he didn’t want to reveal too much since the borough has the power to remove him from the watershed council. “If I’m too critical, they’ll spite me, and I don’t want that to happen to me,” Mendelsohn said.