Mendelsohn blew his opportunity to serve Matawan Anyone over the age of 30 remembers the phrase, “The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat.” Jim McKay and his “Wide World of Sports” were well known worldwide for their dramatic theme. Victors and vanquished in all fields of endeavor know this phrase well. The quest for excellence makes life worth living. It’s especially true in the wide world of politics, where candidates seek the thrill of victory, knowing full well they also face the agony of defeat. In 2005, homeowner Mary Aufseeser saw in her good neighbor, Neil Mendelsohn, the makings of a fine public servant. She asked Neil to be her runningmate on the local ticket. The two campaigned together on a platform of go slow with New Jersey Transit redevelopment, given daily headlines of eminent domain throughout the state, which raised fears among local homeowners and businesses, especially with pending litigation of competing redevelopment plans here. Mary and Neil campaigned door to door on this platform. Both were overjoyed in November with the thrill of victory. But before Councilman Mendelsohn’s seat was even warm, he proclaimed at the Feb. 21 meeting, “Redevelopment is moving like molasses,” before an astonished Mayor Aufseeser. Mendelsohn committed the cardinal sin of elected officials: Not delivering what you promise the voters, and he didn’t stop there. He committed a second cardinal sin: Don’t break your promise to voters in a year when you’re running. How can anyone ever forget, “Read my lips!” Mendelsohn ran in 2005 for an unexpired one-year term, and would have to face the voters again in 2006. A Mendelsohn loss in 2006 would return Mayor Aufseeser’s party to minority status. Mendelsohn now blames others, ad nausea, for his own sins (“Mendelsohn roasts rivals in farewell speech,” Dec. 13). He accuses Mayor Aufseeser, who picked him to be her running mate in 2005, as “repugnant.” At the last council meeting, Mendelsohn dropped a bomb on his 2005 running mates, yes on Dec. 7 of all days. His attack was out of order. Mendelsohn should be thankful that his “former friend” Mayor Aufseeser was holding the gavel that night because of his cutting edge personal references to members of the Mullaney family. Any other sitting mayor would have ridden Mendelsohn’s butt right out of town on a rail. I’ll never forget Mendelsohn’s published Satanic references to Joseph “Bud” Mullaney, who is a daily church communicant, following Bud’s June primary victory. On Dec. 7, Mendelsohn made reference to his own attendance at “church last Wednesday” and his mission “to clean our dirty waters.” Councilman Mendelsohn, I think you should do more praying for yourself while you’re at church, and with respect to your goal of bringing “fish in Lake Matawan again,” as a resident of Matawan during eight decades, to the best of my knowledge, there have never been fish in Lake Matawan. I hope the Bayshore Regional Watershed Council, to which you seek reappointment, read about your Dec. 7 remarks before they consider your reappointment in January. James E. Shea Matawan