Patience runs Short over no votes and abstentions Lone Democrat says he won't be rushed into uninformed decisions BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN - While Patrick Short may be considered by some as the loyal opposition, the township's mayor considers him to be more of a royal pain. Seven months after becoming the first Democrat in several years to join the committee, Short has consistently abstained on votes that his fellow committee members have voted on, or he has voted against items that have befuddled his colleagues. Short's most recent abstention took place at last Monday's Township Committee meeting when he didn't partake in voting for the introduction of an ordinance concerning pay-to-play reform. The newest committeeman said that he simply did not have enough time to read over the five-page document prior to the 8 p.m. meeting. "I only received my material on that ordinance at noon and it's such an important piece for this town that I felt eight hours was not enough time to go over things," Short explained. "The county has taken months with their pay-to-play ordinance so why should we rush with ours? In the end, I wanted to see a more complete and thorough document in the committee's hands." Mayor Gerard Scharfenberger said that Short has frustrated the other committee members, and he is growing tired of it. "[Township Attorney] Bernard Reilly worked very hard on this item and I feel like he got it to all of us in plenty of time," Scharfenberger said. "And I still had ample opportunity to call Mr. Reilly with any questions I had on Monday prior to the meeting, and everybody else on the committee had a chance also, and they seemed to have no problem with voting at the meeting." Short also drew the ire of many back in February when he took exception to the purchase of a $1,100, 32-inch television set for the Crossroads at Croydon Hall program, which previously only had use of an 8-year-old, 12-inch model. At the time, Short said that Mike Slover, the director of the program, should have sought out a better deal in an attempt to save taxpayer money. The committee eventually voted 4-1 to accept the line item. Scharfenberger said that Short's "inability to process information like others committee members" frustrates him. Scharfenberger also said that he and the other committee members have tried to reach out to their newest colleague many times over the past seven months, but Short has simply not taken any of it. "I think he just wants to create a spectacle really," Scharfenberger said. "It's difficult when the rest of us are putting the time in and he is not. I've had plenty of complaints from people in town about him, so this issue is not just confined to our committee now. We all do our homework and he wants to paralyze things and stop everything in their tracks. It's just not right." Short fired back by saying that his interests lie with what he thinks is best for the township. "People can think or say what they want. I'm always going to do what I think is proper and correct, even if people don't agree with me all of the time," Short said.