Ninety-three-year-old Jacqueline O’Shea signs in to vote at Borough Hall in Sea Bright Tuesday.
By SUE MORGAN
A year after a disputed mayoral race that has yet to be resolved in court, Sea Bright voters dispatched two Democrats from the borough council and replaced them with Republicans — one of whom has held the office before.
That gives the GOP a 5-1 advantage on the council starting January 1.
According to the Monmouth County Clerk’s office, C. Read Murphy, who served as a council member in the 1990s, was the top votegetter, pulling in 441 out of 1,664 votes cast, or 28.19 percent. His running mate, beach club owner James LoBiondo III, netted 454 votes, or 27.28 percent.
Incumbents Tom Scriven and Susanna Markson drew 371 votes and 367, respectively, the clerk’s office reports.
That leaves current Council President Dina Long as the minority party representative on the governing body. Mayor Maria Fernandes, who votes only in cases of ties, is also a Democrat.
Neither Murphy nor LoBiondo, owner of the Surfrider Beach Club could not be reached for comment last night.
Markson and Scriven had joined the council via appointment to unfinished terms — Scriven completed the term of veteran councilman Bill Gelfound when the former moved to California in 2005. Scriven subsequently won his first elected term later that year.
Despite an unsuccessful bid for council last year, Markson was sworn to a council seat after Fernandes was elected mayor in the same contest with a razor-thin margin of three votes over incumbent Jo-Anne Kalaka-Adams. The result of the mayoral race remains unresolved in a court challenge.
Fernandes and Long admit that the year ahead could be daunting with two more Republicans on board. Since 2004, the six-member council has been evenly split between Democrats and the GOP.
“We wish the new council members well and we will work with them, but we are disappointed,” said Long, who also chairs the Sea Bright Democratic Party.
Sixth-district Congressman Frank Pallone, historically a winner in Sea Bright, is the only Democrat to gain favor with Sea BrightÂ’s electorate this year, Fernandes pointed out. He was swept into his 11th term with 63 percent of the vote over challenger Robert McLeod.
Though most Sea Bright voters are not officially committed to either major political party, most went straight down the GOP column, favoring John McCain over now-President-elect Barack Obama, Fernandes said.
