Sonny
is currently serving his 22nd year on the Township
Committee. For 18 of those years he has been
selected as mayor. The mayor is not elected but
rather chosen by the five members of the committee,
so Sonny’s repeated selection shows the great
respect the other committee members have for his
leadership abilities.
Sonny became involved in politics much like other
people do. He had a problem in his neighborhood and
was not happy with the way the committee dealt with
it. In true American fashion he decided to run for
office himself and won his first term with a
write-in campaign. Since that time he has
consistently been the top vote getter when he runs
for reelection.
Sonny is one of the founding members of the United
Republican Club of Egg Harbor Township. Once again,
he was dissatisfied with the existing club who were
losing elections. He knew he could do better and
has, winning every election since its founding in
1993.
Long before the current over-development, Sonny was
the first person to see that the high growth mandate
of 33,000 homes would be devastating to Egg Harbor
Township. As mayor, he took the Pinelands Commission
to court in the mid ‘80’s to have the law
overturned, but unfortunately the township lost that
court battle. As a result, the township had to go
into compliance in the early ‘90’s, meaning we had
to zone for 33,000 houses in one half of our
township. Still, he has not given up the fight and
is now working with the Pinelands Commission and our
elected officials at the state level to have the
mandates reduced and to phase in development.
Sonny spent many years coaching various sports teams
in the township and other volunteer activities. He
is a businessman and Deputy Director of the
Engineering Department of the SJTA. He is also the
municipal chairman of the Republican County
Committee.
Sonny lives in the Seaview Harbor section of the township. He is married with 4 sons.