Borough Council incumbents may run unopposed for seats

With less than one week left until the April 8 filing deadline for the upcoming Princeton Borough Council primary election, no Republican candidate has come forward to announce a campaign against the incumbents.

Current council president Mildred Trotman and member David Goldfarb, both Democrats, are nearing the end of their three-year terms and are seeking re-election.

All current members of the council — which is composed of six elected borough citizens — are Democrats. Borough Mayor Marvin Reed, also a Democrat, sits on the council as well and decides on tie votes. In each election cycle, the two candidates with the most votes earn a seat on the council.

Michael Carnevale, president of the Princeton Republican Association — a booster group for Republican candidates — said Democrats usually have an edge over Republicans in area elections, noting that the Borough is "usually a 60/40 split town."

Still, he sounded confident that the council incumbents would not remain uncontested by Republicans.

"I can't guarantee it, but it is my expectation that at least one [Republican] candidate will enter the race," Carnevale said. He declined to comment further.

Goldfarb, who was appointed to the council in 1990 and elected for the first time in 1991, is completing his fourth term. Though he has not yet heard of a third candidate entering the race, Goldfarb also said he anticipates at least one Republican contender.

"I don't expect any Democratic opposition, but I do expect the Republicans will nominate somebody," he said. "In every election that I have run in, there have been at least two opponents."

Goldfarb sits on the finance committee and chairs the committee on public works. He said he plans to continue his efforts to control Borough spending if re-elected.

He noted the work he has done to privatize the Township and Borough shuttle service for the elderly and to improve area sewer systems.

"I think [my] accomplishments and goals fall into the same general category, and they have to do with spending," he said. "That has been my focus, and it will continue. I think I have played an important role in [curbing] the natural government impulse to spend a lot of money."

Trotman, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, is the council's longest-serving member. She was first elected in 1984.

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Steven Abt '04, who ran as an Independent for a Borough Council seat last year, said he does not plan to run in this election.

Abt said the major issue of his platform, which contested a proposed ordinance to allow police to enforce underage drinking laws on private property, has been "shelved."

In contrast to the major party candidates who must first receive their party's nomination to run in the general election, Independent candidates have until June 4 to file their petitions.