Karp ’84 withdraws bid for Borough Council seat

Karp was one of five candidates for the Democrats’ nomination, along with incumbent councilmen Andrew Koontz and Roger Martindell and challengers Jo Butler and Anne Neumann. Koontz, the council president, has also withdrawn from the race, having secured the support of the Mercer County Democratic Committee to run for county freeholder.

Karp said that he decided to withdraw because there are other candidates “who share similar concerns.” Looking forward, he said that he “may run another year, if I don’t feel the other candidates will focus on issues of interest.” This could come as early as next year, when another two seats on the council will be up for election.

“In another year, I’ll be in a different place,” he noted. “The economics of New Jersey will undoubtedly be rearranged as a result of [Governor Chris] Christie’s efforts, and the University and the Borough will perhaps be in a different place as well.”

Though Karp is an alumnus, he said that he entered the campaign to focus on “issues facing the Borough and New Jersey on a broader level,” rather than focusing on the Borough’s relationship with the University. He added that the council should consider combining staff resources with the University.

“From my perspective, the University can contribute a huge amount to the [community] in terms of the intellectual firepower,” he explained.

Karp is a member of the Citizen Finance Advocacy Taskforce, a group of residents and businesspeople that consults for the Borough.

No students ran for the nomination, following the narrow defeat of Mendy Fisch ’11 in the Democratic primary last year. Fisch is also the executive editor for opinion for The Daily Princetonian.

Last year, Fisch fell 63 votes short of the nomination, behind Kevin Wilkes ’83, who recieved 472 votes, and Jenny Crumiller, who got 531 votes. Crumiller and Wilkes both went on to win the general election.