Goldfarb fails to win full PCDO endorsement

Largely as a result of the three-candidate race, Borough Councilman David Goldfarb, who has served as a Borough councilman for 20 years and also represents the Borough on the Borough-Township Joint Consolidation/Shared Services Study Commission, fell short of receiving the Princeton Democratic Community Organization’s official nomination for the June Democratic primary for Borough mayor.

The two other candidates were Anne Waldron Neumann, who has served on several Democratic and municipal organizations, and Yina Moore ’79, a member of the Princeton Regional Planning Board.

Goldfarb received enough support, however, to be unofficially endorsed as the only formally recognized Democrat in the primary.

Of ballots cast by Borough residents, Goldfarb received 49 votes. Moore and Neumann each received 22 votes.

Borough and Township Democrats voted on nominations for the PCDO’s June primary at an official endorsement meeting on Sunday evening in the Suzanne Patterson Center, with over 200 Borough and Township residents in attendance.

During the portion of the meeting dedicated to candidate statements before the vote, Goldfarb explained his position that the University should voluntarily begin paying taxes on all of its tax-exempt property.

“Those who saw the University president’s presentation to the joint governing bodies earlier this year recognized the bullying that it exemplified,” he said. “A strong and cooperative relationship with the University is vital to our community, but it must be based on mutual respect.”

“When New Jersey residents decided 64 years ago to exempt nonprofit institutions from paying taxes, they could not have anticipated that this would allow the University to amass $16 billion of wealth, while forcing the residents of our community to pay millions of dollars each year to subsidize it,” Goldfarb added. “Years ago, the University voluntarily put its faculty and staff housing on the tax rolls. It’s time for the University to agree to do so with the rest of its property that is now exempt,” Goldfarb said in his official candidate statement prior to the vote.

Goldfarb currently recuses himself from the Council’s discussions involving negotiations with the University because he works for the law firm that represents the University land use issues.

In response to a question before the vote, candidate Moore stated that her alumni connection the University gives her an advantage over the other candidates in University negotiations.

“The town is told things in official processes at the meetings that tend not to be the same thing that alumni are told, and so I get to hear the real story,” Moore said. “This is an advantage, let me tell you. In using that connection, I think I would be a much more effective negotiator.”

The PCDO requires that a candidate receive 60 percent of votes cast at the meeting to receive the organization’s official endorsement as a Democratic candidate. However, Goldfarb received the 40 percent of votes required to appear on the Democratic primary this June as a Democrat.

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After the meeting, Moore stated that she will still be running in the primary even though she did not receive enough votes to run as a Democrat. Neumann said that she would not be opposing Goldfarb.

Members of the PCDO also voted on nominees for Borough Council seats at Sunday’s meeting. Voters were allowed to vote for two out of the three candidates who were seeking nominations for two seats: Heather Howard, Barbara Trelstad and Thomas Zucosky.

Howard and Trelstad both received the 60 percent of votes needed to win the party’s official endorsement. Howard received 93 votes from Borough residents, Trelstad received 68 and Thomas Zucosky received 36.

Sitting Township Committee member Bernard Miller and sitting Deputy Mayor of the Township Sue Nemeth ran for uncontested nominations to the Township Committee. They were nominated by acclamation at Sunday night’s meeting.