Parody heightens campaign tensions

The song began with “First I was afraid, I was petrified/kept thinking I could never live in this town with you next door.” Among references to Princeton Borough, such as “as long as we know how to love, Princeton will stay alive,” the song contained the line, “Jill, you’re back from outer space,” and made references to Jachera’s Hodge Road address.

Moore’s performance was part of an event held by the PCDO in which the Democratic candidates were asked to choose a book, movie or song with some political relevance that epitomized their candidacy to let the members get to know them.

The full text of the song, which was printed in Monday’s issue of The Princeton Packet, ran: “First I was afraid, I was petrified/Kept thinking I could never live in this town with you next door/But I spent so many nights thinking how you did my children wrong/I grew strong, I learned how to carry on/And so Jill, you’re back from outer space/You just walked up here with that drab look on your face/I should have changed the stupid lock to the castle gates/I should have made you leave your key to the other Hodge Road house you lived on anyway/If I had known for just one second you’d be back to bother us/Go on now, go on walk out the door, just turn around and leave town now because you’re not welcome anymore/Weren’t you the one who tried to hurt all your neighbors and ... you’d think they’d lay down and die/Oh no, not the Western section, the folks on Hodge, Library ... as long as we know how to love Princeton will stay alive/We’ve got all of time to live, all our love to give/And we’ll survive. We’ll survive.”

The Princeton Packet noted in its reprint that some of the words were elided because they were indiscernable.

At a meeting of The Princeton Packet editorial board on Tuesday, Moore said that the intended audience of the song was only the PCDO membership and that she had not intended it to go beyond the people assembled.

Jachera said she believed Moore intended the song as a personal attack, which she described as “very unbecoming for someone who is seeking to be a leader.”

“I was offended and disappointed, but I wasn’t surprised. I think it’s not unusual in politics: That is, when someone can’t make a credible criticism against your candidacy, then they resort to these petty tactics,” Jachera said. “If this is how she deals with somebody that she disagrees with, then I’m concerned for the future of our community if she were to become our leader.”

Moore said she intended the song “to be uplifting and provide a spirit of moving on and continuing in our efforts as a community.” She said it was well received and that it matched the levity of the evening.

“I don’t know whether I was surprised [by Jachera’s reaction],” Moore said. “I really don’t have a reaction to her reaction.” She called the media attention to the song “highly overblown.”

“I didn’t write the words to the song,” Moore said, explaining that she had only changed a few words in a well-known song.

The line “Weren’t you the one who tried to hurt all your neighbors,” referred to a case several years ago when some of Jachera’s neighbors petitioned the Borough to have their neighborhood declared a historical site and Jachera disagreed. Borough attorneys later found that the site did not meet the requirements for historical designation.

The line “I spent so many nights thinking how you did my children wrong” referred to an incident with Moore’s stepson playing golf in her backyard while she and Jachera were neighbors several years ago, Moore said. Jachera said that she has never interacted with Moore’s children and that she was not aware that they were ever neighbors.

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Jachera said she had not received the apology she had requested from Moore at the editorial board meeting. “She didn’t regret that she’d done it or apologize for it. She regretted that she got caught doing it,” Jachera said. “It’s unimaginable to me that that’s the kind of leader that this community wants or deserves.”

Dan Preston, president of the PCDO, called the song “a trivial distraction” and called the media attention given to it “a silly little sideshow.”

“It was a humorous little song that was at the end of a much more important statement by Yina,” Preston said. “It was of no real consequence. It was just offered in jest.”

“I don’t think anyone there took it particularly seriously,” said Peter Wolanin ’94, corresponding secretary of the PCDO.

Wolanin said that he didn’t see the song as a personal attack. “It was just Yina trying to express that she didn’t think that Jill’s values were the values that Princeton wanted in a mayor,” he explained, adding that the other candidates said similar things about their opponents.

“I was surprised that it got this much coverage. To me, it suggested that Ms. Jachera has really a rather thin skin,” Wolanin said. “If this bothers her so much, then she should maybe question her willingness and ability to serve as mayor, just because I think people naturally tend to direct some vitriol at elected officials.”

The American Whig-Cliosophic Society and P-Votes will host a mayoral debate on Monday, Oct. 24. Jachera confirmed that she will attend, but Moore said she will not be able to come.

“After rescheduling several times to accommodate Yina Moore’s schedule, earlier this week she said that holding the debate on the 24th might work for her, but then noted that she would be unable to commit to the date until [Thursday],” director of voter education for P-Votes Guy Wood ’13 said in an email. “Jill Jachera repeatedly altered her schedule to accommodate the changes.”

Wood is also an associate editor for multimedia for The Daily Princetonian.

Because the student groups were running out of time to publicize the debate prior to the Nov. 8 election, they decided on Tuesday to schedule it for Oct. 24 and continue with the debate even if only one candidate could come. A few minutes after making this announcement to the candidates by email, Wood said, Moore informed them that she wouldn’t be able to come.

Moore said that she originally suggested the Oct. 24 date because she was not able to make the dates originally proposed. A few hours after suggesting the Oct. 24 date, she learned she would not be available on that date and informed Wood, she said.