Seeking committee seats: Leonard Godfrey, Jack Marrero and Tom Abrams
By: David Weinstein
On such hot-button issues as culling the deer herd and the fiscal relationship with Princeton Borough, the three candidates campaigning for one open seat on the Princeton Township Committee generally agree more often than they disagree.
But there are issues on which Leonard Godfrey, the one-term Democratic incumbent seeking his third term overall, Jack Marrero, the Republican challenger, and Libertarian Tom Abrams sharply disagree, such as how to approach a new library and the purchase of open space with a dedicated local tax.
The candidates also disagree on how to vote on personal-freedom issues such as the recent failed attempt by the Princeton Regional Health Commission to institute a public smoking ban. The three men shared their views Tuesday with the editorial board of The Packet.
Saying he is suspect of any action undertaken by government to limit personal freedom, Mr. Godfrey said of the proposed smoking ban: "I wouldn’t have voted for it. It’s verging on zealotry."
Mr. Abrams, a Libertarian candidate who ran unsuccessfully for a committee seat 1998, agreed.
"The ban would trample on property rights of bars and restaurants, violating the most important principle of the country – private property," he said.
But Mr. Marrero, a former district and county school board president, disagreed with his opponents.
"If I were on the Township Committee, I would probably vote in favor of a ban of smoking in public places," he said.
First elected to the Princeton Regional Board of Education in 1997, Mr. Marrero was president of the board that year, and in 1998 and 1999 as well. During 1998 and 1999, Mr. Marrero was also president of the Mercer County School Boards Association.
His life, he said, has been centered on community service, something he said he would like to continue.
"I’ve been asked again to serve this time, and I feel I have enough knowledge and skills to do this," Mr. Marrero said.
Mr. Godfrey is a 38-year resident of the township. He served on the committee from 1989 to 1991, and from 1998 to the present. He said he is seeking another term because he feels he knows the town very well and feels very strongly about the issues.
Of his desire to run for the open seat, Mr. Abrams said the impetus is both philosophical and practical.
"I look at this country and I’m troubled," he said.
"I see us trending away from the principles on which our country was founded. Our party encourages us to run at the grass-roots level, and I am. I can use a lot of shoe-leather" to get my message out, he said.
Mr. Abrams has lived in Princeton Township for 18 years.
In the past 15 years, the township has watched a once manageable deer population blossom into something entirely unmanageable, township officials have said, with vehicle-deer accidents common on township roads and damage to the local environment troublesome enough to prompt plans for a management program.
The candidates agreed something must be done soon, with Mr. Godfrey and Mr. Abrams coming out in favor of a controlled hunt.
But Mr. Marrero, while acknowledging the damage the herd has done to the local flora and understory, suggested a regional solution, and didn’t say he was in favor of the controlled hunt.
"It is a very serious problem, but are we going to tackle the problem just in Princeton? These deer come from all over, and we’re trying to find a local solution to a three-county problem. And, admittedly, it is a difficult and complex problem," he said.
"But if I were on the committee, I would do my best to convince my colleagues, here and in the region to come together and do this right. Princeton is not an isolated island," Mr. Marrero said.
To work regionally is a good suggestion, Mr. Godfrey said, especially with a program that incorporates Montgomery. But, he said, at the moment a controlled hunt "is only the really practical approach. There are no products (contraceptives) on the market, or approved by the state, to be used.
"As an elected official, you sometimes have to make difficult decisions. It’s cowardly to keep taking refuge in nonsolutions. The only way is a controlled kill."
Mr. Abrams, who two years ago during his first campaign said he was in favor of the hunt, reiterated his position.
On how to approach relocating, or revitalizing, the shared library, the candidates hold vastly different opinions.
Though he raised concerns over the amount of money "going to waste" each day a decision is left unmade, Mr. Godfrey said requests have been made of elected officials "not to start raising questions and doubts (about plans) because they may scare fund-raising" away.
Mr. Marrero said he thinks the library should be moved to Valley Road in the township, along with the Arts Council building and a youth center.
Mr. Abrams said he believes the two municipalities should kill plans to build a new library, or even renovate the current space, arguing that technology is moving so fast that it will render books obsolete.
"It’s a difficult thing to plan that far ahead, but we’re talking about spending a lot of taxpayer money" on a building that may be worthless in a decade, he said.
All three candidates said the borough is hedging on library plans and is costing the project, and the taxpayers of the township, a significant amount of money in the long run.
This hedging, they said, along with an unequal percentage of township funds going into joint projects and departments both municipalities share, has hurt the relationship between the two municipalities.
"I do think the relationship has soured," Mr. Godfrey said. "I feel it myself. I feel we have bailed the borough out on many occasions."
He said if the borough wants to keep its independence, it should pay for it, and alleviate some of the problems it causes the township, such as not paying bills promptly.
And, Mr. Godfrey said, "It burns me up we pay 75 percent, but only have equal representation" on boards and in other joint decision-making instances.
Mr. Marrero somewhat agreed, saying that the township seems to be footing the bill for the borough’s independence. He said consolidation is a "must."
"It’s got to be done," he said. "Why it hasn’t been done is beyond my comprehension."
Mr. Abrams said the township should be responsible for its own money, and not for the running of the borough if consolidation is not an option.
On the proposed Millstone Bypass, Mr. Godfrey said the state Department of Transportation is involved in "knavish foolishness" in its dealing with Princeton Township.
"This (project) does not serve any purpose, except (for) West Windsor residents who use Washington Road," he said. "It will be detrimental to Princeton Township in traffic impact, open space and environment … I’ve never heard of a bypass that ends on a main road (Nassau Street).
"They’re (DOT) being inflexible. The length of the lights is knavish" and the DOT is basically "blackmailing" the towns the project will affect, he added.
Mr. Marrero suggested that this is a regional problem Princeton Township has become involved in only because of its geography. He suggested the township again petition the DOT because "Princeton will be screwed up" if this road is built.
Mr. Abrams said the problem of traffic will not be solved by a bypass, but only when the American culture loses its love of the automobile.
"It doesn’t make too much sense to drive a ton of metal to the store for a loaf of bread, but we do it," Mr. Abrams said.
On other issues, Mr. Abrams suggested repealing the local open-space tax, calling it redundant. Both the county and state have dedicated funds for that purpose, he said.
Both Mr. Godfrey and Mr. Marrero said they support the open-space tax and will vote Nov. 7 to raise the dedicated local tax from 1 cent per $100 of assessed valuation to 2 cents per $100.
All three candidates are opposed to a township ordinance that would give the police the right to arrest underage drinkers on private property.