A flurry of competing claims as campaign winds up
By: Fred Tuccillo
A flurry of competing claims about debate invitations and campaign financing marked the final weekend of the Democratic primary campaign between Princeton Borough Mayor Mildred Trotman and challenger Kim Pimley.
Polls open 6 a.m. Tuesday and close at 8 p.m. The winner is likely to be unopposed on the November ballot because the Republican Party has not nominated a mayoral candidate.
The outcome of the primary race was expected to rest heavily on the relative success of Ms. Pimley’s attempts to turn out unaffiliated voters as well as Democratic supporters and Mayor Trotman’s ability to convert the official endorsement of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization into overwhelming support from registered Democrats.
Under New Jersey election law, unaffiliated voters are permitted to vote in a party primary but must fill out a form at the polls affiliating themselves with the party. After the election they may either retain that affiliation or submit another form restoring their unaffiliated status.
Ms. Pimley’s decision to enter the race after the PCDO had designated Mayor Trotman as its candidate and a well-funded campaign aimed at non-Democrats and Democrats alike, drew attacks from some Democratic leaders last week.
Responding to criticism of Mayor Trotman for not agreeing to meet Ms. Pimley in campaign debates proposed by the League of Women voters and others, PCDO Vice President Peter Wolanin issued a letter charging that Ms. Pimley had, in effect, declined to debate the mayor by choosing not to compete for the organization’s support at its endorsement meeting in March.
Ms. Pimley disputed the charge, stating, "I never had an opportunity to participate in a PCDO debate." She said that she did not decide to become a candidate until three weeks after the March 18 endorsement meeting and had been out of the country on business at the time of the meeting.
Noting that she had made herself available for debates proposed by the League of Women Voters and the Princeton YWCA which Mayor Trotman said she was not available to attend, Ms. Pimley said it "defies logic" to suggest that she had declined to debate the mayor.
In another letter issued over the weekend, Dan Preston, who chairs the Princeton Township Democratic Committee, repeated his challenge of Ms. Pimley’s acceptance of campaign contributions from unaffiliated or Republican voters who are residents of a proposed "Local Historic Preservation District" including portions of Library Place and Hodge Road. Ms. Pimley, a resident of the proposed district, and some of the residents who contributed to her campaign, oppose the designation.
The contributions were listed in Ms. Pimley’s campaign filings with the state’s Election Law Enforcement Commission and reported by The Packet on May 15.
Ms. Pimley’s campaign has raised a total of $35,039 in campaign donations which included contributions from neighbors who have previously contributed money to Republican campaigns.
The campaign slate of Mayor Trotman and unopposed Borough Council candidates Roger Martindell and Andrew Koontz have reported raising $17,847.
Mr. Preston confronted Ms. Pimley about her contributors at Wednesday’s YWCA forum, using the phrase, ‘Follow the money,’ which was made famous during the Watergate scandal as a reference to illegal campaign activities by the 1972 presidential campaign of Richard Nixon.
On Thursday, Mr. Preston told The Packet that he was not alleging any illegality or "pay-to-play" or "quid-pro-quo" in the contributions but said that Ms. Pimley’s acceptance of them "raises warning flags" because the donors are "rightward-leaning" and Princeton is a "pretty progressive, liberal community."
An editorial critical of those comments, in last Friday’s edition of The Packet, was criticized by both Mr. Wolanin and Mr. Preston. The full text of their statements, and Ms. Pimley’s, appears below.
Repeating the phrase, "Follow the money," Mr. Preston wrote: "When a large fraction of the money entering a Democratic Party primary election comes from Republicans or from technically ‘unaffiliated’ voters with a history of donating large sums to the Republican Party and George W. Bush, voters should stand up and take notice."
Responding to Mr. Preston’s comments, Ms. Pimley said: "As mayor, I intend to represent all citizens of Princeton, not just the Democrats. I am honored that enlightened Democrats, unaffiliateds, and Republicans are supporting me, and my stance on the issues, rather than simply following the party line."
The flurry of claims and counter-claims during the campaign’s final days also indicated that the issue of debate invitations was being viewed as important by both campaigns.
A May 29 newspaper advertisement by the Pimley campaign stated that the mayor "declined offers by both The League of Women Voters/YWCA and the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce to host debates at any time of her choosing."
Mayor Trotman said on May 17 that her schedule, including ‘Planning Board meetings and council meetings" made it "unlikely" that she would be able to accept such invitations. On Wednesday, she said she initially tried to reconcile schedule conflicts with the proposed dates but then decided to drop the matter.
The mayor also said on Wednesday that Ms. Pimley’s appearance with her at an April 25 forum hosted by Princeton University’s College Democrats on relations between the university and local government should be considered a campaign debate. Mr. Wolanin repeated the latter point in his weekend statement.
The following locations are polling places in Princeton Borough:
District One: Trinity Church Parish House, Mercer Street.
District Two: Princeton Engine Co. No. 1 Firehouse Engine Room, Chestnut Street.
District Three: Hook and Ladder Firehouse Recreation Room, Harrison Street North.
District Four: Princeton Engine Co. No. 1 Firehouse, Chestnut Street.
District Five: Princeton United Methodist Church, Nassau Street and Vandeventer Avenue.
District Six: Mr. Pisagh AME Church, Witherspoon Street.
District Seven (formerly 10): Suzanne Patterson Center Lounge, Monument Drive.
District Eight: Suzanne Patterson Center Lounge, Monument Drive.
District Nine: Hook and Ladder Firehouse Recreation Room, Harrison Street North.
Residents can search for their polling place through the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety Web site at http://voter.njsvrs.com/PublicAccess/jsp/PollPlace/PollPlaceSearch.jsp.
According to the Web site of the Mercer County Superintendent of Elections, "unaffiliated" voters are allowed to declare their party affiliation at the polling place on the day of the primary election.
Voters who wish to change their affiliation before the general election must file a Political Party Affiliation Declaration Form 50 days prior to the election.
The form is available at http://nj.gov/counties/mercer/departments/intendent/affiliation.html and must be mailed to The Commissioner of Registration, 640 S. Broad Street, P.O. Box 8068, Trenton, NJ 08650.
The Commissioner of Registration does not accept faxed or electronically transmitted copies of Party Affiliation Declaration Forms because an original signature is required.
Staff Writer Nick Norlen also contributed to this story.
EDITOR’S NOTE
An editorial in last Friday’s edition of The Princeton Packet criticized Mayor Mildred Trotman’s decision to decline several invitations to meet her primary opponent, Kim Pimley, in campaign debates. The editorial also chided Democratic leaders for suggesting that campaign contributions to Ms. Pimley from taxpaying residents of Princeton homeowners should be viewed with suspicion because the donors are "non-Democrats."
The Packet has made no endorsement in tomorrow’s primary. However, the editorial and the matters on which it commented have elicited the following responses from Peter Wolanin, vice president of the Princeton Community Democratic Organization, PCDO Vice President, Dan Preston, chairman of the Princeton Township Democratic Committee and Ms. Pimley:
Mr. Wolanin’s statement:
Mrs. Pimley was well aware of the PCDO endorsement process, and was directly invited to participate, but nonetheless declined to come to the meeting or submit her name for consideration. Perhaps this decision was the correct political calculation, but it still struck me as, quite frankly, lame. In the previous contested Democratic mayoral primary, there was a healthy and vigorous exchange between the candidates and their supporters at the PCDO endorsement meeting.
Your editorial also implies that Mrs. Trotman refused to debate Mrs. Pimley, which is untrue since you ran coverage of their public debate in your April 27 issue.
Finally, you cast a number of aspersions on the PCDO and the Princeton Democrats in general. As the PCDO-endorsed candidate, Mrs. Trotman has appropriately advertised this fact. The PCDO as an organization has not been otherwise involved in the campaign, even if individual members have chosen to give their time or money to support Mrs.Trotman.
Your editorial also inappropriately conflates campaign contributions with local taxes. Residents of all political affiliations indeed pay taxes, but receive equally in return police, roads, trash pickup, and other services. In contrast, campaign contributions are used for the personal aggrandizement of the candidate, and are rightly subject to scrutiny to understand whereeach candidate’s support and loyalties lay.
Mr. Preston’s statement:
At Wednesday’s forum at the YWCA, I raised the issue of Kim Pimley’s campaign contributions, which have been mainly in the form of large ($1,000 and up) sums from individuals in her Western section neighborhood.
Anyone who studies politics knows that it is critical to "follow the money." When an unprecedented surge of cash enters a campaign from quarters extremely unrepresentative of the general population, voters are wise to look more closely.
When a large fraction of the money entering a Democratic Party primary election comes from Republicans or from technically "unaffiliated" voters with a history of donating large sums to the Republican Party and George W. Bush, voters should stand up and take notice.
The Packet editorial of June 1 criticized me for bringing up these inconvenient facts as "tasteless." My view is that voters have a right to information that sheds light onto the sources of a candidate’s financial support, especially when the amounts and ideologies of the contributors are so atypical for a local Democratic Party primary contest. The editorial that dismissed these revelations as "tasteless" betrays a stunning contempt for the open process that our democracy depends upon.
Ms. Pimley’s statement:
I never had an opportunity to participate in a PCDO debate. The PCDO endorsement meeting was held on Sunday evening, March 18, 2007. I was in Singapore/Australia/NZ from March 9 to April 7, 2007. I did not declare my candidacy until April 9, the final deadline for such declarations. In order for me to have participated in a PCDO March 18 endorsement meeting debate, I would have had to have (1) made a decision to run at least three weeks earlier than I actually did, and, (2) return 10,000 miles to Princeton during the middle of my business trip. To suggest that I was offered a debate defies logic.
As to Dan Preston’s assertion that there is something inappropriate about the acceptance of campaign donations from "non-Democrats" in a Democratic primary: As mayor, I intend to represent all citizens of Princeton, not just the Democrats. I am honored that enlightened Democrats, Unaffiliateds, and Republicans are supporting me, and my stance on the issues, rather than simply following the party line. In an election where there are no Republican candidates, but where Republican citizens want their voices to be heard, they have no choice but to support a Democrat. And I am proud that they are supporting me.

