NEWS ANALYSIS
By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Six votes — the margin of victory for Councilwoman Jo S. Butler in a Democratic primary race for Princeton Council that came down to the wire.
In interviews one week later, she and members of her campaign inner circle discussed how they won the contest, how they faced challenges and how no one could remember a local election this close.
Ms. Butler said that from the very start of the campaign, she felt like she was running behind her two opponents. During the contest, Ms. Butler cast herself as the fiscally prudent candidate who had a record of voting to reduce taxes. Privately, she harbored thoughts that she would lose — a pill even more bitter to swallow since she would have had to continue serving this year along side people who had worked to defeat her.
In the end, the race was not decided on primary day, June 3, when Ms. Butler led challenger Sue Nemeth by three votes. It took the counting of provisional ballots two days later before she secured the victory.
"How did I do it? First and foremost I had a really dedicated team of supporters that proved to be extremely helpful," Ms. Butler said in a phone interview Wednesday. She felt like her team — including friend and Princeton Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller, attorney Walter Bliss and others — outworked the opposition.
"I just think that Jo got the message out that she had done her job as a councilwoman and deserved re-election," said Mr. Bliss by phone on Wednesday. "She had been insistent on issues of open government, and she had been true to the promises of consolidation. And I think over time that message seeped in and took root."
There were times, however, when the inner circle was at odds on strategy, particularly when the opposition campaign went negative. One issue was how should Ms. Butler respond to a charge that Ms. Nemeth had made about Ms. Butler’s position on the local school budget.
Ms. Butler said one view — what she called the "Clinton-school of political thought" — was that "when someone takes a jab at you, that you address it and come back harder."
"This is a small town. At the end of the day, that just didn’t feel like the right way to go. But it was hard for people," Ms. Butler said.
In the end, she said she thought the way Ms. Nemeth and Council President Bernard P. Miller had launched their campaign backfired on them. They issued a joint announcement in January in which Mayor Liz Lempert, council members Lance Liverman and Heather H. Howard and others had endorsed them. Mr. Miller and Ms. Nemeth would form a slate to win the party nomination for two seats on the council.
"Uniting Princeton was our first step in preserving the financial health and small town quality of life in our community. In the coming weeks, we will engage voters throughout the community in discussions of our shared values and vision for the future," Ms. Nemeth said in a Jan.6 news release announcing the ticket.
The announcement caught Ms. Butler and her supporters by surprise — and rubbed some Democrats the wrong way.
"I had the sense that people in Princeton have a strong sense of fair play. And I think everyone recognized that this was a departure from past behavior," Ms. Butler said.
Mary Clurman, who worked on the Butler campaign, said Wednesday that voters would tell her they were not happy with the way Ms. Nemeth and Mr. Miller ran as a slate.
"They didn’t like the ganging up thing. There was a backlash against that," she said.
"What I think was they wanted to get Jo out but never said they differed with her on a particular issue," said Peter Lindenfeld, Ms. Butler’s campaign treasurer. "It may be only six votes, but there was a real backlash that the mayor and three council members wanted to push her out without giving any reason. I think people were truly outraged against this kind of tactic."
Yet Ms. Butler said she felt Ms. Nemeth, having been a former township committeewoman, took away any advantage Ms. Butler had as an incumbent. She also felt her opponents had an edge given that they were running as a slate and that they both came from the former township, which had a larger population than the former borough where Ms. Butler came from.
Still, it would be two candidates against one, and early on, Ms. Butler was losing the political beauty contests.
At the Princeton Community Democratic Organization endorsement vote March 30, Ms. Butler finished a distant third — even though no candidate won enough votes to get an endorsement. The disappointment was visible on Ms. Butler’s face that night.
Things did not improve when the local Democratic Committee voted the next night to endorse Mr. Miller and Ms. Nemeth, an outcome that meant they would occupy preferential placement on the ballot. Fighting for her political life, Ms. Butler looked to the primary as her last stand. If this had been a football game, Ms. Butler would have been trailing late in the fourth quarter needing a touchdown to win.
One challenge, Ms. Butler said, was in educating people about bullet voting, that is voting for one candidate rather than two. "In the best of circumstances, it was going to be close," Mr. Bliss said.
But according to one Democrat, Ms. Butler had two things going for her: Jenny and Jon Crumiller, the political power couple that were Ms. Butler’s biggest financial contributors and supporters.
"But it does show you the strength and resiliency of the Crumiller machine," said the Democrat in reflecting on Ms. Butler’s victory.
"A lot of people came out of the woodwork to help Jo," Ms. Crumiller said. "It wasn’t a machine."
Ms. Crumiller said the campaign had Ms. Butler attend a lot of house parties, in which voters could meet her one on one. That enabled her to dispel what the other side was saying about her.
"Jo’s really good at retail politics," Ms. Crumiller said. "She works hard. She’s willing to talk to people. And she’s personable when you meet her. And I think that did a lot to counteract the negative image that her opponents were trying to convey."As for all the comments about the invisible hand of a "Crumiller machine" at work in Princeton politics, Ms. Crumiller dismissed it.
"That’s crazy talk. There is no Crumiller machine," Ms. Crumiller said.
On the night of the election, Democrats went to local restaurant Conte’s to eat pizza, drink beer and see who won. Mr. Miller was far enough ahead to be declared the winner, but Ms. Butler and Ms. Nemeth were neck and neck.
They would have to wait until the 11 provisional ballots were counted to determine the outcome. On a rainy Thursday morning in Trenton, the Mercer County Board of Elections disqualified six ballots and counted six. When the ballots were opened, Ms. Butler picked up four votes, and her opponent picked up one. Ms. Nemeth turned to shake hands.
It was over.
The closest municipal race that anyone could remember ended with Ms. Butler winning by six votes. In the short term, the result means that she will run with Mr. Miller for council terms; they have no Republican challengers in November. But where does a divided Princeton Council go from here?
Ms. Butler invited Mayor Lempert to her victory party this past weekend, a party the mayor attended and brought flowers to. For her part, Ms. Crumiller said she thinks Mayor Lempert will take a long time to get over Ms. Nemeth’s defeat.
"This is too a small a town to be able to be an elected official and not deal with everybody," Mayor Lempert told reporters Monday. "Elections are part of the democratic process. And it’s important to have them. And once they’re over, you move on."
"Clearly, the mayor wagered hard on this," said a Democrat who backed Ms. Butler. "Clearly, this has cost her political capital. For someone who ran being the voice of healing and bringing people together, she has proven herself to be the opposite."
Mayor Lempert said officials have "a really big agenda ahead of us" and need "to concentrate on the important work." Asked if she needed to extend an olive branch to Ms. Butler and Ms. Crumiller, she replied: "I mean I don’t grow olive trees."
The war of words might not be going away any time soon.
Mayor Lempert, writing in The Princeton Packet Tuesday, urged council members "to put aside the acrimony, backroom personal attacks and grandstanding that have hindered this council’s effectiveness."
Those comments prompted a strong response from Ms. Butler on Tuesday in which she called the mayor’s letter to the editor "a thinly-veiled attack" that she thinks residents will see through.
Quoting the mayor’s words back to her, she said Mayor Lempert is not taking responsibility for her role in the " ‘acrimony, backroom personal attacks and grandstanding.’¦"