Princeton Democratic Committee Recommends Miller and Nemeth Be Given “Official Party Slogan” in Primary Race

(l-r) Nemeth, Miller and Butler listne aas PCDO President Jon Durbin speaks Sunday night.
(l-r) Nemeth, Miller and Butler listen as PCDO President Jon Durbin speaks Sunday night.

 

The Princeton Democratic Municipal Committee voted tonight to recommend to the Mercer County Democratic Party leadership that Bernie Miller and Sue Nemeth are given the party slogan on the ballot in the Princeton Council primary race.

The committee voted to recommend to the county chair that all three Democratic candidates – including incumbent Jo Butler –  be in the same column, but with Miller and Nemeth getting the official party slogan, an endorsement of sorts. The Mercer County Chair is Liz Muio. She makes the final decision on ballot placement and the party slogan.

Princeton is divided into 22 voting districts. Each district elects two municipal committee representatives – one man and one woman. Each representative was allowed two votes at the municipal committee meeting tonight. A few districts have vacancies and some representatives did not attend the meeting. Miller received 22 votes, Nemeth received 19 votes, and Butler received 17 votes.

Miller and Nemeth served on the township committee together and are being backed by Mayor Liz Lempert and Council members Heather Howard and Lance Liverman. Lempert has sided with Miller, Liverman and Howard to break the tie in every council vote where there has been a tie on the council.

More than 370 people turned out for the Princeton Community Democratic Organization meeting Sunday night to vote on whether to endorse candidates. All three candidates fell short of the threshold for endorsement, which requires that a candidate receive 60 percent of the votes. Miller  received 216 votes, Nemeth received 197 votes, and Butler received 165 votes.

More than 370 people turned out for the PCDO endorsement meeting Sunday night.
More than 370 people turned out for the PCDO endorsement meeting Sunday night.
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Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.

7 Comments

  1. Hmm, the MCDO, which is approximately 2/3 former Township representatives, voted for the two former Township representatives over the former Borough representative. So much for all the talk of “one town.”

    1. We do not have proportional representation, so the majority wins all in every incremental election. The PCDO guides the majority bloc.

      Republicans are 35~40% of voters and how many seats did they capture during the 2012 election when all were up-for-grabs? Zero.
      .

  2. Hmmm, depends on who actually attended the meeting before you can make that kind of assumption, “Just Asking”.

    1. I agree. There needs to be lots more transparency and reform of the system. Princeton should be a model of democracy. Unfortunately, the PCDO meeting and the vote represents a regressive poll tax, as well as stuffing the ballot box — practices that should be discouraged. Nationally, Democrats oppose such policies. We shouldn’t continue them locally.

      1. The PCDO is a club. Period. The main problem is that Princetonians do not vote and that the rules of this club require $15 membership payment 2 weeks before the endorsing meeting; so, if one gets the “sisterhood” out to vote(the Littlebrook parents)the mayor gets her way. It happened when the PCDO was to endorse its mayoral candidate between Kevin Wilkes and Liz Lempert. There were so many new faces who decided the endorsement that night. With these bylaws, It is almost like the candidate pays for the votes.

  3. It’s not just the Borough that may lose representation if Jo Butler isn’t supported as widely as she deserves in the June Democratic primary. It’s Borough values. Asked about affordable housing on Sunday night, Sue Nemeth and Bernie Miller stressed “housing that’s affordable” — i.e. affordable by middle-class residents. Only Jo Butler discussed the need (and an upcoming possibility) for low-income housing, a long-time Borough concern.

  4. This is not a surprise–but it is a disappointment. I will be voting for Jo Butler and will definitely not be voting for anyone “endorsed” by the current messed-up party majority.

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