To the Editor:

I am writing to strongly endorse Jo Butler for election to the new Princeton Council. Since the beginning of the year, I have served on the Princeton Consolidation Transition Task Force and have had the honor to get to know, and work with, a number of elected officials from both Princeton Borough and Princeton Township. Although it is fashionable to bash politicians, I generally have been impressed by the quality of Princeton’s public officials; I plan to vote for several of them in the upcoming primary and in the fall election.

So why Jo? Jo and I have worked closely together on a number of matters relating to the Princeton consolidation and I have found her to be remarkably hard-working, thoughtful and balanced. She is a “roll up your sleeves and get it done” type of person, entirely comfortable getting down into the weeds on an issue while at the same time keeping in mind the greater goal. Although there has been a great deal of “noise” about Princeton Borough vs. Princeton Township over the past several years, Jo has already embraced the paradigm shift of thinking about one Princeton. And while she brings a passion about certain important issues to the table, her instinct is to listen to other points of view and then seek ways to get to a workable resolution. In short, Jo is much more interested in good public policy than personal political gain. (I wish we had more like her in Washington!)

From my vantage point as a member of the Transition Task Force, I will be interested to see how the newly consolidated Princeton works in 2013 and beyond. With people like Jo Butler on the new Princeton Council, I will have high hopes that a consolidated Princeton community will become even more vibrant and livable.

Brad Middlekauff

Hibben Road