Cory Booker

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Cory A. Booker (born April 27, 1969) is the mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He is a Democratic politician and former Newark Councilman and community activist who in 2002 ran for mayor of Newark against Sharpe James and ran again, and won a sweeping victory, in 2006. Booker is a graduate of Stanford, Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and Yale Law School.

Background

He won a Rhodes Scholarship and studied at Oxford University, where he was awarded an honors degree in modern history in 1994. At Oxford, he befriended Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. He became the President of the L'Chaim Society, a Jewish group founded by Boteach, to signify his commitment to end tensions between Jews and African Americans.

After Oxford, he obtained a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1997 and, while there, started and operated free legal clinics for poor people near Yale. He was also a big brother, and was active in the Black Law Students Association.

After law school, Booker returned to New Jersey. He served as Staff Attorney for the Urban Justice Center in New York and Program Coordinator of the Newark Youth Project. Since 1998, he has lived in Brick Towers, a notorious public housing project in Newark's Central Ward. Booker organized tenants there to fight for improved conditions.

As a councilman

Once on the Council, Booker proved to be an unconventional public official. In 1999, he went on a 10-day hunger strike, living in a tent in front of one of Newark's worst housing projects, to protest open-air drug dealing. For five months in 2000, he lived in a motor home, parking on street corners known to be places where drug trafficking occurred.

He proposed a variety of Council initiatives that impacted housing, young people, law and order, and the efficiency of City Hall, but was regularly rebuffed by a resistant City Council and often outvoted 8-1.

While on the Council, Booker became an advocate of school vouchers as part of a reform of the education system.

2002 Mayoral run

Promotional poster for Street Fight documentary

In 2002, rather than run for re-election as Councilman, Booker decided to run for Mayor of Newark. This pitted him against long-time mayor, Sharpe James. His campaign was ultimately unsuccessful. The Academy-Award-nominated documentary by Filmmaker Marshall Curry entitled Street Fight details his bid for mayor.

After concluding his service as a Councilman, in 2003 Booker founded, and became the director of, Newark Now, a grassroots nonprofit group, a partner at the Newark law firm, Booker, Rabinowitz, et al., and a senior fellow at Rutgers University's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees at Teachers College, Columbia University, a member of the Executive Committee at Yale Law School and was formerly a member of the Board of Trustees at Stanford University.

2006 Mayoral run

On March 6, 2006, Deputy Mayor, and State Senator, Ronald Rice entered the race, adding "that Mayor James had encouraged him to run but noted that if the mayor decided to join the race, his candidacy could change." [New York Times Metro Briefing - NEWARK: DEPUTY MAYOR ENTERS THE RACE] The New York Times, March 6, 2006. On March 27, 2006, James announced that he would not seek a sixth term, preferring to focus on his seat in the New Jersey Senate. [Sharpe Drops Out: James cites only his position against holding dual offices] NJ.com / Star-Ledger, March 28, 2006.

Rice ran a campaign attacking Booker for raising over $6 million for the race. Booker's campaign outspent Rice's campaign by 25 to 1. Booker ran a campaign of trying to link Rice as a "political crony" of the former mayor Sharpe James whom Booker lost to in the 2002 mayoral race. Damien Cave, ["On 2nd Try, Booker Glides In as Newark Mayor"] May 10, 2006 The New York Times Damien Cave, ["Newark Feature: A New Political Era"] May 10, 2006 The New York Times (Multimedia)

On Election Day, May 9, 2006, Newark's nonpartisan election took place. Booker won with 72% of the vote, soundly defeated Ronald Rice, his closest challenger, who received 23% of the ballots cast. Booker's entire slate of City Council candidates, known as the "Booker Team" swept the Council elections, giving Booker firm leadership of City government.

On May 31, 2006, before taking office as Mayor, Booker sued the city in order to get the New Jersey state courts to stop the city from selling land at prices he felt were inadequate to the worth of the land. The land was mainly sold at prices ranging from $1 to $4 per square foot. The city council argued that this was necessary as the only way to get development into Newark's blighted neighborhoods. Booker was also criticized by council members because as a councilman he approved of some of the low-cost deals to developers. Booker's attorneys argued that the city had violated the state's "pay-to-play" law by rewarding campaign contributors with land deals. On June 20, 2006 Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello ruled in favor of Booker, stating that his attorney's had "made a persuasive argument that campaign contributors were given discounted land deals". Katie Wang, ["Booker wins fight on city land sales"] June 21, 2006 The Star-Ledger

Days before taking office in late June New Jersey investigators foiled a plot led by Bloods gang-leaders inside four New Jersey state prisons to assassinate Booker. The plot was led by New Jersey Bloods gang leader Lester Alford, an inmate in East Jersey State Prison in Rahway, New Jersey. The plan called for prisoners in four New Jersey state prisons to riot and then for Bloods gang members on the outside to simulantiously assassinate Booker. Booker has been placed under 24-hour surveillance by the Newark Police Department. The reason for the threats against Booker are believed to be in response to Booker's campaign promises of expanding the number of police on the streets and a hardline on crime. ["Plot to assassinate Cory Booker revealed: Gang-backed initative foiled by investigators"] June 28, 2006 The New York Amsterdam News Jay Dow, ["Newark P.D.: Bloods Threaten To Kill Booker"] June 21, 2006 CBS News Jay Dow, ["Booker Stands Up To Jailhouse Death Threats"] June 22, 2006 CBS News

Booker Mayoral Administration

Booker assumed office as mayor of Newark on July 1, 2006, one of only three mayors to govern the city since 1970.[Newark Elects Cory Booker First New Mayor in Two Decades in Landslide Victory], ABC News, May 9, 2006 Damien Cave ["Pledging to Revive Newark, a New Mayor Goes to Work"] July 2, 2006 The New York Times David Segal, ["Urban Legend How Cory Booker Became Newark's Mayor: By Being Almost Too Good to Be True"] July 3, 2006 The Washington Post After a week of taking office Booker announced a 100 day plan to implement reforms in Newark. The centerpiece of the plan is a rise in the amount of police in Newark with other reforms targeted towards ending background checks for city jobs that do not require security clearences in order to help former offenders find employment in the city, refurbishing city police stations, improving city services to Newark residents, and expanding summer programs for the city's youth. Ronald Smothers, ["Booker Has 100-Day Plan for Newark’s Reorganization"] July 11, 2006 The New York Times Jay Dow, ["Booker Unveils '100-Day Plan' To Battle Crime"] July 10, 2006 CBS

See also

• List of mayors of Newark, New Jersey

References