Anti-Cory Booker Mayhem Turns City Council Meeting into Near-Riot
6:26 pm - 11/21/2012Police had to resort to pepper-spray to end an unruly city council meeting in Newark last night, after a procedural move by Mayor Cory Booker caused angry citizens to storm the stage in protest—an evening of mayhem that should lead to tremors in a possible fight against Chris Christie.
To give you the background on the scene, courtesy of the Newark Star-Ledger: the council was meeting to nominate a replacement for Donald Payne Jr., who gave up his seat two weeks ago after being elected to Congress. Booker was looking to nominate an ally, Shanique Davis Speight, to the empty slot. His opponents were pushing for John James, the son of former Newark mayor Sharpe James, who Booker beat in 2006 to claim his current job. When a councilman supporting James attempted to speak, he was not recognized by the acting chair, so he and three other council-members walked out in protest, leaving the council without a quorum.
That's when Booker stepped in. In the absence of a quorum, council rules allow the mayor to sit in and cast votes. Anticipating just such a moment, Booker's chief of staff had planned ahead, making sure the mayor was at the council meeting—for the first time ever—to take action. Speight was nominated to the empty seat and Booker cast the deciding vote in her favor.
That's when the mayhem started. Residents grew furious over what looked like back-room cronyism orchestrated by Booker and his allies, and began chanting "Cory's gotta go." When Speight entered the chamber to be sworn in, dozens of citizens stormed the dais and had to be pushed back by police. One man was even arrested. Speight had to leave the room to be sworn in elsewhere.
No matter which way you look at his maneuvering—and his staff insists he followed all the rules—this incident won't look good for Booker the next time he runs for office. Booker is widely expected to challenge Chris Christie for the New Jersey Governor's chair next year, and the Republicans already have their first ready-made campaign ad. Booker's own constituents turning against him and losing their minds over a shady deal to pack the city council with his friends? That's not the image that America has come to expect from its superhero Twitter mayor. (@CoryBooker has been unusually silent since the meeting last night.)
With Christie riding high for his "state before party" approach to hurricane relief (a new poll this morning finds his approval rate at 67 percent), and Booker's food stamp challenge suddenly overshadowed, the episode gives Christie the opportunity to label the mayor as partisan hack.
source: http://www.theatlanticwire.com/nati
I would disagree with that. What it does is make him look decisive. This has been brewing for a while; the dissenting council members had vowed gridlock until they got their way. Acting in accordance to the rules to get shit done when you know gridlock WILL occur is not a bad thing. As Booker said:
"The actions taken last night by the Administration and half of the membership of the Municipal Council were in the interest of good government and designed to ensure the continuity of the legislative process," Booker said. "It was imperative that the Mayor and the Municipal Council immediately take the necessary steps to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Rep. Donald M. Payne, Jr. The likelihood of a deadlock among the eight remaining members has been apparent for quite some time."
- Source
I certainly wouldn't have done differently.
Not from Jersey, but I'm side-eyeing this article hard.
YES, This feels like spin.
I'd say that leaves "biased" in the dust and heads straight for "grudgey" territory. Did Booker egg this guy's house while giving his girlfriend the best orgasm of her life on the front lawn?
Sharpe James (born February 20, 1936) is a Democratic politician and convicted felon from New Jersey
oh
This article makes it sound like something was done completely against the rules without a quorum, not like there was another allowed way to do this. It look like Mayor Booker tried it the "right" way, but that wasn't going to work.
I admit I'm biased - I like Booker and don't want someone else I admire to turn out to be a another schmuck.
Daddy started spouting on about how Booker fixed it so he would be in jail, and that Booker didnt do things like save his neighbor from burning to death, etc.
Oh. I see.
So this was just a bullshit attempt by Sharpe to rule through his son by proxy. Nice. Good for Booker, then, to smack down this asshole.
I'll tell you a few things he's done recently he just orchestrated a merit based contract for public school teachers. But the teachers that will most benefit is teachers in the Charter Schools (which Booker is a big proponent of) but teachers in the public schools good luck to then because they can't pick their students. Also in the comments section of this article a few of the posters break it down how through this deal teachers will in fact lose pay
http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2
Also this article really goes into whose pulling Booker' strings
http://blackagendareport.com/content/co
Also he has been pushing to privatize the public water and we know how well privatizing public utilities works. Water should be a basic right and if Booker gets his wish it will drive up the cost for many residents that are living in poverty.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markber
I've always said anyone that thinks I just have some irrational reason for bashing Booker are welcome to come to Newark and see for themselves the condition of his city. One thought I gurantee you will walk away is how he has so much damn time for twitter when his city and the residents are in the condition they're in.
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How does this look bad for both sides again?
[citation needed]
Sure, so you say. And I've heard differently from other Newarkians on the subject.
But your constant run-down of Booker is, frankly, suspicious. I'm starting to think you might be one of these Sharpe mafiosos.
Stay in twitter world
I don't have a Twitter.
Oh but you figured out my true agenda I'm James mafiaoso that must have been why I donated to Booker's campaign run against James. Now I wouldn't give a nickel or a second of my time but before I really believed the hype of Booker.
Yes, I do know legitimate residents of Newark, and I don't really care if you believe me or not.
Oh but you figured out my true agenda I'm James mafiaoso that must have been why I donated to Booker's campaign run against James. Now I wouldn't give a nickel or a second of my time but before I really believed the hype of Booker.
Your previous 'comments' on Booker do not support this assertion, therefore I do not think it is true.
But this is a much bigger convo this is just a smattering of my thoughts.
I love Mayor Nutter, and whenever he tries to clean up the city or break up crime, he's met with so much opposition that it's ridiculous.
Edited at 2012-11-22 04:49 pm (UTC)