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Squeaky Wheel
Citizen
Username: Squeaky_wheel
Post Number: 45
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 7:09 pm: | 
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Finally, a potential in Newark for progress, not corruption and cronyism!
New York Times
March 27, 2006
Longtime Newark Mayor Ends Bid for Sixth Term
By DAMIEN CAVE
Sharpe James, one of the last big city black mayors to come out of the civil rights movement, announced yesterday that he would not seek a sixth term.
Only 11 days after entering the race with the flourish of a Las Vegas heavyweight — arriving at City Hall to deliver his petitions astride a police bicycle — Mr. James withdrew from the May 9 election with a six-page letter delivered to the City Clerk's office just minutes before the ballots were to be sent to the printer.
Mr. James, who is also a state senator, said in his letter that he was leaving because he was "an opponent of dual office holding" and wanted to focus on state issues. He denied that age was an issue, despite having recently turned 70. And he emphasized that if he had stayed in race, he would have won because New Jersey's largest city is better off now than in 1986, when he was first elected.
"Under my leadership Newark has climbed the rough side of the mountain and has become a renaissance city with pride, prosperity and progress," he wrote. "Newark is now a destination city with planned programs and economic projects that will surface over the next decade."
Mr. James's withdrawal from the race clears the way for a race between State Senator Ronald L. Rice and Cory Booker, 36, a former Municipal Council Member and Rhodes Scholar whose second campaign for mayor has been chugging along for months.
It also puts an end to an era in which Newark's fortunes and national image have been inseparable from the showmanship and civic chauvinism of its mayor.
"Sharpe James is really the last of that group of New Jersey politicians that came to power as a result of the Newark riots," said Reginald Jackson, executive director of the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey. "It's the end of a major era in the life of the city because I'm not sure anyone now has the capacity to put together a machine like Sharpe James did. He dominated the politics of Essex County, and in some major ways, the state."
Mr. James grew up poor on Howard Street in the city's South Ward. A teacher before entering politics, he started his civic career as a member of the Newark Municipal Council in 1970. As mayor, he developed a reputation for being the bedraggled city's most exuberant cheerleader, a defensive protector who was not above using his political machine or the contentious issue of race to get what he desired for Newark.
Clement Price, a historian at Rutgers University who teaches a course about this mostly black city of 280,000, said that the mayor deserves credit for helping Newark "recalibrate its image" after the 1967 riots that were among the nation's most violent examples of racial strife.
"He will be remembered as one of the leading figures who successfully slowed down and all but stopped Newark's slide into invisibility," Mr. Price said. After 40 years, he added, "the civil discourse has finally moved beyond the riots. Sharpe James forced people to look toward the future, not the past." |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 4637
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 7:29 pm: |
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The question is, how much of that would have happened anyway, and maybe more so. Other cities had riots, too, but Newark is the only one you hear about as still hoisting itself up from the ashes. |
cjc
Citizen
Username: Cjc
Post Number: 5452
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 7:29 pm: |
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This is great news. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 13254
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 7:59 pm: |
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tom, you consider Newark to be hoisted? I see improvements happening, but I also see it has a long way to go.
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hch
Citizen
Username: Hch
Post Number: 233
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 8:31 pm: |
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This is great news, I agree. But all of the sudden Sharpe is against double-dipping?!? What a hypocrite! He has gotten wealthy off of the backs of his constituents and he has just set up a $50 million slush fund at his disposal with Newark's money. Now he suddenly develops a moral compass? Give me a break.
There are reasons behind this withdrawal that we will probably never know and I think Sharpe wants it that way. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 4638
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 8:53 pm: |
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"still hoisting" is the present tense. |
Nohero
Supporter
Username: Nohero
Post Number: 5237
Registered: 10-1999
| | Posted on Monday, March 27, 2006 - 8:54 pm: |
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It's still going to be an interesting race.
Presumably, the James folks will be behind the mayoral candidacy of Ron Rice (deputy mayor, now running for mayor). Some years ago, I believe Mr. Rice represented Maplewood in the Legislature, before we were redistricted.
And Mr. James will still be a potent political force. He may succeed in avoiding the fate of other Newark mayors (i.e., being taken away in handcuffs), but that may be because his term will end before anything happens to him. |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 11078
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 4:30 am: |
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I think it is a safe conclusion that Ron Rice will have the support of the Newark political establishment. Since he doesn't appear to have Mr. James political baggage, I think he is automatically the front runner in the campaign. |
hch
Citizen
Username: Hch
Post Number: 234
Registered: 8-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 8:55 am: |
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I'm sure James will try to be the man behind the curtain, pulling strings and trying every trick in the book to try and get whomever he wants elected. |
3ringale
Citizen
Username: Threeringale
Post Number: 120
Registered: 1-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 9:03 am: |
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As a lifelong New Jerseyan, it is hard to believe that we are being told the entire truth about Mayor James' withdrawal. But it is easy to believe that he could still wind up doing a perp-walk into the Federal Courthouse in Newark.
Cheers |
Lydia
Supporter
Username: Lydial
Post Number: 1739
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 5:48 pm: |
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One thing's for sure, just because Sharpe is officially out of the race, he's still behind the scenes and it's sure to get nasty.
check out this chat board for a taste - especially "Haterproof's" posts, s/he is so over-the-top you can't make this stuff up:
http://www.nj.com/forums/newark/ |
3ringale
Citizen
Username: Threeringale
Post Number: 122
Registered: 1-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 7:17 pm: |
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It will be a dulle race without Sharpe. |
cjc
Citizen
Username: Cjc
Post Number: 5458
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 8:25 pm: |
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Dull? Maybe not. A candidate may surface to make racial attacks on Booker and have enough people buy that to have an impact. We could get another movie out of this, with election monitors and everything! Jimmy Carter in a cameo? |
Foj
Citizen
Username: Foger
Post Number: 1049
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 9:56 pm: |
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Ron Rice Sr, the front runner? What are you smokin? Now way. Booker is the front runner.
Ron Rice Jr. doesnt even support his own father for Mayor.
What Media firm is Rice SR going to use, Booker has hired James's old firm. 1/2 of James campaign staffers have gone over to Booker. Many considered that Booker would beat James this time around. Rice Sr. will have to make do with the staff leftovers and a 2nd rate media firm.
I repeat----
Ron Rice Jr. doesnt even support his own father for Mayor. |
kws
Citizen
Username: Kws
Post Number: 126
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 10:00 pm: |
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Booker was and is the frontrunner. Polling on the street had him up substantially and Sharpe feared he was going to lose, thus he withdrew. I really don't think it will get that nasty. Sharpe wants to hang around town and get in on the development action, so I expect he will reach out to Cory Booker. |
Foj
Citizen
Username: Foger
Post Number: 1051
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 10:06 pm: |
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I agree. |
thegoodsgt
Citizen
Username: Thegoodsgt
Post Number: 935
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 8:54 am: |
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Maybe the new mayor will make an effort to clean up all the trash visible from the NJT line. |
HOMMELL
Citizen
Username: Hommell
Post Number: 78
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 9:43 am: |
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Booker is the front runner. He learned a lot from the previous race and it putting it to practice. If he can pull off the South Ward, he'll win by a mile. There's not much time for this thing to get as ugly as the last election, but it could get bumpy going into the home stretch if things get close. |
jet
Citizen
Username: Jet
Post Number: 1066
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 12:08 pm: |
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Mr. James is getting out of town just before the Law & he is still trying to steal 50mm in the process . This crook is a multi millionare with a RollsRoyce un a yacht, who never had a job in the private sector. He got away with this because nobody plays the race card faster then this crook even on his own. This despecable man was allowed to do this because he was only robbing from his own people. "Let them lose their soles" was the view from NJ establishment. |
jet
Citizen
Username: Jet
Post Number: 1069
Registered: 7-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 12:39 pm: |
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Hey how is that other Newark star Mrs. Houston ? |
LW
Citizen
Username: Lrw
Post Number: 69
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 1:17 pm: |
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JET-Seriously, do you write for The Star-Ledger, or did you just cut and paste that from the newspaper's website? |
kws
Citizen
Username: Kws
Post Number: 127
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 1:52 pm: |
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They went after James in the early 90s and came away with nothing more than his chief of staff, Jackie Mattison, who wouldn't talk.
The feds lost alot of credibility with that investigation so I don't know if they are in a hurry to do it again.
And Jackie?
He did the time and was rewarded with insider deals on Newark real estate. |
LW
Citizen
Username: Lrw
Post Number: 71
Registered: 10-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 29, 2006 - 2:13 pm: |
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KWS- Is that another original excerpt from the Ledger? I'd much rather read about newsworthy events, than James' former chief of staff. From what I understand, the man did his time, so why do people continue to harass him? |
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