Executing emergency measures to combat a surge in homicides under their leadership are not the kinds of details candidates wants to talk about while on the stump. But with a spate of violent killings making daily headlines, will Newark’s recurring crime waves haunt Cory Booker’s senate bid and also threaten his legacy as mayor?
“Ten days, 10 dead,” ran one headline. Another, in bold, upper case type referred to “NEWARK’S CARNAGE.” And according to ABC’s Eyewitness News website, “Community members are crying out for help in the wake of the violence,” while police say none of the incidents are connected. Motives are unknown and suspects at large, which makes targeting hotspots for the recent outbreak of violence logistically challenging.
Following the ninth homicide in as many days, and while Booker continued his campaign, an official in the mayor’s office announced the launch of “Operation Blue Zone,” the city’s law enforcement’s response to a crime surge, which sends increased patrol into parts of the city known for gun violence. The Safe Cities Task Force was also extended and Police Director Samuel DeMaio told the public “the spike in violence comes after a drop in crime” and a quiet summer.
When the season’s crime statistics suddenly shifted, Booker was on the campaign trail, confidently touting his list of credentials for a Senate seat he is sure to win. However, looming headlines and a lagging opponent, who suddenly saw an opportunity to make headlines of his own, must be unwelcome distractions for the mayor with a popular “roll-up-his-sleeves” image.
“The spate of violence that our city has seen over the last couple of weeks is unconscionable and drives me towards both anger and sadness,” Booker issued in a statement over Labor Day, which was carried by Huffington Post under the headline “Cory Booker Faces Newark Crime Wave Amid Campaign,” one of several national headlines.
The story also included a quote from Booker’s Republican opponent: “While Cory Booker is traveling the state and taking money from Hollywood celebrities, the people of Newark are besieged.” Steve Lonegan alluded to a frequent criticism by the mayor’s opponent, who accused him, as did Lonegan of “spending too much time outside Newark and working on a national profile instead of focusing on his city of more than 250,000 residents, who’ve dealt with decades of systemic crime and poverty.”
Bashir Akinyele, of the Newark Anti-Violence Coalition, founded in 2009 after a daylong shooting spree that killed three people and injured five others, voiced similar sentiments when he spoke to theGrio.
“We’re been calling for the mayor, challenging the mayor to make violence a public health issue. We’ve demanded the mayor call a massive anti-violent town call meeting where leaders can find common ground to help stop violence. This hasn’t happened because the mayor is playing politics. And while he is playing politics, African-Americans and Latino are dying in the streets,” said Akinyele.
The streets, mainly in the South Ward Akinyele refers to, are well known to Booker according to Kevin Griffis, a spokesperson for Booker’s senate campaign. He told theGrio that “the mayor lived for years in Brick Towers,” an affordable housing development, (described by the New York Times as “the ill-fated, foul-smelling public apartment complex“) “to help call attention to the issues that community is having and to create progress.”
Griffis added, “When that public housing project was torn down, Booker actually asked his police director where the most troubled crime is in the city. So he lives in the South Ward on Hawthorne Street. He lives with the urgency and toughest challenges and sees them every day. That’s what fuels his work as mayor.”
Ras Baraka, a candidate hoping to become Newark’s next mayor, sees Booker’s mayoral legacy very differently. “The point is not to be on the street. The point is to change the position of the people on the street. Not just empathize with the people.”
And even though Baraka gives Booker credit adding, “I’m not saying the mayor didn’t do anything. I think during his tenure, as mayor, he did what he thought should be done. He was tough on crime and it would sometimes end. But we’ve had these spikes in crimes because he never dealt with the root of it. As a result, he is facing it on the way out the door.”
What Booker is facing permeates through Newark’s communities according to Jim Queally, crime correspondent for Newark’s Star-Ledger.
“The community leaders and police are upset and shaken,” he told theGrio. “They want it to stop. They don’t understand why this is going on. No one is blaming the administration or the police department. Most are just solemn and angry. Of course some individuals blame it on cutbacks and social ills.”
Comments to Newark’s leading newspaper, the Star-Ledger, substantiate Queally’s observations and Lonegan’s claims that Booker is “working on a national profile.” This, with the mayor campaigning around the state with celebrities including Eva Longoria and Oprah Winfrey.
The website N.J.com asked its readers: Should Cory Booker suspend his U.S. Senate campaign and return to Newark to focus on the surge in violence in N.J.’s largest city? The poll results: “Yes. He was elected to serve in Newark. The city needs a leader now, 76.88 percent, (1,370 votes)” as opposed to “No. He can campaign and lead Newark at the same time, 21.1 percent, (376 votes).”
Is this outbreak of 10 murders in 10 days becoming a liability for Booker?
Baraka says yes. “It will most certainly affect the campaign in Newark and his opponents will try to hang violence around his neck and he’ll have to respond quickly.” Baraka’s recommendation? “He must take some time to focus on the crime and violence in the city. Bring back the officers that were laid off during his tenure.”
Tom Moran, a veteran political correspondent for Newark’s Star Ledger, sees Booker’s future through a longer lens when he spoke to theGrio.
“This won’t have any influence on the campaign. Since he took office in 2006, he cut violent crime very deeply.” This even though, according to Moran, he inherited a gigantic fiscal crisis. “He has to speak to it (the surge in violent crimes) and it will affect the campaign dialogue.” And regarding Booker’s legacy as mayor, “He has a keen sense of appreciation for his legacy and his future in politics.”
Observers from varied perspectives, along with Moran, think the social ills that plague Newark during Booker’s tenure will be issues he’ll be vocal about as a United States senator.
“He will be a leading spokesman for the party pretty quick. He’ll jump in front of the TV cameras. He’s going to be a high-profile senator and look for areas of bi-partisan agreement,” Moran observed. “I think he feels very good about his legacy and he has measurables. He has the data to support his claims of progress.”
For the time being, the mayor’s campaign staff are offering Booker’s impressive list of accomplishments. And while critics say the mayor is more accessible on Twitter, Facebook and television, his office told theGrio he’ll be attending the funeral of one of the victims in the latest outbreak of violence, Jesus Torres, the pizza delivery man and aspiring singer, whose death so far has no motive. Like the mayor, Torres was active on social media.
Booker’s tweets referencing Newark’s crime wave: “With police around Hawthorne ave. It is quiet. I want to remind people that tonight is a school night. Kids out this late makes NO sense.”
Referring to the deaths of 10 young people, Moran observed, “It’s a real heartache for the city but it will not affect his outcome. What pundits are wondering is whether Booker will win by a larger margin than [Governor Chris Christie] or not.”