Tonight I watched an incredible documentary on PBS- it's called "Street Fight," and it chronicles the 2002 mayoral race in Newark, New Jersey, between two black candidates: four-term incumbent Sharpe James and Cory Booker, a young city councilman seeking to reform the city's corrupt, entrenched bureaucracy. Get your hands on a tape of this or catch a re-run if you can, because it's by far the most accurate portrayal of local politics I've ever seen in a film.
Over the course of the campaign, James' machine attempted to portray Booker as the following: not black enough, not really a Newarker, Jewish, a member of the KKK, gay, a Republican, and (in James' words) "far white right-wing." At one point James even went on "The Today Show" and ripped Booker as "Jewish." He's not, though to James apparently that's an insult, accurate or not. Sharpe, a real Nixon figure, also sends a squad of goons after Booker's supporters and his signs, interfering on more than one occasion with the camera of director Marshall Curry. The goon squad even appears at times to include large swaths of the Newark police department
And somehow, none of this prevented James' re-election. And since then has achieved the near-impossibility of bringing a hockey-only arena to a city with almost no white people. But Booker will return for a rematch in '06, and if he can pull it off, I can see much bigger things for him. He's the greatest hope of anyone to clean up the cesspool that is New Jersey politics.
Posted by Stephen Silver at July 6, 2005 12:38 AMBLOGGER, you have it right on the money. I wasn't shocked by anything I saw in the film, as most of what happened is typical NJ fare in dealing with politics in a NJ city...hopefully people will see that Cory Booker is the next generation of NJ and should be elected so he can actually make a difference.
Posted by: A at July 6, 2005 09:59 AMquestionable campaign tactics? that's nothing. Wilson Goode was reelected in Philly after bombing the city in his first term.
Posted by: LilB at July 6, 2005 10:20 AMNew Jersey really IS the Northeast's answer to Louisiana, isn't it?
Posted by: Dave J at July 6, 2005 11:35 AMIt had just so many great moments... I loved the part where they bus in the volunteer army from Philadelphia. It's too bad they didn't have footage of some of the more... uh... dangerous campaign workers. [PoliticsNJ - search for "Crypts" or "bloods" or "Tombstones" and you'll see what I'm talking about]
As wonderful and as accurate as it was - it was very one sided, almost to the point where it could be called Booker campaign material. I don't think it used any of the Buckley v. Valeo "magic words" - but if it were closer to an election year, I hope PBS would be getting into some trouble with ELEC for running it. I know I sure wouldn't want to see a documentary singing Sharpe "the real deal" James' praises on public TV.
Posted by: Ryan at July 6, 2005 10:42 PMStephen,
Cory Booker might not be the only person capable of cleaning up NJ, but he's surely the best speaker I've ever seen live. He spoke at my high school last February and inspirational does not do his speech justice. He spoke for roughly 40 minutes without notes, while moving about the stage and making eye contact with what felt like everybody in the audience. I've started a blog that discusses the NY area politics in detail called The New Jersey Perspective. Check it out.
If anyone missed the film on PBS, you can go to http://www.marshallcurry.com and sign up to be alerted when DVDs come out.
Posted by: Marshall Curry at August 1, 2005 05:05 PM