Sharpe James, the larger-than-life figure who reigned over Newark, New Jersey for 36 years - 20 as mayor (1986-2006) and 16 on the Municipal Council - was convicted on five counts of fraud and conspiracy last week in a case that centered on James steering city-owned properties to his mistress, who then sold them for a profit of more than $600,000. He faces at least 8 years in prison, and as many as twenty, when he is sentenced in July.
He serves as the latest in a line of Newark mayors who have run afoul of the law. His immediate predecessor, Kenneth A. Gibson (1970-1986), pled guilty to tax fraud in 2002 but did not go to prison. Gibson's predecessor, Hugh J. Addonzio (1962-1970), was convicted in a scheme to take $1.4 million in kickbacks from city contractors and served five years in a federal prison.
James was featured in the unforgettable, 2005 Oscar-nominated documentary, Street Fight - a film that redefined the notion of urban corruption and bare-knuckle machine politics, depicting James as a man who would stoop to anything to retain his power. Mandatory viewing for anyone with even a passing interest in big-city politics.
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Peter J. Boyer, The Political Scene, "The Color of Politics," The New Yorker, February 4, 2008, p. 38
February 4, 2008 Issue
THE POLITICAL SCENE about Newark Mayor Cory Booker. Writer describes Booker introducing Senator Barack Obama at a campaign rally in Newark. Obama and Booker are the two leading figures of what might be called the Oprah Winfrey wing of the Democratic Party. They are breakthrough figures—African-American politicians whose appeal transcends race. Obama decided to chance the fast track, declaring a run for the White House, but it may have been Booker who followed the more audacious course: he cast his fate with Newark. Discusses Booker’s election campaigns against incumbent Mayor Sharpe James, who had run the city since 1986. Booker lost to James in 2002 but won the office in 2006. Booker’s victory posed an important test, in the most difficult setting, for the new post-racial politics. Newark had been a black-majority city for forty years governed by two black mayors, Kenneth Gibson and Sharpe James, who enjoyed the support of national black leaders. This unbending support had the effect of associating the black political establishment with failed policies and corrupt political culture. Discusses the city’s high crime rate, poor public services, and abysmal public school system. Newark is the country’s third-oldest city. Its location at the nexus of a network of railroads, canals, and turnpikes made it a natural center for commerce. Its factories produced leather, celluloid, and sheet metal. Gives a history of Newark’s decline after the Second World War. Manufacturers pulled out of the city, taking the white middle class with it. Southern blacks in search of work came streaming in. The city was peculiarly handicapped by its political culture, perhaps the most corrupt in urban America. Mentions mob bosses Abner (Longy) Zwillman and Ruggiero (Richie the Boot) Boiardo. Writer interviews Amiri Baraka, who discusses the development of radical black activism in the city during the sixties. Describes the riots of July 1967, in which twenty-six people were killed. Gives details of Booker’s childhood in Harrington Park, a nearly all-white town in northern New Jersey and his education at Stanford, Oxford, and Yale Law School. Booker’s ability to ease into different cultures was put to perhaps its most difficult test when he decided, in 1995, to go to Newark. He subsequently moved into a notorious housing project known as Brick Towers. His residence there and his work on behalf of the project’s residents gave him a credential. Tells about Booker seeking advice from Carl Sharif, a veteran Newark political manager. Discusses the resistance Booker encountered from the older generation of black politicians, some of whom have questioned his authenticity. Describes the difficulties Booker faced during his first year in office, including his controversial selection of Garry McCarthy to be his police chief. Writer interviews McCarthy about fighting crime in Newark. Tells about Booker’s response to the execution-style murders of three college-age kids in the Ivy Hill section of the city.
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