Fade Out, Fade In

It's over. The Sharpe James era in Newark, New Jersey is really over. Newark's second black mayor, who also represents his city in the New Jersey state Senate, announced yesterday that he would not seek a sixth term. The main reason cited was that he was against serving as both mayor and as a New Jersey state senator - never mind that's he already been doing so for eight years - but he also cited a strong record of accomplishment after twenty years in office.

And what accomplishments! Chronic budget deficits, an undermanned police department, a fire department with antiquated equipment, and failing schools. True, Newark did see the construction of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center and the construction of low-cost townhouses built by the Philadelphia-based Hovnanian development company. Of course, the performing arts complex was mainly for white suburbanites who come in on the freeway, see a show, and get the hell out of town the second it's over. The Hovnanian townhouses, though, are as sturdy and well-built as any of their suburban townhouses - that is, they're not built well at all. (My father lived in a suburban Hovnanian townhouse - actually a pretentious two-story garden apartment with a parking lot serving as its street - and the walls were as thin as paper.)

Truth be told, Newark is in better shape than it was in 1986, but that's like saying Jessica Simpson is a better singer than Britney Spears. Few of James's labors have benefited the city's residents, beset by crime and drugs, but Newark's big business sector, contractors, James's cronies, and James himself (he owns a Rolls-Royce and a yacht!) have profited handsomely. :-(

The chief contestants for the nonpartisan May 9 mayoral election are deputy mayor (and state senator) Ronald Rice and former city councilman Cory Booker, who caused a national sensation with his campaign against James in 2002, which he almost won. At 36, Booker, who was raised in the upper-middle-class suburb of Harrington Park, is a Rhodes scholar and a prominent lawyer who prefers to stay close to the people - literally, by living in a housing project. Literally an outsider as well, due to his suburban upbringing, he has no allegiance to the Newark political bosses who helped keep James in power, and he has attracted attention and support from outside the city, a point of fact that James and Rice see as capretbagging and an attempt by Booker to buttress his own career rather than do something for Newark. But Booker has youth (if elected, he'll be the first Newark mayor born after the riots of 1967), vitality, and a genuine interest in pushing aside the machine politicians who have made Newark the hellhole it has remained for so long. (Newark's main virtue is that it's not Detroit.)

Booker is suddenly the favorite as a result of James's departure from the scene, but he's not taking anything for granted. He is not claiming any kind of victory until the election. That said, it looks like he's got the job. :-)

Because Newark is in New Jersey and has no major-league baseball team and no television network affiliate, no one outside the Garden State noticed the James story. The national media preferred instead to follow the resignation of White House chief of staff Andrew Card and the appointment of budget director Joshua Bolten as his replacement. An effort to reinvigorate the Bush White House, it's more comparable to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Bolten promises a sense of continuity (i.e., more of the same rubbish) and, incidentally, is partly responsible for the out-of-control spending on the military and tax cuts for the rich.

Exactly how will this help Bush?