By David Cruz
NJ Today
Opponents of Mayor Cory Booker looked like the kids who got an early Christmas present as they met the media after a superior court judge ruled that the mayor had no right to break a tie at the city council — because one didn’t exist. The judge said council members could abstain from voting and have that vote count as an abstention, not as a “no” as the mayor had contended when he cast his vote last week. The result was a rejection of the mayor’s council candidate and, by extension they say, the mayor.
“Today, up in the court, it was about a mayor who deigned to be an emperor but who was reminded that in this country, that we live and are governed by a set of laws and rules that every single person is required to obey, even this mayor,” said Newark Councilman Darrin Sharif.
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Councilman Ron C. Rice, a former Booker ally, called on Booker Chief of Staff Modia Butler, the self-proclaimed architect of the mayor’s political strategy, to resign and for authorities to investigate what he called a conspiracy.
“I wanna use this press conference to ask the attorney general of the state of New Jersey to ask for and for this council to receive, as well as the attorney general to be able to investigate all documents and all internal e-mails from the clerk’s office of the city of Newark and the corporation counsel’s office regarding this filling of the vacancy by the mayor,” Rice said.
A spokesman for Mayor Booker said he would not be commenting today and Modia Butler did not return our calls. They left it to Acting Council President Anibal Ramos to release a statement, which read, in part, “I respect the judge’s right to make the decision, but I am disappointed in the ruling. At this point, we have to evaluate the next steps to determine the best way to move the business of the people and our city forward.”
Booker has attracted wide media attention for his sometimes over-the-top heroics, including pulling someone from a burning building and shoveling residents’ snow. But Councilwoman Mildred Crump, another former Booker ally, said the mayor was not the champion of democracy he — or we — made him out to be.
“He pays a public relations firm to project an image that is so false and so untrue. Today we intend to unmask him. The charade is over,” Crump said.
As political setbacks go, this is about as serious a setback as Mayor Booker has ever received and the implications for his political future cannot be underestimated because, at least according to those at today’s press conference, Booker is now a man without a political home.