Street Fight – Cory Booker's 2002 Campaign Against Sharpe James

Throughout the campaign there were many non-political issues. One issue was the street signs supporting Corey Booker. Everyday those signs would be taken down to prevent increasing support for him. There was a federal order to prevent this but no one listened and on election day the police went against the federal order and continued to take the signs down. Another issue is Booker’s campaign trailer being broken into. It happened one night and the robbers took very important documents. They took 2 books of who people will vote for and this information could have easily been released to the public.

Sights is the only nude dancing club in Newark and it played a big role on both campaigns. One night a raid was done to find drugs and prostitution and they found a 16 year old stripper, and a man at the club named Jermaine James. Jermaine is the chief of staff for Booker and this was an immediate blow to this campaign. Sharpe James immediately does a press release and embellishes this story everywhere. By doing this he creates an increasing amount of distrust between Booker and the voters. Even though James uses this story to his advantage about how he would fire anyone participating in this act, the club owner reveals that he has been a patron at the club. Many people claim that Sharpe James was a frequent patron at the club but James vehemently denies this and says he was only there when the police raided the club.

In this election, race becomes an issue when Sharpe James said that Booker isn't really black and how there isn't enough time to teach him to be one. James uses Booker’s upbringing to his advantage by contrasting it to his background as a native resident who worked hard and escaped the mean streets of Jersey. He also uses Corey’s education and lighter skin color by saying that he is a republican who is funded by white investors that are not from Newark. By doing this there is a greater connection between the voters and Sharpe James because they can easily relate to the upbringings and struggles he had. There is a less of a connection between the voters and Corey Booker because they just believe that everything has been handed to him due to his upbringing.

During a campaign the incumbent always has an advantage. For example, Sharpe James uses his control over the police. Whenever Booker goes around canvassing for votes, the police would be called to show up and prevent him from canvassing any further. If any local businesses support Corey Booker by putting up signs or having meeting with him, their business would be raided the next day by police and be deemed illegal with code violations. In Newark, it's basically an expectation that businesses must support Sharpe James. Also, James would use his power to demote anyone who doesn't support him. Pablo Fonseca used to be the head of Code Enforcement and James’ campaign manager until he supported a candidate that Sharpe James did not back. James would bring him on charges and demote him to a lower position. By exerting his power, Sharpe James instilled fear into the people of Newark. If they didn’t support James, they would be demoted, shut down, or evicted.

I enjoyed this documentary but I absolutely hated the way the campaigns were done. I felt so uncomfortable with the way Sharpe James ran his campaign against Corey Booker. I think it's unacceptable that he resorted to machine tactics to question Booker’s race and integrity. James felt threatened by him so he used his power to punish anyone supporting him. By doing this, Corey was forced to run a stealth campaign to protect his supporters. It was really disappointing that Booker couldn't attack back because if he did, the people would take it as a critique on the city. Thus, leading to more disconnection between him and the people. In the end, it was obvious that he would not win due to the unethical tactics used against him.