Chaos Breaks Out At City Hall Following Controversial Vote
Police subdue angry members of audience following attempt to replace Payne on council
NEWARK, NJ -- The Newark Municipal Council meeting ended in chaos Tuesday after Mayor Cory Booker tried to cast the deciding vote in favor of a replacement for former Council President Donald Payne, who was elected to Congress earlier this month.
One man, Earl Best, a community activist known as Street Doctor, was hospitalized after being sprayed by police with pepper spray, he said after being released from University Hospital. South Ward Councilman Ras Baraka said his mother had also been sprayed.
Baraka said North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos called for a vote on Shanique Speight. Baraka, Councilwoman-at-Large Mildred Crump and Central Ward Councilman Darrin Sharif then left the dais after Ramos failed to acknowledge a motion by Baraka. West Ward Councilman Ron Rice told Patch outside city hall that he had deliberately stayed away from the meeting in an attempt to thwart a split, 4-4 vote on the nine-member body that would have allowed Booker to make the tie-breaking vote.
The council members had heard rumors previously that Booker would attempt to get Speight on the council, Rice and Baraka both said.
“They obviously planned to do this ahead of the meeting ... to me it’s a power-grab by the mayor,” Baraka said.
After Booker invoked a law that gives the mayor a vote in the absence of a quorum, an attempt was made to swear Speight in, but a disturbance broke out among audience members, prompting police to respond.
“People in the crowd stood up and said it was unlawful,” Baraka said.
Rice said communication between the two council factions had largely broken down in the days leading up to the meeting. He also said the city’s corporation counsel had deliberately kept Rice, Baraka, Crump and Sharif in the dark.
“Some council members seem to be more equal than others,” Rice said.
“The mayor chose a totalitarian, old-school way to do this. This was a blow against democracy,” he added.
Booker could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday night.
One man was arrested for assualt, ressiting arrest and inciting a riot, The Star Ledger reported. Speight was later sworn in by the city clerk, the paper also said.
Karima
5:10 am on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
This is a 911
Karima
5:10 am on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
This is a out rage!!
zayid muhammad
5:10 am on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
not a bad story...but there are important background details that need to be apart of the story.
1. based on a long standing ordinance that has governed situations like this for decades, the person who should have been appointed to the position is the person who received the most votes in the previous election. in this case, that would have been john sharpe james, the son of former mayor sharpe james.
2.nothing happened to change that ordinance in order to allow speight to assume the position.
3.city council was full of witnesses of all sides of the spectrum who witnessed this attempt by the mayor to subvert the law.
4.the mayor has not addressed the city council or any similar public forums in the past two years.
5.the mayor has been defeated soundly in popular forums on efforts to initiate policy unwanted by the majority of newarkers ( ie the privatization of the city's water supply for one) and has not been able to secure enough support from a majority of city council reps.
6. instead of first initiating a process to reconsider the law that should have made john sharpe james the next councilman at large, if something was wrong with the law in the first place; booker used those council reps in his corner to stage this confrontation, and in their 'anticipated' protested absence, he would inject himself as the deciding vote, and create the majority he needed to force his unpopular agenda through!
next
KENNETH ALAN CHAMBERS
1:37 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY SHOULD HAPPEN WHEN SOMEONE LEAVES THE COUNCIL. IS THE LONG STANDING ORDINANCE A WRITTEN LAW OR IS IT ONLY USED WHEN IT IS CONVENIENT?
Julia Warren
1:37 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Zayid Muhammed -- Thanks for the information. Now I understand what happened at the council meeting. It appears that the James supporters were not prepared for Booker's move. Politics is like chess you have to learn to think 2 to 3 moves ahead if want to put someone in checkmate.
terence baine
8:32 pm on Sunday, November 25, 2012
There is no such ordinance you are totolly incorrect.
BassGreat
1:37 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
I guess someone forgot to proofread last paragraph? But anyway, Booker is a brilliant guy and I saw what kind of mayor he was during the flood. He did things I haven't seen anyone in a position of power ever do.
Gene Shumaker
1:37 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
they need j jackson and brother big ale maybe there have a march...
Jack
1:37 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
It's Newark .... could we expect anything else ? All the freeloaders fighting over the taxpayers' dollars !
A
1:37 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
That place became a boxing ring, people do not know how to act anymore. People were cursing, pushing and someone even threw something. It's disgusting that there is no respect, I don't blame the police for doing their job, it was chaos in there those protesters were not backing down. I think their is always a quiet way to do protest, not acting like animals because that's exactly how it looked. People acting like animals no matter what the situation is or what they are protesting. Your voice can be heard without violence. I was so ashamed to be standing there. The fact is no matter what was Saud and done she was still sworn in.
Andre' L.
1:37 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Now maybe people will see why Mayor Booker's primary financial backers in his first run for mayor were not from Newark. They were attempting to position him to steal the most lucrative aspects of our city! All that glitters is not gold. Satan looked good and sounded good as well!
isobel sprayregen
1:37 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
I disagree because no matter what the procedural problem was, readers are given no indication whatesoever as to what is the difference/disagreement between the two candidates/parties, which makes it all seem just a procedural problem, which I doubt.
Cee
8:06 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
It is sad. Ms. Speights does not do her job as a Advisory Board Member, what makes us think she can do her job as a Council woman. This is balant disrespect to the people of Newark. When you sell you soul to the devil there is a hefty price to pay. For all those that sit on the side lines passing judgment of what transpired yesterday, put yourself in their shoes. Yes, I agree there is a peacful way to settle things, but when you don't hear me then you will feel me. Take a look at Isreal and remember the wrath of GOD.
A. Newarker
10:17 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Speights was only put on the council to give Booker another vote so he can giveaway the Newark Water shed to his political friends and backers.
Kareema Jackson
1:15 pm on Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Cory Booker owes the boys at Bain Capital some payback. The Newark Watershed is one of the most pristine pieces of real estate in New Jersey. Booker's fifth vote in the guise of Shanique Speight will enable him to sell off the water rights of the people of Newark. The people have made it quite clear to Booker that they do not want this!