Barring some sort of freak accident, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is a lock to win the Democratic nomination in today’s New Jersey special primary election. And if polls are any indication, he will cruise on to becoming NJ’s next senator, filling the late Frank Lautenberg’s vacant seat. Booker is probably best known for his side job as a local superhero, casually saving women from burning buildings and the like. This has made him a political rockstar with approval ratings floating in high 60s and a massive Twitter following. A young, popular African-American progressive running for Senate—what’s not to like? Plenty!
As many lefty bloggers are pointing out. Cory Booker has basically been operating as a herald of Big Money; associating himself with some of the worst of the pro-business, anti-government crowd.
Booker’s associates and actions tell the story:
- There was his infamous pro-Bain Capital comments during the height of the 2012 campaign. “It’s a distraction from the real issues… I’m not about to sit here and indict private equity. If you look at the totality of Bain Capital’s record, they’ve done a lot to support businesses.” … “It’s nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough. Stop attacking private equity”.
- He’s very buddy-buddy with that same 1% Wall Street crowd, receiving over $450,000 in donations from that particular sector (and over $100,000 from Bain Capital) during his 2002 mayoral campaign.
- He has associated himself with PrayForNewark, which this highly recommended Susie Madrak article points out are actually part of an international Dominionist movement pushing horrific “Kill the Gays” anti-homosexuality bills.
- He is knee-deep in the school privatization movement pushed by the likes of Michelle Rhee; holding membership in plenty of friendly sounding reform groups such as Excellent Education for Everyone (funded by the Waltons) and Alliance for School Choice. The latter group co-sponsored a summit with ALEC where friendly liberal faces such as Bobby Jindal and Christ Christie also spoke on “common sense” education reform.
- He cited Rand Paul and Ted Cruz as positive examples of people that are “making big marks” as junior senators, so there’s that.
- And then there is WayWire and Silicon Valley.
Maybe all this stuff is irrelevant and Booker was simply politicking his way to donor cash. Every campaign needs an ever-flowing pile of money nowadays to just stay competitive. And maybe Cory Booker will become a Democratic firebrand, using his charisma and high profile to aggressive fight for the middle class once he’s elected.
Or we could be getting a new, Big Money-approved version of Joe Lieberman.
