William Payne

U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announces the indictment of State Sen. Sharpe James, the former five-term Mayor of Newark
He would go to a park and if people were playing soccer he’d take off his suit jacket and get in on the game, if we went to a Latino party he would dance the meringue, he’d talk baseball with anyone in a diner, he was a big Jackie Robinson fan.

But there was another side to the fit and flamboyant Sharpe James, who served as Newark’s mayor for 21 years, and it took a battery of federal law enforcement officials led by U.S. Attorney Chris Christie to unravel it all out into the daylight Thursday afternoon in Newark.

It’s a hefty, 33-count indictment, including 17 counts of defrauding the residents of Newark with credit cards, four counts of fraud involving local government receipt of federal funds, three counts of improperly favoring girlfriend Tamika Riley through the fraudulent sale of city properties, one count of conspiring to use the U.S. mail to defraud the public, four counts of housing assistance fraud, three counts of tax fraud, and one count of tax evasion. (Please see related story and press release for details).

According to its critics, the Newark City Council over the past year has mostly marched to a single drummer - one that couldn’t be found, they say, in the Spirit of Newark Drum and Bugle Corps.

In what was hardly a blow the house down follow-up to last month’s mini Bastille storming of City Hall - but a telling political vignette nonetheless, residents took to the microphone at today’s council meeting to excoriate what they see as a governing body spellbound by Mayor Cory Booker. The council sat there and choked it down for the most part, before pledging to override the administration’s axing of the Spirit of Newark.

It was none other than State Sen. Ronald Rice, defeated by Booker in the mayoral election last year but reanimated with his district 28 primary re-election just last month, who led the charge for the council to take action to preserve the corps. The traveling group of some 100+ young musicians want to go to Pasadena to compete this year. They received $85,000 from the city in 2005, remained on life support with some state funding supplied by Assemblyman William Payne last year, and appeared to be going out on a long tuba note of gloom until Rice complained.

Newark City Councilman Luis Quintana
There’s a school in the schoolhouse and a school in the street, and though the lessons of one may contradict those of the other, these institutions possess a common cause and effect: in order to graduate, a student must prove to his teacher that he has mastered the material.

The eighth grade class of the Robert Treat Academy confirmed their book knowledge when last Friday evening they received their diplomas, a large number of which contained the words "with honors."

But on the streets, in the general election academy of door pounding and vote grabbing, graduation day arrives later, in a colder season, and some never get there - though Nov. 6th comes and goes.

These lessons go back many years in Newark, and for years there have been many students and one master.

Chances are excellent that the Governor's office will receive a call from Newark --- specifically the northern part of the city -- to discuss Assemblyman William Payne's photo op yesterday.  Payne, a Democrat who is running as an Independent candidate for State Senate in the 29th district, was among a group of Democratic legislators invited to stand behind Jon Corzine as he signed the budget.  That perk won't sit well with Essex Democrats who think Payne should be shunned for his failue to support the winner of the Democratic primary, Teresa Ruiz.

Assemblyman Craig Stanley will drop his Independent bid for State Senator in the 28th district, leaving incumbent Ronald Rice a clear path to an eight term in the New Jersey State Senate.  Stanley, who lost his bid for renomination to the Assembly in the June Democratic primary, had filed as an independent Senate candidate -- most likely in the event that Rice had lost his own race to challenger Essex County Freeholder Bilal Beasley. 

Steve Adubato and Bill Payne
On the day she faced the cameras for the first time in campaign headquarters on Bloomfield Avenue, M. Teresa Ruiz’s voice broke with emotion as she remembered her late father, a proud Puerto Rican who raised his daughter in the North Ward. The candidate paused to collect herself, summoning her resolve as she vowed to uphold the name "Ruiz." Her voice drawing strength from the crowd’s applause in the packed room, Ruiz promised to honor the name, that it might live on in tribute to her father.

These North Ward fathers make their mark as they carry pride bigger than themselves and bigger than their families, a responsibility that inevitably puts them at odds, as it has Steve Adubato and Assemblyman William Payne.

They are two proud patriarchs, these men who were born and raised in the North Ward, whose stories cut through the same times and turf, who are now bound up with Ruiz’s emerging story as they face each other on opposing sides of this district 29 senate campaign.

Assemblyman Bill Payne on Tuesday targeted North Ward tough guy Steve Adubato, who backs Payne’s opponent in the district 29 senate race.

Speaking at a Newark fundraiser thrown for him by his brother, U.S. Rep. Donald Payne, the state Senate candidate dismissed M. Teresa Ruiz as a detail confined to the sprawling political canvas of Adubato -- and presented himself by contrast as a Civil Rights folk hero, who fought his way into Newark politics as an African American in tempestuous times, and who knew Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“I can’t be bought, I can’t be intimidated,” said the candidate, flanked by his brother, his nephews, Assemblyman Craig Stanley, Councilman Donald Payne, Jr., and by State Sen. Ronald Rice. “Steve Adubato’s the elephant in the room. Everybody knows he’s behind this, and it’s frustrating to me. I have a record that says I’ve been able to produce for my district. You don’t punish people who have served you well. Because Bill Payne will not kowtow to Steve Adubato is the only way I’m not being supported.”

Congressman Donald Payne may have violated the McCain/Feingold campaign finance law by inviting donors to a fundraiser for his brother, Assemblyman William Payne, an Independent candidate for State Senate in the 29th district. Federal law requires that invitations to local campaign fundraising events note that a Member of Congress is an invited guest, not "Congressman Donald Payne cordially invites you to attend..." And the invitation did not note that contributions must be in hard dollars, with no corporate contributions permitted. This is hardly a serious infraction, and neither Payne will likely lose any sleep over it.

The most vulnerable member of the New Jersey congressional delegation in 2008 is Donald Payne, a ten-term Democrat from Newark who won 97% of the vote in his last contested race. The 72-year-old Congressman has found himself on the wrong side of an Essex County Democratic political battle, and continues to anger some party leaders by the independent candidacy of his brother, Assemblyman William Payne, 74, in a race for the State Senate.

Payne's nephew, Craig Stanley, was defeated in a Democratic primary for State Assembly last week in a district where he was a six-term incumbent. Two other Payne-endorsed legislators, Oadline Truitt and Wilfredo Caraballo, also lost re-election in the primary. But another Payne candidate, State Sen. Ronald Rice, narrowly held his seat against a challenge from the political organization of Newark Mayor Cory Booker.

Craig Stanley’s staff is rummaging through last week’s ballots.

Last week, Stanley, a six-term incumbent from Irvington, lost the Democratic Assembly primary by 110 votes to Cory Booker-backed Cleopatra Tucker. He told PoliticsNJ.com that he’s looking into a recount. While he still hasn’t filed, he appears to be taking the prospect of a recount seriously.

Essex County Clerk Chris Durkin confirmed that a Stanley has sent staff to his office to review last week’s absentee and provisional ballots. Durkin said that Stanley has until June 20 to officially file.