Ras Baraka wins
Ras Baraka, a high school principal and the son of a poet, yesterday easily defeated a Wall Street-backed promoter of school privatization to become the next mayor of Newark. Baraka’s victory repudiated the policies not just of his rival, Shavar Jeffries, but those of Gov. Chris Christie, former Mayor Cory Booker, and state-appointed superintendent Cami Anderson who is trying to close neighborhood public schools and replace them with privately run charter schools.
“We are the mayor!” declared Baraka, 45. Jeffries, 39, a faculty member at Seton Hall Law School, conceded shortly afterward.
Baraka’s victory celebration at the downtown Robert Treat Hotel erupted into cheers shortly after 10 pm when it became obvious the son of the late poet and playwright Amiri Baraka, had won with strong backing from his home South Ward—which he serves as a councilman—and the predominantly African-American Central and West Wards. His rival, also an African-American, was strongest in the predominantly white and Latino North and East Wards. Baraka won 54 percent of the vote.
Baraka, an often tough-talking champion of the poorest residents of the city, had been the front runner for most of the race. But, in the last few days, Wall Street financiers and hedge-fund managers—strong supporters of former Mayor Cory Booker—poured $3 million into the Jeffries campaign, including $300,000 in street money that went to young men and women in the city, many of whom apparently took the money and then urged voters to vote for Baraka.
“I have to admit, I was scared,” said Frank Barlaff, one of Baraka’s campaign aides, who was aware of recent polls that showed Baraka trailing Jeffries by three points. He attributed Baraka’s victory to the widespread unpopularity of the so-called “One Newark” plan, a state-imposed effort to close neighborhood public schools and replace them with privately-operated charter schools. He also said Jeffries, while popular among some rich white people outside Newark, was barely known inside the city.
Baraka has been consistently critical of the Christie/Anderson “One Newark” plan, a position that had become increasingly popular among Newark residents who discovered their children might be transferred to schools across town. Jeffries, a close associate of Anderson, finally did repudiate her plan but it was too late in the race. In any event, the money pouring in from pro-charter school New York financiers gave the lie to Jeffries’ insistence that he did not support Anderson.
Robert Duffey, a leader of the state Working Families Alliance, a big Baraka supporter, said last night be believed the victory was “the beginning of a surge of Ras Baraka wins | Bob Braun's Ledger:
