In many countries, a mayor (from the Latin ''māior'', meaning "greater") is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city.

In many municipal systems the mayor serves as chief executive officer and/or ceremonial official of many types of municipalities. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor, as well as the means by which a mayor is elected or otherwise mandated.

English-Saxon mayors and counterparts

In England, the mayor is the modern descendant of the feudal lord's bailiff or reeve (''see borough''). The chief magistrate of London bore the title of portreeve for considerably more than a century after the Norman Conquest. This official was elected by popular choice, a privilege secured from King John. By the beginning of the twelfth century the title of portreeve gave way to that of mayor as the designation of the chief officer of London. The adoption of the title by other boroughs followed at various intervals.

In the 19th century, in the United Kingdom, the Municipal Corporations Act 1882, Section 15, regulated the election of mayors. He was to be a fit person elected annually on 9 November by the council of the borough from among the aldermen or councillors or persons qualified to be such. His term of office was one year, but he is eligible for re-election. He may appoint a deputy to act during illness or absence, and such deputy must be either an alderman or councillor. A mayor who was absent from the borough for more than two months becomes disqualified and vacates his office. A mayor was ''ex officio'' a justice of the peace for the borough during his year of office and the next year. He received such remuneration as the council thought reasonable. These provisions have now been repealed.

The office of mayor in most modern English boroughs and towns did not in the twentieth century entail any important administrative duties, and was generally regarded as an honour conferred for local distinction, long service on the Council, or for past services. The mayor (who had to be a serving elected councillor) was expected to devote much of his (or her) time to civic, ceremonial, and representational functions, and to preside over meetings for the advancement of the public welfare. His or her administrative duties are to act as returning officer at parliamentary elections, and as chairman of the meetings of the council. However, since reforms introduced in 2000, 12 English boroughs have directly-elected mayors who combine the 'civic' mayor role with that of Leader of the Council and have significantly greater powers than either.

The mayor of a town council is officially known as ''town mayor'' (although in popular parlance, the word "town" is often dropped). Women mayors are also known as "Mayor"; the wife of a mayor is known as the "Mayoress".

Mayors are not appointed to District Councils which have not adopted the title of borough. Their place is taken by the Chairman of Council, who undertakes exactly the same functions and is, like a Mayor, the civic head of the district concerned.

Other counterparts

In Germany, Scandinavia and the Netherlands (see below) the chief town magistrate is called, respectively "Bürgermeister/borgmästare/burgemeester" 'Chief of the ''Bürger'' viz. ''burgers/citoyens'', i.e., Burgesses, citizens' (see that article G. ''Bürgermeister'', Dutch ''burgemeester''; Swedish ''borgmästare''; Estonian ''bürgermeister''; Danish ''borgmester''; Luxemburgish ''buergermeeschter''; French-speaking parts of Belgium use ''bourgmestre'';oddly enough, the Scandinavian kingdom of Norway confers the title Norwegian ''ordfører'' upon its top city or town elected official. The word actually means ''He/She who leads/carries the word'').

The equivalent in Italy is ''sindaco'' (historical titles include podestà), in Greece δήμαρχος 'demarkhos' (the "archon of the deme"), in France ''Maire'', in Argentina ''intendente'', in Bohemia ''starosta'', in Brazil ''prefeito'' 'prefect', in Romania primar and in Spain ''alcalde'', a term derived from a Moorish post's Arabic name.

In Canada municipal titles vary from province to province, but the highest official of a First Nation community holds the title of ''chief''. In addition, provinces which have rural municipalities in place of counties refer to their head elected official as ''reeve'', although some such municipalities are now changing the title to mayor as well.

In the early 20th century, and for the most still, the English method of selecting a mayor by the council was copied for the corresponding functionaries in France (except Paris) and the more important cities of Italy. Direct appointment by the central government exists in Belgium, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. As a rule, too, the term of office is longer in other countries than in the United Kingdom. In France election is for six years, in The Netherlands for six, in Belgium for an indefinite period. In France the maire, and a number of experienced members termed adjoint au maire 'mayoral adjunct', who assist him as an executive committee, are elected directly by the municipal council from among their own number. Most of the administrative work is left in the hands of the maire and his adjuncts, the full council meeting comparatively seldom. The adjuncts receive no salary.

In Finland, there are two mayors, in Tampere and Pirkkala. Usually in Finland the highest executive official is not democratically elected, but appointed to a public office by the city council, and is called simply ''kaupunginjohtaja'' "city manager" or ''kunnanjohtaja'' "municipal manager", depending on whether the municipality defines itself as a city. The term ''pormestari'' "mayor", from Swedish ''borgmästare'' confusingly has referred only to the highest official in the registry office, not the city manager. In addition, ''pormestari'' is also an honorary title, which may be given for distinguished service in the post of the city manager. The city manager of Helsinki is called ''ylipormestari'', which translates to "Chief Mayor", for historical reasons. Furthermore, the term "city manager" may be seen translated as "mayor".

This is similar to Portugal, where the highest municipal authority is the ''presidente da Câmara Municipal'', the 'president of the Municipal Chamber', appointed to his office by the city council.

In Poland the chief executive of a town or city is called ''burmistrz'' or, in towns with more than 100,000 inhabitants or others which traditionally use the title, ''prezydent''. The equivalent title in a rural commune (gmina) is ''wójt''. These are all directly elected posts.

Mayors by country

=== ===

On Australian councils, the Mayor is generally the member of the Council who acts as ceremonial figurehead at official functions, as well as carrying the authority of Council between meetings. Mayoral decisions made between meetings are subject to Council and may be confirmed or repealed if necessary. Mayors in Australia may be elected either directly through a ballot for the position of Mayor at a local-government election, or alternatively may be elected from within the Council at a meeting in September.

The civic regalia and insignia of local government have basically remained unaltered for centuries. The robes, the mayoral chain and the mace are not intended to glorify the individual, but rather they are a uniform of office and are used to respect and honour the people whom the users serve.

The Mayoral robe is crimson with lapels and sleeves trimmed in ermine. The Mayor may also wear a lace fall (neck piece) and cuffs.

The Deputy-Mayoral robe is crimson with lapels and sleeves trimmed with black velvet and bordered with lapin.

Mayors have the title of 'His/Her Worship' whilst holding the position.

In councils where Councillors are elected representing political parties, the Mayor is normally the leader of the party receiving the most seats on council.

:

The mayor is the leader in most Canadian municipalities. However, some Canadian provinces (e.g. Ontario) still use the term ''reeve'' for the elected head of a small village, a township or a rural municipality, performing a similar role to the mayor of a town or city. The heads of county governments in Nova Scotia are often called ''warden'', though several counties have started to use the term ''mayor'' instead. The town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario is the only municipality in Canada whose elected head holds the traditionally British title of ''Lord Mayor''. Mayors have the title of 'His/Her Worship' while in office.

The chief executives of boroughs (''arrondissements'') in Quebec are termed mayors (''maires/mairesses'' in French). A borough mayor simultaneously serves as head of the borough council and as a regular councillor on the main city council.

The scheduling of municipal elections in Canada varies by jurisdiction, as each province and territory has its own laws regarding municipal governance. See also municipal elections in Canada.

The mayor of a municipality in the Dominican Republic is called indistinctly ''alcalde'' or ''síndico''. The latter name is preferred as to avoid confusing the title with the similarly sounding ''alcaide'' (''lit. prison warden''). Such person is the governor of the municipality whose township elected him (or her) by direct vote for a term of four years. The mayor's office daily duties are restricted to the local governance, and as such, it is responsible for the coordination of waste collection, upkeep of public spaces (parks, undeveloped urban parcels, streets, city ornate, traffic light control, sewage and most public utilities). In practice most of it duties are centered in light street repairing (new or big road projects, like overpasses, bridges, pedestrian crossings, etc. are handled by the Public Works Ministry (''Ministerio de Obras Públicas'' in Spanish) office), under the direct control of the Central Government. Subcontracting garbage collection and management, overseeing the use of public spaces and arbitring neighborhood land ''use'' disputes which is managed by the National Property office (''Oficina de Bienes Nacionales'' in Spanish) is also controlled by the mayor's office. Water, electrical supply and public transportation coordination are handled by several Central Government's offices, and as such, are not under control of the mayor.

In Germany local government is regulated by state statutes. Nowadays only the mayors of the three city-states (Berlin, Hamburg and Bremen) are still elected by the respective city or community council. In all the other states the mayors are now elected directly by the EU citizens living in that area. The post of mayor may be said to be a professional one, the mayor being the head of the local government, and requiring, in order to be eligible, a training in administration. In big cities (details are regulated by state statutes) the official title is Oberbürgermeister (chief mayor). In these cities a "simple" mayor is just a deputy responsible for a distinct task (e.g., welfare or construction works). Big cities are usually kreisfrei ("free of district"). That means that the city council also has the powers and duties of a rural district council. The leader of a rural district council is called Landrat ("land counsellor"). In that case the chief mayor has also the duties and powers of a Landrat. The term Oberbürgermeister is not used in the three city-states (e.g., in Berlin Regierender Bürgermeister ("governing mayor") is used).

Mayors in Greece were elected every four years in local elections and are the head of various municipal governments in which the state is divided. Starting from 2014, mayors are elected for a 5-year term. Local administration elections for the new, consolidated municipalities and peripheries will henceforth be held together with the elections for the European Parliament.

Local administration in Greece recently underwent extensive reform in two phases: the first phase, implemented in 1997 and commonly called the "Kapodistrias Project", consolidated the country's numerous municipalities and communities down to approximately 1000. The second phase, initially called "Kapodistrias II" but eventually called the "Callicrates Project", was implemented in 2010, further consolidated municipalities down to 370, and merged the country's 54 prefectures into 13 peripheries. The Callicratean municipalities were designed according to several guidelines; for example each island (except Crete) was incorporated into a single municipality, while the majority of small towns were consolidated so as to have an average municipal population of 25,000.

In India, the mayor acts as the city bureaucrat who is generally a state-appointed officer. The Mayor in the Municipal Corporation is usually chosen through direct vote for a term of five years. The Mayor generally lacks executive authority. The Municipal Commissioner serves as the Principal Executive Officer subject to the power and administration of the Mayor as the Chief Executive Officer.

In Iran, Mayor is executive manager of city and elected by The Islamic City Council. The Mayor is elected for a four-year term.

In Italy the mayor is called ''sindaco'', or informally "first citizen". Every municipality has its mayor who represents the local government. The mayor is elected every 5 year by the inhabitants of the municipality.

Japan's Local-Autonomy Law of 1947 defines the structure of Japanese local governments, which were strengthened after World War II. It gives strong executive power to the mayor in the local politics like strong mayors in large cities in the United States of America. The titles that are translated as "mayor" by the governments are those of the heads of cities , towns , villages , and Tokyo's special wards . (The head of the Tokyo prefecture is the .) A mayor is elected every four years by direct popular votes held separately from the assembly. A mayor can be recalled by a popular initiative but the prefectural and the national governments cannot remove a mayor from office. Towards the assembly the mayor prepares budgets, proposes local acts and has vetoes on local acts just approved by the assembly which can be overridden by two-thirds assembly support. A mayor can resolve the assembly if the assembly passes a motion of no confidence or if the mayor thinks the assembly has no confidence in fact.

The Mayor of the municipality in Moldova is elected for four years. In Chişinău, the last mayor elections had to be repeated three times, because of the low rate of participation.

In the Netherlands, the mayor (in Dutch: ''burgemeester'') is the leader of the municipal executives ('College van Burgemeester en Wethouders'). In the Netherlands, burgermeesters are ''de facto'' appointed by the national cabinet, ''de jure'' by the monarch. They preside both the municipal executive and the legislative ('gemeenteraad'). The title is sometimes translated as burgomaster, to emphasize the appointed, rather than elected, nature of the office. The appointment procedure was brought for discussion in the early 2000s, as some of the political parties represented in parliament regarded the procedure as undemocratic. Alternatives proposed were direct election of the mayor by the people or appointment by the city council (''gemeenteraad''). A constitutional change to allow for this failed to pass the Senate in March 2005.

Mayors in New Zealand are elected every three years in the local body elections.

In Pakistan, a city is headed by the District Nazim (the word means "supervisor" in Urdu, but is sometimes translated as Mayor) and assisted by Naib Nazim who is also speaker of District Council. District Nazim is elected by the nazims of union councils, union councillors and by tehsil nazims, who themselves are elected directly by the votes of the local public. Council elections are held every four years.

The Mayor of the municipality in Romania is elected for four years. In Bucharest for example, Traian Băsescu (The Alliance of Justice and Truth), the president of Romania was the Mayor of the municipality from 2000 to 2004.

and Spanish America

''Alcalde'' is the most common Spanish term for the mayor of a town or city. It is derived from the Arabic ''al-qaḍi ''( قاضي ), i.e., "the (Sharia) judge," who often had administrative, as well as judicial, functions. Although the Castilian ''alcalde'' and the Andalusian ''qaḍi'' had slightly different attributes (the ''qaḍi'' oversaw an entire province, the ''alcalde'' only a municipality; the former was appointed by the ruler of the state but the latter was elected by the municipal council), the adoption of this term reflects how much Muslim society in the Iberian Peninsula influenced the Christian one in the early phases of the Reconquista. As Spanish Christians took over an increasing part of the Peninsula, they adapted the Muslim systems and terminology for their own use.

Today, it refers to the executive head of a municipal or local government, who usually does not have judicial functions. The word ''intendente'' is used in Argentina and Paraguay for the office that is analogous to a mayor.

The Swedish title ''borgmästare'' (burgomaster) was abolished in the municipal reform of 1971. Today, the municipal commissioner - the highest ranking politician in each municipality - is informally titled "mayor" in English.

In the Republic of China in Taiwan the mayor is the head of a city's government and is completely distinct from the associated city's council, which is in charge of legislative affairs. The mayor and city council are elected separately by the city's residents.

In Ukraine was introduced a title of ''Mer'' for the position of the head of the municipal state administration in the federal cities of Kiev and Sevastopol. In the rest of the urban and rural settlements the position is unofficial and is simply referring to the head of a local council who at the moment of such assignment cannot be affiliated with any party of the council.

=== ===

In the United States, there are several distinct types of mayors, depending on the system of local government. Under council-manager government, the mayor is a first among equals on the city council, analogous to a head of state for the city. He or she may chair the city council, but lacks any special legislative powers. The mayor and city council serve part-time, with day-to-day administration in the hands of a professional city manager. The system is most common among medium sized cities from around 25,000 to several hundred thousand, usually rural and suburban municipalities.

In the second form, known as mayor-council government, the mayoralty and city council are separate offices. Under a ''strong mayor'' system, the mayor acts as an elected executive with the city council functioning with legislative powers. He or she may select a chief administrative officer to oversee the different departments. This is the system used in most of the United States' large cities, primarily because mayors serve full time and have a wide range of services that they oversee. In a ''weak mayor'' or ''ceremonial mayor'' system, the mayor has appointing power for department heads but is subject to checks by the city council, sharing both executive and legislative duties with the council. This is common for smaller cities, especially in New England. Charlotte, North Carolina and Minneapolis, Minnesota are two notable large cities with a ceremonial mayor.

Many American mayors are styled “His/Her Honor” while in office.

Multi-tier local government

In several countries, where there is not local autonomy, mayors are often appointed by some branch of the federal or regional government. In some cities, subdivisions such as boroughs may have their own mayors; this is the case, for example, with the arrondissements of Paris, Montreal, and Mexico City. In Belgium, the capital, Brussels, is administratively one of the federation's three regions, and is the only city subdivided, without the other regions' provincial level, into 19 rather small municipalities, which each have an elected—formally appointed—Burgomaster (i.e., Mayor, responsible to his / her elected council); while Antwerp, the other major metropolitan area, has one large city (where the boroughs, former municipalities merged into it, elect a lower level, albeit with very limited competence) and several smaller surrounding municipalities, each under a normal Burgomaster as in Brussels.

In the People's Republic of China, the Mayor (市長) may be the administrative head of any municipality, provincial, prefecture-level, or county-level. The Mayor is usually the most recognized official in cities, although the position is the second-highest ranking official in charge after the local Communist Party Secretary. In principle, the Mayor (who also serves as the Deputy Communist Party Secretary of the city) is responsible for managing the city administration while the Communist Party Secretary is responsible for general policy and managing the party bureaucracy, but in practice the roles blur, frequently causing conflict.

See also

Acting Mayor

Lists of mayors by country

City and town halls

Council-manager government

Mayor-council government

World Mayor

Alcalde

Burgomaster

Sarpanch

Mayors and provosts in the United Kingdom

;Historical

Schultheiß

Urban prefect

References

;Notes

;Bibliography

A. Shaw, ''Municipal Government in Continental Europe''

J - A. Fairlie, ''Municipal Administration''

S. and B. Webb, ''English Local Government''

Redlich and Hirst, ''Local Government in England''

A. L. Lowell, ''The Government of England''.

External links

Comparative database of European mayors

Category:Government occupations Category:Local government in the United States Category:Management occupations Category:Positions of authority Category:Titles Category:Heads of local government

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Name	Pac Div
Background	group_or_band
Alias	Pacific Division
Origin	Palmdale, California
Genre	Hip hop
Years active	2006-present
Label	Universal Motown Records
Website	http://itspacdiv.com/
current members	LikeMibbsBeYoung }}

Pacific Division, better known by, Pac Div, is a rap trio that originated in Southern California and is signed to Universal Motown Records. It is composed of two brothers, Like and Mibbs, and a long time friend and acquaintance, BeYoung. They started to rap together in High School. Originally Pac Div was a group of eleven boys in high school, but knowing that they could not keep it that way, in 2005 they shrunk the group down to three, Mibbs, Like, and Be Young. When Microwave Music influenced most young rappers, they were influenced by old school hip-hop, and it shows through their videos and unique style.

Career

Pac Div's first mixtape was released in 2006 was a thematic mixtape named ''Sealed for Freshness: The Blend Tape''. It talked about their lives as average hip youth which related to their target market. Being relatable appealed to a mass market of Hipsters, which began their success and placed them in famed magazines, such as: Billboard, Rolling Stone, and Source. It also gained approval of hip-hop hotshots: Ludacris, ?uestlove, Pharrell Williams, Talib Kweli, and 9th Wonder. Their success helped them go international, opening for big names like Nas, Q-Tip, Busta Rhymes, Ice-T, and Ludacris. Their manager at the time Terry Smith, Danny Carter and music executive Earl Johnson (The Brolly Group) seeing great potential in the group, they made some calls to some key industry executives. Sylvia Rhone was first to jump on board to make Pacific Division and The Brolly Group, dreams come true. All the success and fame achieved from their first mixtape, which was released by The Brolly Group along with their first music video F.A.T Boys. The group released two more mixapes, ''Church League Champions'' and ''Don't Mention It''. ''Church League Champions'' consisted of three singles: "Mayor", "Whiplash" and "Young Black Male". "Don't Forget the Swishers," on their mixtape "Don't Mention It," featured Cleveland-based rapper Chip tha Ripper.In 2008, after offers from many major labels the group decided to sign with Universal Motown Records and they are currently getting ready for their first debut album release, Grown Kid Syndrome in 2011. Pac Div wants to craft their album to mainly focus on making sure that their live show is going to be live and exciting. After burning relation with their first management and their personal relationship with Terry Smith, Danny Carter and music executive Earl Johnson (The Brolly Group) for never paying them for securing them their Universal Records label deal, along with paid shows, tours, and commercial opportunities that was brought by The Brolly Group, before moving over to Ch'rewd Management. They are managed by Christopher Watkins for Ch’rewd Management and their booking agent, Cara Lewis of The William Morris Agency. In 2011 they released their fourth mixtape Mania!. They also performed the single “Anti-freeze” from their mixtape Mania! in Tammany Hall in Massachusetts. In 2011, in an interview with billboard Pac Div talked about their move to Grand Hustle Records and how it has affected them. Mibbs said that “It's been totally positive. It's just a different type of grind with this new management. [The energy] fits more of what we're trying to do. We're really trying to hustle. That's what Grand Hustle is about. [Laughs].” When asked about Lil B’s new album entitled “I’m Gay” the group responded saying that “He can name it whatever he wants. I think he's talented guy. It sounds like he's trying to push himself to perfection. His work is more developed, that's because he cares. I'm hoping for the best.” They also commented on how their upcoming album Grown Kid Syndrome has changed since it started saying that “Some of the records [we last talked about] are still on there. If anything, we hooked up with No I.D. and made a dope ass track called "Greatness." We hooked up with Jim Jonsin, he had some records [for us]. I produced a couple of joints that we previously didn't have. I've been working hard at that. We've been bottling up the same aesthetic as our last albums but with a bit of evolution where you can still can hear us.”

Discography

{| class="wikitable" border="3" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" !align="center"|EPs ... |- |''Pac Div EP'' (2009) |- {| class="wikitable" border="3" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" !align="center"|Mixtapes |- |''Sealed for Freshness: The Blend Tape'' (2006) |- |''Church League Champions'' (2009) |- |''Don't Mention It'' (2010) |- |''Mania!'' (2011) {| class="wikitable" border="3" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 1em 1em 1em 0; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1px #aaa solid; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;" |- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" align="center" !align="center"|Albums |- |''Grown Kid Syndrome'' (TBA) {| | |- Pac Div is most known for working with Dc breakout group Blu3 Bas3m3nt 3nt.

External links

References

Category:Musical groups established in 2002 Category:Musical groups from California Category:African American musical groups Category:Underground rappers Category:West Coast hip hop groups

name	Cory Booker
order	36th Mayor of Newark, New Jersey
term start	July 1, 2006
predecessor	Sharpe James
order2	Central Ward Council Member of the Newark City Council
term start2	1998
term end2	2002
birth date	April 27, 1969
birth place	Washington, D.C.
party	Democratic Party
alma mater	Yale Law School (J.D.)Oxford University (B.A.)Stanford University (M.A.)Stanford University (B.A.)
profession	Mayor, Newark, New Jersey
website	www.corybooker.com
footnotes	}}

Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Booker is a former Newark City Councilman. Booker was elected Mayor in 2006, becoming the 36th mayor of Newark and the third African-American mayor of that city.

Background

The son of African-American parents (Cary and Carolyn Booker were among the first African-American executives at IBM), Booker was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in the predominantly white, affluent town of Harrington Park in Bergen County, New Jersey. He is an alumnus of Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan, where he was a 1986 ''USA Today'' All-American football player. Following graduation, Booker traveled west to study at Stanford University and earned a B.A. in political science in 1991 as well as an M.A. in sociology the following year. He played varsity football — he made the All–Pacific Ten Academic team — and was elected to the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) council of (four) presidents. In addition, he ran The Bridge, a student-run crisis hotline and organized help for youth in East Palo Alto, from Stanford students. While at Stanford, Booker also became good friends with Rachel Maddow.

After Stanford, Booker earned a Rhodes Scholarship and studied at The Queen's College, Oxford, where he was awarded an honours degree in modern history in 1994. While at Oxford, he became friends with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and became President of the L'Chaim Society, the local chapter of Chabad, and brought together a diverse community there.

Booker obtained a J.D. in 1997 from Yale Law School, where he started and operated free legal clinics for low-income residents of New Haven. He was also a Big Brother, and was active in the Black Law Students Association. Booker lived in Newark during his final year at Yale and following graduation served as Staff Attorney for the Urban Justice Center in New York and Program Coordinator of the Newark Youth Project.

From 1998 to 2006, he lived in Brick Towers, a troubled housing complex in Newark's Central Ward. Booker organized tenants to fight for improved conditions. In November 2006, as one of the last remaining tenants in Brick Towers, Booker left his apartment for the top unit in a three-story rental on Hawthorne Avenue in Newark's South Ward, an area described as "a drug-and gang-plagued neighborhood of boarded-up houses and empty lots." Brick Towers has since been demolished and a new mixed-income development will be built there in 2010.

Booker received an honorary ''Doctor of Humane Letters'' (''honoris causa'') degree in May 2009 from Newark-based New Jersey Institute of Technology after serving almost 3 years as mayor for 'his outstanding career in public service as mayor of the City of Newark'. He also received an honorary ''Doctor of Humane Letters'' (''honoris causa'') degree in December 2010 from New York-based Yeshiva University for 'his bold vision for Newark and setting a national standard for urban transformation'. Mayor Booker received an honorary ''Doctor of Laws'' degree in June 2011 from Williams College for the urban transformation of New Jersey's largest city, Newark. He was also the 2011 Williams College Commencement speaker.

Central Ward Council Member

In 1998, Booker won an upset victory, beating four-term incumbent George Branch to get elected to the Newark Municipal Council, a council known for serving the Central Ward Community and for hard-fought elections.

Once on the Council, Booker proved to be an unconventional public official. In 1999, he went on a 10-day hunger strike, living in a tent in front of one of Newark's public housing projects (Garden Spires), to protest open-air drug dealing and the associated violence. While serving as Councilman, he spent five months living in a motor home, parking "near the most notorious drug corners" to draw attention to the situation. He proposed a variety of Council initiatives that impacted housing, young people, law and order and the efficiency and transparency of City Hall, but was regularly rebuffed by a resistant Municipal Council and often outvoted 8–1. While on the Council, Booker became an outspoken advocate of education reform.

2002 Mayoral run

In 2002, rather than run for re-election as Councilman, Booker decided to run for Mayor of Newark. This pitted him against longtime mayor Sharpe James. In this campaign and the next, James' supporters questioned Booker's suburban background, calling him a carpetbagger who was "not black enough" to understand the city. Booker was defeated, 53 percent to 47 percent.

After concluding his service as Central Ward Councilman, Booker in 2002 founded Newark Now, a grassroots non-profit organization that connects Newarkers to useful resources and services in order to help transform their communities. In addition, Booker also became a partner at the West Orange, law firm Booker, Rabinowitz, Trenk, Tully, Lubetkin, DiPasquale and Webster, and a senior fellow at Rutgers University's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. Booker is currently a member of the Board of Trustees at Teachers College, Columbia University, and was formerly a member of the Executive Committee at Yale Law School and the Board of Trustees at Stanford University.

2006 Mayoral run

As expected, Cory Booker announced on February 11, 2006, that he would again run for mayor, an intention he had made clear after his loss in 2002.

On March 6, 2006, Deputy Mayor (and State Senator) Ronald Rice entered the race, adding "that Mayor James had encouraged him to run but noted that if the mayor decided to join the race, his candidacy could change." On March 27, 2006, James announced that he would not seek a sixth term, preferring to focus on his seat in the New Jersey Senate.

Rice ran a campaign attacking Booker for raising over $6 million for the race. Booker's campaign outspent Rice's 25 to 1. Booker tried to identify Rice as a "political crony" of former mayor Sharpe James, to whom Booker lost in 2002.

On Election Day, May 9, 2006, Newark's nonpartisan election took place. This time Booker won with 72 percent of the vote, soundly defeating Rice. Booker's entire slate of City Council candidates, known as the "Booker Team," swept the Council elections, giving Booker firm leadership of the city's government.

Before taking office as mayor, Booker sued Sharpe James’ administration in order to terminate cut-rate land deals favoring two redevelopment agencies. Each organization had recently been created by the Municipal Council and listed Sharpe James as a member of its advisory board. The Municipal Council claimed that these low prices were necessary to promote development in Newark's blighted neighborhoods; however, Booker argued that the state’s “pay-to-play” laws had been violated and would furthermore cost the city more than $15 million in lost revenue if these land deals were approved at the next council meeting. Specifically, Booker referenced a case on Broad and South streets – a piece of land that would generate $87,000 under the proposed land deals yet was valued at $3.7 million under current market rates. On June 20, 2006, Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello ruled in favor of Booker, stating that his attorneys had "made a persuasive argument that campaign contributors were given discounted land deals."

In late June 2006, before Booker took office, New Jersey investigators foiled a plot, led by Bloods gang leaders inside four New Jersey state prisons, to assassinate Booker. The plot was led by New Jersey Bloods gang leader Lester Alford, an inmate in East Jersey State Prison in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The plan called for prisoners in four New Jersey state prisons to riot and then for Bloods gang members on the outside to assassinate Booker simultaneously. The threats against Booker were believed to be in response to Booker's campaign promises to increase the number of police on the streets and take a harder line on crime.

2010 Election

Mayor Cory Booker defeated his opponents in a nonpartisan election on May 11, 2010. The final results were Cory A. Booker 21,397 votes; Clifford J. Minor 12,924 votes; Yvonne Garrett Moore 1,629 votes; Mirna L. White 415 votes.

Mayoral administration

Booker assumed office as mayor of Newark on July 1, 2006, and is only the third person to govern the city since 1970. After his first week in office, Booker announced a 100-day plan to implement reforms in Newark. Some of the proposed changes included: adding police officers, ending background checks for many city jobs, an effort to help former offenders find employment in the city, refurbishing police stations, improving city services, and expanding summer youth programs.

On October 16, 2006, Booker formally introduced his administration's first adopted Newark City Budget. The approved $697.1 million budget resulted in an 8.3% increase in the city's property tax, which is one of the largest property tax increases in the city's history. The budget also increased the number of city employees from 3,968 to 4,197. These increases were cited as necessary to fix the structural financial deficit and secure a solid foundation for Newark’s future. Booker pledged to not increase taxes the following year, a promise he kept – the City of Newark has not raised taxes in over two years. His administration has also since reduced the size of government with a 2009 Budget proposal containing 3935 city employees. In addition, the City of Newark has for the last two consecutive years received the GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award, reflective of the Booker Administration’s continued commitment to an honest, transparent budgeting process ending decades of neglect and setting a foundation to balance the city’s finances.

One of the mayor's first priorities was to reduce the city's crime rate. Booker appointed Garry McCarthy, former Deputy Commissioner of Operations of the New York City Police Department, as the director of the Newark Police Department. Public safety in Newark has been overhauled under Director McCarthy’s lead. A new Central Narcotics Division was created as well as a Fugitive Apprehension Unit, which has been responsible for the capture of 11 out of 12 Most Wanted Felons in Newark. In addition, major technological advances have been made to crime-fighting initiatives such as citywide camera and gunshot detection systems. Community-oriented and privately funded programs such as the Crime Stoppers and Gun Stoppers anonymous tip lines have made an important impact in crime prevention and apprehension of criminals in Newark. Crime reduction has been such a central concern to the Booker Administration that Booker, along with his security team, was known to personally patrol the streets of Newark until times as late as 4 a.m. early in his first term.

Crime has dropped significantly in the city of Newark, which currently leads the nation in violent crime reduction. From 2006 to 2008, crime dropped by the following percentages: murders 36%, shooting incidents 41%, rapes 30%, and auto thefts 26%. In 2008, Newark had its lowest murder rate since 1959. Despite the success indicated by these statistics, as the global economic recession set in, robberies rose 27% in 2008 and another 10% through late June 2009. As of July 26, 2009, murders are down 42% overall, rapes are down 41% overall and robberies are down 12% since 2008.

The month of March in 2010 marked Newark’s first murder-free month in over 44 years. As of April 1, 2010, the murder rate in Newark was the second best since 1941 and crime rates for aggravated assaults, robberies, carjacking, and shootings were also down for the first quarter compared to 2009.

In addition to lowering crime, Booker has both doubled the amount of affordable housing under development and quadrupled the amount under predevelopment. Booker has slashed the city budget deficit from $180 million to $73 million.

Despite criticisms, Booker has also raised the salaries of many city workers. Most recently, however, the Booker Administration and the City of Newark imposed one-day-a-month furloughs for all non-uniformed employees from July through December 2010, as well as two-percent pay cuts for managers and directors currently earning more than $100,000 a year. Citing the reason for the pay cuts, Booker noted, “In 2006, we took over a city in financial crisis. We have made significant steps to address our financial future and decided that we would not balance the budget on the backs of our residents.” Booker has reduced his own salary twice since taking office, voluntarily reducing his salary by 8% early in his first year as mayor. None of Booker’s senior managers have received pay increases since taking office.

Mayor Booker’s leadership has attracted approximately $100 million in private philanthropy to the City of Newark and a variety of nonprofits and public/private partnerships have been created and used to better the lives of Newark residents. In April 2008, the Newark Charter School Fund was established to provide grants in support of Newark’s charter schools to support a successful public school system in Newark. The City of Newark also works with GreenSpaces, which has committed $40 million toward the largest park expansion initiative in over a century with a total of twenty-one park construction and rehabilitation projects scheduled for completion in every ward by the end of 2010. To support the Newark Police Department, the Newark Police Foundation was established in 2006 and provides funding and other services to the Police Department which has had a significant impact on the NPD’s ability to pay for necessary resources that would otherwise not be readily funded through the department’s budget.

In 2009, after President Barack Obama became president of the United States, Booker was offered the chance to head the new White House Office of Urban Affairs Policy; Booker turned the offer down citing a commitment to Newark.

In an effort to make government more accessible, Booker's administration has held regular open office hours during which city residents can meet personally with the Mayor to discuss their concerns.

Booker was honored in October 2009 by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence with the Sarah Brady Visionary Award for his work in reducing gun violence.

Booker made news when on December 31, 2010, a constituent used Twitter to ask the mayor to send someone to her father's house to shovel his driveway because her father, who was 65 years old, was going to attempt to do it himself. Booker responded by tweeting; "I will do it myself; where does he live?" Other people volunteered, including one person who offered his help on Twitter and 20 minutes later the mayor and some volunteers showed up and shoveled the man's driveway. In 2010, Samepoint released a study that measured the social media influence of mayors around the country, and ranking the top 100 most social mayors. San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom was named the Most Social Mayor in America according to the Samepoint study. Newark, New Jersey Cory Booker was the second most social mayor, according to the Samepoint study.

Booker is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a bi-partisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition is co-chaired by Boston mayor Thomas Menino and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Booker delivered the commencement address at Pitzer College in Claremont, California, on May 15, 2010. In his address, he implored graduates to "just be you" and related several anecdotes about his own education and career, including one pertaining to a chance meeting on a plane with a woman and her children. At the end of the flight, he exchanged phone numbers with the woman, who contacted him during his first mayoral campaign, becoming a donor. One of her children became a campaign worker, fifteen years after the flight. His speech was enthusiastically received and he received a standing ovation.

Two days later Booker also delivered the commencement address at Columbia University's Teachers College in New York City on May 17, 2010, and at Suffolk University Law School a week later in Boston on May 23, 2010.

Mayor Booker delivered the commencement address to New York Law School graduates on May 13, 2011 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.

He was among the finalists for the 2010 World Mayor prize, ultimately placing seventh.

Booker sits on the board of advisors of the political action committee Democrats for Education Reform.

Senior Cabinet

His senior cabinet consists of the following members: Modia Butler, Chief of Staff to the Mayor;

Anthony Santiago, Deputy Chief of Staff;

Margarita Muñiz, Deputy Mayor for Neighborhood Engagement;

Anne Torres, Office of Communications Acting Director;

David Giordano, Senior Advisor to the Mayor;

Hon. Julien X. Neals, Esq., Business Administrator;

Michael E. Greene, Esq., Assistant Business Administrator;

Adam Cruz, Assistant Business Administrator;

Kecia Daniels, Personnel Director;

Keith Isaac, Emergency Management Director;

Darlene Noble, Affirmative Action Manager;

Nelida Valentin, Newark Works Newark's One-Stop Operator Director;

Michele Ralph-Rawls, Staff Operations Director

Claudia Granados, Advisor to the Mayor on Labor Relations;

Stefan Pryor, Director & Deputy Mayor for Housing Economic Development;

Conan O'Brien "feud"

On September 23, 2009, on ''The Tonight Show'' host Conan O'Brien made the following joke: "The mayor of Newark wants to set up a citywide program to improve residents' health. The health care program would consist of a bus ticket out of Newark." Booker responded in a satire YouTube video telling Conan O'Brien to apologize, and that Conan is banned from ever entering Newark Liberty International Airport by putting him on the "No fly list." The video was made in humor. Conan responded by further making fun of Newark saying the only way he could get to Newark now would be like everyone else, "through a series of poor decisions." He also called out Cory Booker to come on the show to air out their grievances. Booker subsequently banned Conan from the state of New Jersey as well as all the sister cities of Newark on another satire video. In response, Conan read a letter on air from Elizabeth, NJ, Mayor Chris Bollwage, declaring that he will temporarily rename Terminal A of Newark Liberty (which lies in Elizabeth) the Conan O'Brien Terminal. Conan did a skit in which he complimented all the cities around Newark and said he had created a "geographic toilet seat" around Newark. The mayors of Bayonne, East Orange, Kearny, Jersey City, and Elizabeth have publicly sided with Conan O'Brien. He ended this by saying, "Your move, Mayor Booker." The feud was unofficially ended when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for it to end during a prepared comedy bit, telling Booker to chalk it up to Conan's head injury suffered less than two weeks earlier. Mayor Cory Booker appeared as Conan's first guest on ''The Tonight Show'' on Friday October 16, 2009, and assured viewers that the feud was over and that he was actually a big fan of Conan O'Brien. They settled their feud with a deal that every time Conan made a joke about Newark, Conan would put $500 in the Newark jar, and the money would be donated to the City of Newark. Conan then made the following joke, "You can trust that this jar is safe because it is not in Newark," after which Conan placed the first $500 in the jar. Conan then made a $50,000 donation to the Newark Now charity, which was matched by NBC Universal, totaling $100,000.

See also

List of mayors of Newark, New Jersey

References

External links

for Speaking Engagements

The Next Wave of Urban Reform, ''City Journal,'' Fall 2010

2007 ''City Journal'' article on Booker and Newark

Official Mayor Site

Cory Booker Official Campaign Site

CityMayors profile

School Choice and Government Reform: Pillars of an Urban Renaissance by Cory Booker

The Downwardly Mobile Cory Booker at archive.org

Newark Now website

Official web site for Street Fight

PBS's series P.O.V.'s web site for Street Fight

Wall Street Journal interview

Article in Salon.com about the harsh 2002 race for Mayor

New York Metro piece on Booker entitled "The New Natural"

Interview with Cory Booker ''The Brian Lehrer Show'' WNYC February 24, 2006

Huffington Post">Cory Booker's posts at Huffington Post

"100 To Watch: Cory A. Booker" ''Democratic Leadership Council''

"Cory Booker, Jerome Champagne, World Championship Dominos" June 20, 2006 ''The Conversation'' WNYC

"NPR Morning Edition: Newark Mayor: New Black Leaders Must Innovate 08/08/2006"

"NPR All Things Considered: Leading Newark, One of America's Deadly Cities, 2006-12-19" features an interview with Booker

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:African American lawyers Category:African American mayors Category:Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford Category:American Rhodes scholars Category:American vegetarians Category:Community organizers Category:Mayors of Newark, New Jersey Category:New Jersey city council members Category:New Jersey Democrats Category:New Jersey lawyers Category:People from Bergen County, New Jersey Category:People from Washington, D.C. Category:Stanford Cardinal football players Category:Yale Law School alumni Category:American Protestants

fr:Cory Booker it:Cory Booker

Name	Tempa T
background	solo_singer
alias	Tempa T, Tempz, Tempa
origin	Forest Gate, East London
genre	Grime, Hip hop
occupation	rapper
years active	2006–present
Associated acts	Slew Dem Crew, Newham Generals, Chronik, JME, Boy Better Know, Chase and Status }}

Tempa T (born Nicky Nyarko-Dei), also known as Tempz is a Grime MC originating from East london and member of legendary underground Grime Crew "Slew Dem Crew". Tempz is particularly known for excitable nature, his angry lyrics, raw energy and the hype that he creates with his tracks. His underground smash single "Next Hype" is one of the most biggest grime songs to come out in recent years. He has featured on Hypest Hype with Chase & Status, He has made several well known tracks however his anthemic Next Hype is currently his only official solo release and is thought to be one of the best Grime releases.

Early career

His first public performance was in 2006 with his crew, SlewDem at The Chantelle Fiddy club night at 333 in Shoreditch. In 2007 he made himself known and recognised as the ‘angry Grime MC’ and ‘The hype man’, with his high energy and infectious stage presence. Tempa T's musical career was documented by Neo-Publishing.Inc in 2010 in Tempa T: Reviewing the Hype so Far.

Phrases

Tempa T has popularised his own phrases/slang words that have their own meaning. "Par" "Its A Par" and "Myth" are known to be originated by Tempa T

Discography

Singles

Year	Single	Peak chart positions		Album
		! width="60"	! width="60"
	"Next Hype"	—	—

As a featured performer

Year	Single	Peak chart positions		Album
		! width="60"	! width="60"
	"Hypest Hype" (with Chase & Status)	70	—
	—	—

EPs

Next Hype Remixes

Bootlegs

The Best of Tempa T

Would You Like Chips

Ram of Brookwood

References

External links

A short Tempa T documentary

Category:Living people Category:Grime artists Category:1984 births

name	The Mayor of Casterbridge
author	Thomas Hardy
illustrator	Robert Barnes
pub date	1886
country	United Kingdom
language	English }}

''The Mayor of Casterbridge'' (1886), subtitled "The Life and Death of a Man of Character", is a tragic novel by British author Thomas Hardy. It is set in the fictional town of Casterbridge (based on the town of Dorchester in Dorset). The book is one of Hardy's Wessex novels, all set in a fictional rustic England. The novel is often considered one of Hardy's greatest works.

Plot summary

At a country fair near Casterbridge, Wessex, a young hay-trusser named Michael Henchard overindulges in rum-laced furmity and quarrels with his wife, Susan. Spurred by alcohol, he decides to auction off his wife and baby daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, to a sailor, Mr. Newson, for five guineas. Once sober the next day, he is too late to recover his family, particularly since his reluctance to reveal his own bad conduct keeps him from conducting an effective search. When he realizes that his wife and daughter are gone, probably for good, he swears not to touch liquor again for as many years as he has lived so far (twenty-one).

Eighteen years later, Henchard, now a successful grain merchant, is the eponymous Mayor of Casterbridge, known for his staunch sobriety. He is well respected for his financial acumen and his work ethic, but he is not well liked. Impulsive, selfish behavior and a violent temper are still part of his character, as are dishonesty and secretive activity.

All these years, Henchard has kept the details surrounding the "loss" of his wife a secret. The people in Casterbridge believe he is a widower, although he never explicitly says that his first wife died. He lies by omission instead, allowing other people to believe something false. Over time he finds it convenient to believe Susan probably is dead. While traveling to the island of Jersey on business, Henchard falls in love with a young woman named Lucette Le Sueur, who nurses him back to health after an illness. The book implies that Lucette (Lucetta, in English) and Henchard have a sexual relationship, and Lucetta's reputation is ruined by her association with Henchard. When Henchard returns to Casterbridge he leaves Lucetta to face the social consequences of their fling. In order to rejoin polite society she must marry him, but there is a problem: Henchard is already technically married. Although Henchard never told Lucetta exactly how he "lost" his wife to begin with, he does tell her he has a wife who "is dead probably dead, but who may return". Besotted, Lucetta develops a relationship with him despite the risk. Yet just as Henchard is about to send for Lucetta, Susan unexpectedly appears in Casterbridge with her daughter, Elizabeth-Jane, who is now fully grown. Susan and Elizabeth-Jane are both very poor. Newson appears to have been lost at sea, and without means to earn an income Susan is looking for Henchard again. Susan, who is not a very intelligent or sophisticated woman, believed for a long time that her "marriage" to Newson was perfectly legitimate. Only recently, just before Newson's disappearance, had Susan begun to question whether or not she was still legally married to Henchard.

Just as Susan and Elizabeth-Jane arrive in town, a tidy Scotsman, Donald Farfrae, is passing through on his way to America. The energetic, amiable Farfrae happens to be in Henchard's line of work. He has experience as a grain and corn merchant, and is on the cutting edge of agricultural science. He befriends Henchard and helps him out of a bad financial situation by giving him some timely advice. Henchard persuades him to stay and offers him a job as his corn factor, rudely dismissing a man named Jopp to whom he had already offered the job. Hiring Farfrae is a stroke of business genius for Henchard, who although hardworking is not well educated. Henchard also makes Farfrae a close friend and confides in him about his past history and personal life.

Henchard is also reunited with Susan and the fully grown Elizabeth-Jane. To preserve appearances, Henchard sets Susan and Elizabeth-Jane up in a nearby house. He pretends to court Susan, and marries her. Both Henchard and Elizabeth-Jane's mother keep their past history from their daughter. Henchard also keeps Lucetta a secret. He writes to her, informing her that their marriage is off. Lucetta is devastated and asks for the return of her letters. Henchard attempts to return them, but Lucetta misses the appointment owing to a family emergency that is not explained until later in the book.

The return of his wife and daughter sets in motion a decline in Henchard's fortunes. Yet Susan and Elizabeth-Jane are not the root cause of Henchard's fall. Henchard alone makes the decisions that bring him down, and much of his bad luck is the delayed and cumulative consequence of how Henchard treats other people. His relationship with Farfrae deteriorates gradually as Farfrae becomes more popular than Henchard. In addition to being more friendly and amiable, Farfrae is better informed, better educated, and in short everything Henchard himself wants to be. Henchard feels threatened by Farfrae, particularly when Elizabeth-Jane starts to fall in love with him.

The competition between Donald Farfrae and Henchard grows. Eventually they part company and Farfrae sets himself up as an independent hay and corn merchant. The rivalry and resentment for the most part is one-sided, and Farfrae conducts himself with scrupulous honesty and fair dealing. Henchard meanwhile makes increasingly aggressive, risky business decisions that put him in financial danger. The business rivalry leads to Henchard standing in the way of a marriage between Donald and Elizabeth-Jane, until after Susan's death at which point Henchard learns he is not Elizabeth-Jane's father, and realizes that if she marries Farfrae, he will be rid of her. The Elizabeth-Jane he auctioned off died in infancy; this second Elizabeth-Jane is Newson's daughter. He learns this secret, however, after Susan's death when he reads a letter which Susan, on her deathbed, marked to be opened only after Elizabeth-Jane's marriage. Feeling ashamed and hard done by, Henchard conceals the secret from Elizabeth-Jane, but grows cold and cruel towards her.

In the meantime, Henchard's former mistress, Lucetta, arrives from Jersey and purchases a house in Casterbridge. She has inherited money from a wealthy relative who died: in fact it was this relative's death that had kept her from picking up her letters from Henchard. Initially she wants to pick up her relationship with him where it left off, but propriety requires that they wait a while. She takes Elizabeth-Jane into her household as a companion thinking it will give Henchard an excuse to come to visit, but the plan backfires because of Henchard's hatred of Elizabeth-Jane. She also learns a little bit more about Henchard. Specifically, the details of how he sold his first wife become public knowledge when the furmity vendor who witnessed the sale makes the story public. Henchard does not deny the story, but when Lucetta hears a little bit more about what kind of man Henchard really is she stops rationalizing his conduct in terms of what she wants to believe. For the first time, she starts to see him more clearly, and she no longer particularly likes what she sees.

Donald Farfrae, who visits Lucetta's house to see Elizabeth-Jane and who becomes completely distracted by Lucetta, has no idea that Lucetta is the mysterious woman who was informally engaged to Henchard. Since Henchard is such a reluctant and secretive suitor who in no way reveals his attachment to Lucetta to anybody, Lucetta starts to question whether her engagement to Henchard is valid. She too is lying about her past: she claims to be from Bath, not Jersey, and she has taken the surname of her wealthy relative. Yet she came to Casterbridge seeking Henchard, and sent him letters after Susan's death indicating that she wanted to resume and legitimize the relationship. Although he was initially reluctant he gradually realizes that he wants to marry Lucetta, particularly since he is having financial trouble due to some speculations having gone bad. Lenders are unwilling to extend credit to him, and he believes that they would extend credit if they at least believed he was about to be married to a wealthy woman. Frustrated by her stalling, Henchard bullies Lucetta into agreeing to marry him. But by this point she is in love with Farfrae. The two run away one weekend and get married, and Lucetta does not have the nerve to tell Henchard until well after the fact. Henchard's credit collapses, he becomes bankrupt, and he sells all his personal possessions to pay creditors.

As Henchard's fortunes decline, Farfrae's rise. He buys Henchard's old business and employs Henchard as a journeyman day-laborer. Farfrae is always trying to help the man who helped him get started, whom he still regards as a friend and a former mentor. He does not realize Henchard is his enemy even though the town council and Elizabeth-Jane both warn him.

Lucetta, feeling safe and comfortable in her marriage with Farfrae, keeps her former relationship with Henchard a secret. This secret is revealed when Henchard foolishly lets his enemy Jopp deliver Lucetta's old love letters. Jopp makes the secret public and the townspeople publicly shame Henchard and Lucetta. Lucetta, who by this point is pregnant, dies of an epileptic seizure.

When Newson, Elizabeth-Jane's biological father, returns, Henchard is afraid of losing her companionship and tells Newson she is dead. Henchard is once again impoverished, and, as soon as the twenty-first year of his oath is up, he starts drinking again. By the time Elizabeth-Jane, who months later is married to Donald Farfrae and reunited with Newson, goes looking for Henchard to forgive him, he has died and left a will requesting no funeral or fanfare:

"That Elizabeth-Jane Farfrae be not told of my death, or made to grieve on account of me. "& that I be not bury'd in consecrated ground. "& that no sexton be asked to toll the bell. "& that nobody is wished to see my dead body. "& that no murners walk behind me at my funeral. "& that no flours be planted on my grave, "& that no man remember me. "To this I put my name.

Characters

Michael Henchard

The first of the two Mayors of Casterbridge discussed in this book, Michael Henchard starts his life as a poor journeyman hay-trusser. He rises above his humble beginnings to become a successful businessman, until his secrets catch up with him and combine with his inherent character flaws to bring him down. He belongs to what at the time was the working class, but aspires to genteel status. He is poorly educated and although he can read (the book shows him reading a ballad-sheet) he is not good at maths and is not up to date in the scientific or record-keeping aspect of his business.

Henchard is very physically strong and stands more than six feet tall. He is twenty-one years old at the start of the story and forty-two to forty-three at the end. The book describes him as being dark-haired, as well as making repeated references to his dark eyes.

In terms of temperament, Henchard is very impulsive although he also has a tendency to depression. He tends to take a sudden liking, or a sudden dislike, to other people and can be verbally abusive and aggressive even when sober. He is respected in Casterbridge, having built up a strong business almost literally from nothing, but he is not well liked. When he drinks, he can be vicious. In fact, one of the reasons he does so well in business is because, after he sells his wife and child, he swears off alcohol for twenty-one years. He can be short-sighted and selfish, and does not think much of consequences of action. When he decides Farfrae is his enemy, he wages an economic war that, at first, is extremely one-sided.

A risk-taker, Henchard eventually lets his personal grudge against Farfrae get in the way of his reasoning abilities. He takes too many risks, gambles too aggressively, and loses his credit, his business, and most of his fortune.

Henchard always has a way to rationalize his impulsive decision making. He also has no problem leaving other people to pay for the consequences of his bad decision making. His guilt about his past leads him to reunite with Susan even though he does not love her. When Lucetta marries Farfrae, Henchard initially wants to seek retaliation but eventually relents and gives back Lucetta her letters.

Donald Farfrae

A Scotsman named Donald Farfrae is the second character in the novel who becomes a mayor in Casterbridge. He is Michael Henchard's opposite in nearly every way. They are physical opposites. Whereas Henchard is tall, strong, and somewhat clumsy Farfrae is short, lithe, and well coordinated. Whereas Henchard is not well educated, Farfrae is intelligent and very well informed about the scientific and business aspects of the grain and corn industry. Henchard is aggressive and brutal, but Farfrae is gentle and likeable. Henchard is a laborer, but Farfrae is a well educated member of the merchant class. In short, Farfrae is everything Henchard would love to be, and loves to pretend that he is. This initially causes Henchard to admire and like Farfrae, but it eventually leads to jealousy and resentment.

Donald Farfrae arrives in town by chance and passes along a valuable technique for improving wheat, which saves Henchard a great deal of money and embarrassment. Henchard prevails upon him to stay in town, hiring him as his manager over the head of another man named Jopp to whom he had already made a job offer. He immediately brings Henchard's business up to date in terms of technology and business discipline, and he is charismatic enough to be a far better manager and leader than Henchard himself.

Farfrae takes an interest in Elizabeth-Jane Newson, who at the time is living as Henchard's stepdaughter. Both Mr. and Mrs. Henchard approve of the match, until Henchard's growing jealousy and resentment of Farfrae cause him to feel threatened. Yet Farfrae is too naïve to realize Henchard is competing with him. He shows Henchard up quite unintentionally by throwing a better party than Henchard himself, and Henchard fires him. Afterwards, Farfrae considers leaving town but stays for Elizabeth-Jane's sake until Henchard tells him to keep away from her. Henchard revokes that order later, after he reads Susan's deathbed confession and realizes Elizabeth-Jane is not really his daughter, at which point Farfrae attempts to start courting Elizabeth-Jane again and is distracted by Lucetta.

Farfrae does not realize he is competing with Henchard for Lucetta's attention, or that Lucetta is the woman his former boss wooed, abandoned, and is trying to reclaim. Farfrae marries her and does not learn of her association with Henchard until after Lucetta's first seizure. After Lucetta's death and Henchard's return to the bottle, followed by the return of Captain Newson, Farfrae marries Elizabeth-Jane.

Susan Henchard (Newson)

Susan is an honest but simple-minded woman who, as a young woman, is married to Michael Henchard but sold (along with her baby girl Elizabeth-Jane) at a drunken auction to a sailor by the name of Newson. She believes there is something legally binding about the sale, and goes to live with Newson as his wife. The baby Elizabeth-Jane dies three months later, and Susan has a daughter with Newson whom she names Elizabeth-Jane. It is this second Elizabeth-Jane whom she later passes off as Henchard's daughter.

After living for years with Newson in Canada, the family of three returns to England. One spring, Newson (who believes his wife is having second thoughts about the validity of their marriage) is lost at sea. The impoverished widow "Newson" returns with Elizabeth-Jane, who is now about eighteen years old. A reader who cares to do the math will realize immediately that there's something fishy about Elizabeth-Jane's age. In any case, Susan has never told Elizabeth-Jane about Henchard or her first marriage, and certainly never told her about the auction incident.

Because she has no way to earn a living, Susan approaches Henchard for help. She does not correct his assumption that he is Elizabeth-Jane's father, nor does she tell anyone about the auction incident. Henchard sends her a gift of five guineas (the amount for which he sold her to Newson, and which is no doubt substantially less than what he sent his mistress Lucetta when breaking off the affair) and sets her up as a genteel new arrival to town. He courts her and remarries her. She does not tell him the truth about Elizabeth-Jane until her death a year or two later, when she writes a deathbed confession and seals it in an envelope to be opened only on Elizabeth-Jane's wedding day.

Elizabeth-Jane Newson

About eighteen years old when she and her mother arrive in Casterbridge, Elizabeth-Jane is the daughter of Newson. She is a sweet, innocent young woman who is ignorant of the social graces required of a mayor's stepdaughter. She strives to improve herself, reading constantly and studying Latin and geography. Gradually she transforms herself into the kind of sophisticated young lady Henchard believes he ought to have as a daughter. When Henchard alternates between doting on her and verbally abusing her, she never understands why, especially when Henchard (mistakenly) reveals the "truth" about who her father was. She never really lives up to Henchard's expectations of her and is often unhappy.

Elizabeth-Jane is a fairly passive person who does not let sudden wealth (or the loss of it) affect her much. After her mother's death she accepts Lucetta's invitation to live with her as a companion or chaperone. She develops feelings for Donald Farfrae until Lucetta attracts him away from her, and is disappointed for a while but is ultimately happy when she is reunited with her father Newson (who turns out not to be lost at all) and marries Farfrae also.

Lucetta Templeman (Lucette Le Sueur)

A native of the island of Jersey, the Francophone Lucette Le Sueur is the daughter of a military officer. She lives a nomadic life, and after the death of her parents takes lodging in a boarding-house in Jersey. There she meets Michael Henchard, who is traveling on business and who is taken sick with a bout of severe depression. She becomes infatuated with him, and he indulges her affection for him without too much regard for appearances.

Lucetta is a few years older than Elizabeth-Jane and far more refined. She speaks fluent French as well as English, but conceals her knowledge of the language because she does not want her history in Jersey to become well known. She's impulsive, like Henchard, but not spiteful or mean although she lets money and status go to her head. After she marries, she slights Henchard and puts on airs, alienating Henchard and refusing to help Jopp (an old acquaintance of hers) obtain employment.

Exactly how far the affair between Lucetta and Henchard went is unclear. The book strongly suggests that the two of them have had sexual relations, but is ambiguous enough to not offend the sensibilities of 19th century readers. Whatever happened was enough for Lucetta's reputation to be so irreparably tarnished that the only solution for her is to leave Jersey and change her name. She takes the last name of her deceased relative, Templeman, and alters her first name to make it sound more English.

It is important to notice that scandal would not have broken out if all Lucetta and Henchard did was walk, talk, or dine together in a boarding house. They would have had to have spent a considerable amount of time alone together, or they would have to have been caught in a very compromising situation. In any case Henchard does propose marriage, stating that there was a risk his first wife would return. Lucetta accepts the proposal, so the two are engaged. Henchard returns to Casterbridge leaving Lucetta to bear the full brunt of the scandal until he is ready to bring her to town, and she writes him passionate letters on a daily basis. Of course, it is at this inopportune time that Susan arrives. Henchard cancels the engagement and sends Lucetta a substantial gift of money.

Lucetta is scheduled to stop and pick up her love letters to Henchard, but a family emergency (specifically, the death of her only living relative who was quite wealthy) intervenes. Lucetta is left with substantial means. When she learns of Susan's death, she moves to Casterbridge to determine whether she should pick up her association with Henchard where she left off. She's agreeable to the match at first, but as she learns more about Henchard she likes him less and her rosy outlook and tendency to rationalize away his cruel treatment of others decreases over time. Besides, she's attracted to Donald Farfrae instead.

Given that Henchard married somebody else, their original engagement to each other is null and void. Yet Henchard, who finds himself very interested in Lucetta particularly since she has come into money, bullies Lucetta into accepting his proposal again. Lucetta elopes with Farfrae, and incurs Henchard's wrath. He retrieves her love letters, toys with the idea of exposing her secret to her new husband, and eventually sends her love letters by way of Jopp, who has reason to hate both Henchard and Lucetta. The love affair becomes public, and the scandal eventually contributes to Lucetta's death.

Joshua Jopp

A relatively minor character, Jopp lived in Jersey until Henchard invited him to Casterbridge to work as his new manager and corn-factor. He was effectively hired by Henchard, subject to an interview that never happened because Henchard impulsively hired Farfrae instead, leaving Jopp without employment.

After being brushed off by Henchard, Jopp is unable to find regular employment and gradually sinks into poverty. Henchard hires him after he dismisses Farfrae, thinking to use him for his dirty work. But Jopp is not the manager Farfrae was and the business collapses, leaving Jopp out of work and Henchard bankrupt.

When Lucetta marries Donald Farfrae, Jopp (who knew her in Jersey) asks her, as an old acquaintance, to put in a good word for him with Farfrae so as to help him find work. Lucetta refuses for reasons that are not clear, but that could be read as reluctance to keep a potential blackmailer close by or a high-and-mighty refusal to help anybody. Henchard by this time is using Jopp to run errands, and charges him with the important task of returning Lucetta's love letters, which Jopp decides to publicly read first. He is instrumental in putting together the skimmington ride, which is a public procession designed to mock and humiliate people, in order to publicize the affair between Henchard and Lucetta so as to hurt both. It is during the skimmington ride that the pregnant Lucetta suffers her first seizure and becomes fatally ill.

Richard Newson

Newson starts out as a sailor of indeterminate rank. He does have ready money which he uses to buy Susan and Elizabeth-Jane at the beginning of the book, so he has clearly not been pressed into service and has money from some source. However he is not a gentleman from a family of independent means: when he is supposedly lost at sea after his return from Canada, he leaves Susan and Elizabeth-Jane nearly penniless. However, he finishes the story as a sea-captain. To do this in private enterprise (much less in the English Navy) he would have had to have been a man of great personal initiative.

Newson is described as having light-colored hair, a trait which Elizabeth-Jane shares and which initially causes some confusion for Henchard since his infant daughter had dark hair like Henchard's own. He appears to have been kind to Elizabeth-Jane, who loves him dearly. He also seems to be somewhat gullible, believing at first that his marriage to Susan is legally binding. When he returns after Susan's death looking for Elizabeth-Jane, he believes Henchard who tells him that Elizabeth-Jane died too. He doesn't even look for his daughter's grave, but leaves town quickly only to return, hopefully, once more. He is eventually reunited with Elizabeth-Jane. Newson must have had a gentle and forgiving temperament, because he bears no grudge against Henchard for trying to steal his daughter.

Modern day locations mentioned in the novel

Maumbury Rings Bowling Alley Walks Hardy's Monument The King's Arms Hotel Dorchester Market (opposite the Police Station)

The Corn Exchange

Adaptations

A 1921 silent film ''The Mayor of Casterbridge'' directed by Sidney Morgan

In 2001 (broadcast on ITV 2003) by Georgina Lowe, with Ciarán Hinds as Henchard, Polly Walker as Lucetta, James Purefoy as Farfrae and Jodhi May as Elizabeth Jane.

A 1978 television film by Dennis Potter for the BBC starring Alan Bates as Henchard, Anna Massey as Lucetta, and Anne Stallybrass as Susan. - The 1978 version was broadcast in the U.S. by PBS as part of ''Masterpiece Theatre''. In 2008 Helen Edmundson adapted it into a three-episode radio play for BBC Radio 4's Classic Serial slot.

A version of the story was also filmed in 2000 as ''The Claim'', with the setting changed to a town (called Kingdom Come) in the American West of the 19th Century. The film was directed by Michael Winterbottom from a screenplay by Frank Cottrell Boyce.

In 1951 the novel was adapted as an opera by the British composer Peter Tranchell.

References

Bibliography

Menefee, Samuel P., ''Wives for Sale: An Ethnographic Study of British Popular Divorce'' (1981) ISBN 0-631-13301-1.

External links

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/casterbridge/

http://www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/casterbridge/

Category:1886 novels Category:Novels by Thomas Hardy Category:Masterpiece Theatre Category:Culture in Dorchester Category:English novels Category:Novels set in Dorset

fa:شهردار کاستربریج (کتاب) he:ראש העיר קסטרברידג' nl:The Mayor of Casterbridge ru:Мэр Кэстербриджа