"Harold Ford" redirects here. For his father, the congressman from Tennessee from 1975 to 1997, see Harold Ford, Sr.

Harold Ford, Jr.
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 9th district
In office January 3, 1997 – January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Harold Ford, Sr.
Succeeded by	Steve Cohen
Personal details
Born	Harold Eugene Ford, Jr. (1970-05-11) May 11, 1970 (age 42) Memphis, Tennessee
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Emily Threlkeld
Residence	New York[1]
Alma mater	University of Pennsylvania (B.A.) University of Michigan Law School (J.D.)
Religion	Baptist

Harold Eugene Ford, Jr. (born May 11, 1970) is an American politician and was the last chairman of the now-defunct Democratic Leadership Council (DLC).^[1] He was a Democratic Party member of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee's 9th congressional district, centered in Memphis, from 1997 to 2007. Ford did not seek re-election to his House seat in 2006 when he unsuccessfully sought the Senate seat vacated by retiring Bill Frist.

Family and education[link]

Ford is the son of former Congressman Harold Ford, Sr. and Dorothy Bowles Ford.^[2] He has three brothers — Jake, Isaac, and Andrew — and one sister, Ava.^[3] His family has long been prominent in Memphis' African American community; their influence dates back to the late 19th century, when E.H. Crump, a prominent white Democrat, dominated city and state politics and befriended Harold Ford Sr.'s grandfather, N.J. Ford.^[4]

Ford was baptised at his church, Mt. Moriah-East Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He attended Double Tree Elementary School, a public Montessori school in the Westwood neighborhood of South Memphis, and he graduated from the private St. Albans School for Boys, a prestigious university-preparatory school in Washington, D.C.. He received a B.A. in American history from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992.^[3] After graduation, he was a staff aide to the Senate Budget Committee, and in 1993 became special assistant at the United States Department of Commerce.^[5]

Ford received a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1996. During his campaign for the House of Representatives, he sat for and failed the Tennessee bar exam; he has said that he intends to try again.^[6]

Ford is married to Emily Threlkeld, who works in public relations for Carolina Herrera in New York. They married on April 26, 2008.^[7]

House of Representatives career[link]

When Harold, Sr. decided not to seek a 12th term in Congress in 1996, Harold, Jr. entered the race and became the favorite in the Democratic primary — widely regarded as the real contest in the heavily Democratic, black-majority 9th district. Ford arranged his schedule for his last semester of law school so he would not have Monday or Friday classes^[8] and would be able to fly home to Memphis for an extended weekend each week to continue his campaign. As expected, he easily won the Democratic primary, followed by election in November. Taking office at the age of 26, he was one of the youngest members of Congress in US history and the youngest in the 105th and 106th Congresses. He was reelected four times without substantive Republican opposition by an average of 80 percent of the vote. In 2000, Ford was the keynote speaker for the 2000 Democratic National Convention supporting then Vice President Al Gore for the Democratic nomination for President.^[9]

On November 4, 1999, Ford voted in favor of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act,^[10] which some economists, including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, believe helped create the 2007 financial crisis.^[11][12]

On October 10, 2002, he was among the 81 House Democrats who voted in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq.

After the Democrats lost seven Congressional seats in the 2002 elections, Ford announced his candidacy for House Democratic Leader, challenging then-House Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi, arguing that current leadership was ineffective.^[13] Ford was defeated, but exceeded initial expectations in the amount of support he received.^[14] Although his name was mentioned as a possible Democratic vice presidential candidate in 2004,^[15] he was ineligible for the office due to his age (four months shy of 35 on Inauguration Day 2005).

A June 7, 2005, article in The Washington Times reported that from 1998 to 2003, Ford took 61 privately funded trips but did not file travel disclosure forms with the House clerk for the trips, as required by the chamber's ethics rules, until August 2003. Ford's office called the late filings a "mere oversight", since Ford had filed the required financial disclosure statements for the trips at the time they occurred.^[16]

In November 2005, when Ohio Republican Congresswoman Jean Schmidt implied that Pennsylvania Democrat John Murtha was a "coward" in response to Murtha's proposal for a withdrawal of American forces from Iraq, Ford charged across the House floor to the Republican side during the resulting uproar in the chamber, shouting "Say it to Murtha!" (or "Say Murtha's name!" depending on the source) while waving his finger at Schmidt. He had to be restrained by fellow Democrat Dave Obey of Wisconsin. Like many Democrats, Ford believed Schmidt's remarks (which she later withdrew) were an unwarranted "cheap shot" against Murtha, a veteran of the Marine Corps.^[17]

Harold Ford Jr. on the campaign trail

In Congress, Ford opposed benefits for same-sex couples and supported the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have defined marriage as one man and one woman. He told Democrats they should be more supportive of the Iraq War, and criticized Senate Democrats who attempted to filibuster the nomination of Samuel Alito. He was one of the few Democrats who voted for the bankruptcy bill, and he defined himself as a pro-life candidate, supporting some restrictions on abortion, including a ban on intact dilation and extraction, called "partial-birth abortion" by opponents. However, the National Right to Life Committee says that while in Congress he voted against the pro-life position 87% of the time.^[18] He supported the Republican effort to intercede in the Terri Schiavo case.^[19] He opposed President George W. Bush's energy proposals (including oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), demonstrated support for adoption rights of same-sex couples, is in favor of federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, supported universal healthcare coverage, opposed the death penalty and indicated a willingness to reform drug policy.^[20][21]

In addition, Ford sat on the House Budget Committee and the House Committee on Financial Services. He also served on the Transformation Advisory Group, a group of political, military and academic leaders who worked with the Department of Defense to assess the needs of the armed forces. Ford was a member of the New Democrat Coalition, the Congressional Black Caucus and the Blue Dog Coalition.^[3]

In 2002, Ford was mentioned as a possible Democratic candidate for the Senate seat being vacated by Fred Thompson, but he declined to run. Instead, he supported fellow Congressman Bob Clement who would lose to former Republican Governor Lamar Alexander in the general election.^[22]

In 2006, Ford did not run for re-election to the House of Representatives, due to his campaign for the United States Senate in Tennessee, which he lost. His younger brother, Jake Ford, ran for the 9th district seat as an Independent, but lost to Democrat Steve Cohen.

2006 Tennessee Senate campaign[link]

On April 6, 2005, during an interview on C-SPAN's call-in show Washington Journal, Ford confirmed that he would be running for the Senate.^[23] He filed the papers necessary to officially begin his Senate campaign on May 25, 2005.

Democratic State Senator Rosalind Kurita briefly challenged Ford for the nomination but dropped out of the primary because of inadequate fundraising, effectively handing Ford the nomination.^[24] On August 3, 2006, Ford overwhelmingly won the Democratic primary. After the primary, Ford's supporters held a large victory celebration at Nashville's LP Field. Among the speakers was former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Ford faced Republican Bob Corker in the November 2006 election. Not long after Corker's primary victory was assured, Ford challenged Corker to seven televised debates across the state. In response, Corker said he would debate Ford, though he did not agree to seven debates.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2006, the Republican Party ran radio and television ads characterized by some as racially tinged. A radio spot, referred to by critics as the "jungle drums" ad, had drums playing when Ford's name was mentioned and patriotic music when Corker's name was spoken. This ad was criticized as attacking Ford's race by evoking images of primitive, chanting African tribes.^[25] A television ad that received more attention featured satirical "man‑on‑the‑street" interviews purporting to support Ford, including one in which a blond white woman talks about meeting Ford at "the Playboy party"; she returns at the end of the ad to wink and whisper "Harold, call me." The ad was denounced by many people, including Republican former Senator William Cohen, who called it "a very serious appeal to a racist sentiment", and Corker asked the Republican leadership to pull the ad. The ad was retired one day after Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman said he had no authority to discontinue the ad and disagreed with the negative characterizations of it.^[26][27][28]

Corker and Ford participated in a televised debate in Memphis on October 7, in Corker's hometown of Chattanooga on October 10, and in Nashville on October 28. In January 2006, NBC's Meet the Press extended an open invitation for the candidates to debate on the nationally-televised show.

On November 8, Ford conceded the election to Corker, who defeated Ford by less than three percentage points.^[29]

Post-election activities[link]

In December 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that Ford told students at an L.A.-area school that he might run again in 2008 for the Senate seat held by Republican Lamar Alexander, but in January 2007 Ford said that he had no plans to challenge the incumbent.^[30][31] Instead, Ford has said that he "hopes to spend a lot of time at home, perhaps do some teaching and work with Governor Bredesen on some issues in Tennessee."^[32]

On January 25, 2007, Ford was named chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council.^[33]

In March 2007, Ford joined the financial services firm Merrill Lynch as a vice chairman and senior policy advisor.,^[34][35] and in the same month he was hired by Fox News Channel as a political contributor.^[36] In March 2008, he moved from Fox to MSNBC as a news analyst, appearing as a panelist on David Gregory's Race for the White House, Hardball, and Morning Joe.^[37]

Ford was appointed visiting professor of public policy at Vanderbilt University in 2007 and taught a class on American political leadership.^[38] In October 2007, Ford was appointed the inaugural Barbara Jordan Visiting Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin.^[39] As of the spring 2010 semester, he is a visiting professor at New York University's Wagner School of Public Service where he teaches Policy Formation: U.S. Domestic Policy.^[40]

2010 New York Senate Election[link]

Ford considered a primary challenge to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in New York in 2010.^[1] Sources close to Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York have said that he would consider supporting someone "of Mr. Ford's stature".^[1] However, it was also reported that Mayor Bloomberg "reassured Mr. Reid that he was not personally involved in the effort to promote a Ford candidacy."^[41] Chuck Schumer sought to dissuade Ford from running.^[41] Ford's spokesperson on January 11, 2010, stated Ford had become a supporter of same-sex marriage after "listening to the debate in state legislatures across the country".^[42]

On February 5, 2010, Gillibrand held a press conference at which she raised questions as to whether Ford, as an executive of Merril Lynch, received taxpayer backed bonuses from Bank of America, stemming from the federal bailout. She was joined by New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, who endorsed her candidacy.^[43]

On February 12, it was reported that Ford's NBC contract was suspended due to his potential campaign, and that he had taken an unpaid leave of absence from Merrill Lynch for the same reason.^[44]

On March 1, Ford stated in an op-ed article published by The New York Times that he would not run against Gillibrand.^[45][46]

Electoral history[link]

2006 Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate (TN)

• Harold Ford, Jr., 79%
• Gary G. Davis, 10%
• John Jay Hooker, 6%

See also[link]

• "30 Something" Working Group

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Harold Ford, Jr.

• US Congress biography
• The Ford Report: Unofficial Grassroots Blog
• 2006 campaign finance data
• About.com's Inside Profile of Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., 2006 Democratic Tennessee Candidate for U.S. Senate
• Harold Ford, Jr. Reaches for the Stars (TIME Magazine article)
• Why Harold Ford, Jr. Has a Shot (TIME Magazine article)
• Voting record maintained by the Washington Post
• "Senate candidates spar over Corker's comments about Ford's Memphis 'political machine'", by Richard Locker, The Commercial Appeal, October 8, 2006
• The Path to Power, by Jonathan Darman, Newsweek, October 30, 2006

Cory Booker
Booker at the 2011 Time 100 gala
36th Mayor of Newark
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2006
Preceded by	Sharpe James
Central Ward Council Member of the Newark City Council
In office 1998–2002
Personal details
Born	Cory Anthony Booker (1969-04-27) April 27, 1969 (age 43) Washington, D.C.
Political party	Democratic Party
Alma mater	Yale Law School (J.D.) Oxford University (M.A.) Stanford University (M.A.) Stanford University (B.A.)
Profession	Mayor, attorney
Religion	Christian[1]
Website	corybooker.com

Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American Democratic Party politician who has been serving as the 36th Mayor of Newark, New Jersey since 2006. He is the third African-American mayor of Newark, and was formerly a Newark City Councilman, and practicing attorney. He is a graduate of Stanford University, the University of Oxford (where he was a Rhodes Scholar), and Yale Law School.

Early life and education[link]

Booker was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in the predominantly white, affluent town of Harrington Park, New Jersey, 20 miles north of Newark.^[2] His parents, Cary Alfred and Carolyn Rose (Jordan) Booker, were among the first black executives at IBM.^[2][3][4] In 2009, he told US News that he was raised in a religious household, and that he and his family attended a small, African Methodist Episcopal Church in New Jersey.^[1] Booker graduated from Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan. He was named to the USA Today All-USA high school football team in 1986.^[5]

He went on to Stanford University, receiving a B.A. in political science in 1991 and an M.A. in sociology the following year. While at Stanford, Booker played varsity football.^[6] He also made the All–Pacific Ten Academic team^{[citation needed]} and was elected senior class president.^[7]. In addition, he ran The Bridge, a student-run crisis hotline and organized help for youth in East Palo Alto, from Stanford students.^[8] After Stanford, he attended The Queen's College, Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, earning an honours degree in U.S. history in 1994.^[7] Booker received a J.D. in 1997 from Yale Law School, where he operated free legal clinics for low-income residents of New Haven. At Yale, he was a founding member of the Chai Society (now the Eliezer Society).^[9] 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. After graduation, Booker served as Staff Attorney for the Urban Justice Center in New York and Program Coordinator of the Newark Youth Project.

Early political career[link]

In 1998, Booker won an upset victory for a seat on the Newark Municipal Council, beating four-term incumbent George Branch. To draw attention to the problems of open-air drug dealing and the associated violence, Booker went on a 10-day hunger strike, and lived in a tent and later in a motor home near drug dealing areas of the city.^[10] He proposed Council initiatives that impacted housing, young people, law and order and the efficiency and transparency of City Hall, but was regularly outvoted 8–1. He also became an outspoken advocate of education reform.

2002 mayoral run[link]

In 2002, rather than run for re-election as Councilman, Booker decided to run for Mayor of Newark.^[11] 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.^[12] Booker was defeated 53%-47%.

Between mayoral campaigns (2003–2005)[link]

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.^[13] 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.

2006 mayoral run[link]

Booker announced on February 11, 2006, that he would again run for mayor. Incumbent Mayor James then declined to seek a sixth term^[14] and Deputy Mayor (and State Senator) Ronald Rice ran against Booker.^[15] Booker's campaign outspent Rice's 25 to 1. Rice ran a campaign attacking Booker for raising over $6 million for the race; Booker attacked Rice as a "political crony" of James.^[16][17] Booker won the nonpartisan election of May 9, 2006 with 72 percent of the vote, with his slate of City Council candidates, known as the "Booker Team," sweeping the Council elections, and giving Booker firm leadership of the city's government.

Before taking office as mayor, Booker sued the James administration seeking to terminate cut-rate land deals favoring two redevelopment agencies which were contributors to James' campaigns and which listed James as a member of their advisory boards. Booker argued that the state’s “pay-to-play” laws had been violated and that the land deals would cost the city more than $15 million in lost revenue. Specifically, Booker referenced a parcel on Broad and South streets that would generate only $87,000 under the proposed land deals yet was valued at $3.7 million under then-current market rates.^[18] On June 20, 2006, Superior Court Judge Patricia Costello ruled in favor of Booker.^[19] 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 motive for the plot was unclear, but was described variously as a response to the acrimonious campaign ^[20] and to Booker's campaign promises to take a harder line on crime.^[21][22][23]

Mayor of Newark (2006–present)[link]

First term[link]

Booker campaigning for Barack Obama in Newark, 2007

Booker assumed office as mayor of Newark on July 1, 2006, and is the third consecutive black person to govern the city since 1970.^[24][25][26] 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.^[27][28]

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.^[29][30] 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 did not raise taxes for the following two years. His administration also reduced the size of government with a 2009 Budget proposal containing 3935 city employees. In addition, the City of Newark in 2008 and 2009 received the GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award.^[31][32]

Booker at a fundraiser with New York County District Attorney candidate Cyrus Vance, Jr., 2009

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.^[33] 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.^[34]

Crime has dropped significantly in the city of Newark, which led the nation in violent crime reduction from 2006 to 2008. In those years, crime dropped by the following percentages: murders 36%, shooting incidents 41%, rapes 30%, and auto thefts 26%.^[34] In 2008, Newark had its lowest murder rate since 1959.^[34] 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.^[34] As of July 2009, murders were down 42% overall, rapes down 41% overall and robberies down 12% from 2008.^[35]

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.^[36]

In addition to his crime-lowering initiatives, 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.^{[citation needed]}

Despite criticisms, Booker has also raised the salaries of many city workers.^[34] 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.^[37]

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.^[38] 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 21 park construction and rehabilitation projects scheduled for completion in every ward by the end of 2010.^[39] 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.^[40]

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.^[41]

Booker is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition,^[42] 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 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.^[43]

He was among the finalists for the 2010 World Mayor prize, ultimately placing seventh.^[44] He is a candidate for the 2012 prize.^[45]

2010 re-election[link]

Booker drew three challengers in his bid for re-election in the May 11, 2010 election. He won re-election with 59% of the vote. He defeated former Essex County Prosecutor Clifford Minor (35%), Yvonne Garrett Moore (4%), and Mirna White (1%).^[46]

Second term[link]

Booker made news when on December 28, 2010,^[47] 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 Booker and some volunteers showed up and shoveled the man's driveway.^[48] In 2010, Samepoint released a study that measured the social media influence of mayors around the country, ranking Booker second Most Social Mayor behind San Francisco's Gavin Newsom.^[49]

On April 12, 2012, Booker saved a woman from a house fire, suffering smoke inhalation and second degree burns on his hands in the process. Newark Fire Chief John Centanni said that Booker's actions possibly saved the woman's life.^[50]

Other activities[link]

President Obama association[link]

In 2009, after 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.^[34]

Booker generated controversy on May 12, 2012 when he appeared on Meet The Press as a surrogate for the re-election campaign of Barack Obama and made remarks which were critical of that campaign.^[51]. Booker stated the attacks on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital were "nauseating to me on both sides. It's nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough. Stop attacking private equity. Stop attacking Jeremiah Wright."^[51] Some objected to Booker's remarks because Romney has made those claims about job creation at Bain central to his campaign. Others criticized Booker saying his comments were motivated by his closeness to and dependence on Wall Street donors. Bain Capital and employees at other Wall Street firms have contributed substantial sums of money to Booker's political campaigns and projects in Newark.^[52] The comments were subsequently utilized by the Romney campaign against Obama.^[53] Booker made followup comments clarifying that he now believed Obama's attacks on Romney's record at Bain were legitimate, but did not retract his point about attacking private equity in general. ^[54] Two weeks later, Booker's communications director Anne Torres tended her resignation, although she maintained it was unrelated to Meet the Press.^[55]

Affiliations and honors[link]

Booker sits on the board of advisers of the political action committee Democrats for Education Reform.^[56]

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.

In the third year of his first term (May 2009), Booker received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (honoris causa) degree from the Newark-based New Jersey Institute of Technology for 'his outstanding career in public service as mayor of the City of Newark'.^[57] In the same year, Booker also received an honorary doctorate from Brandeis University, and was a commencement speaker that year as well.^[58] That summer, Booker spoke at Jersey Boys' State and has been a guest to subsequent Boys' State functions.^[59] 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'.^[60] Mayor Booker received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in June 2011 from Williams College in Massachusetts for the urban transformation of New Jersey's largest city, Newark. He was also the 2011 Williams College Commencement speaker.^[61] In May 2012, he received the "Doctor of Laws" degree from Bard College and gave the commencement speech at the graduation.

In 2010, Booker delivered the commencement addresses at Pitzer College in Claremont, California on May 15, Columbia University's Teachers College in New York City on May 17, and Suffolk University Law School a week later in Boston on May 23, 2010. He gave the commencement address to New York Law School graduates on May 13, 2011 at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.

Films[link]

Booker's 2002 Mayoral campaign, which he lost, was chronicled by filmmaker Marshall Curry in his documentary Street Fight. The film was nominated for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Since 2009, Booker has starred in the documentary series Brick City, which airs on the Sundance Channel. Season 2 of the series is currently airing. The series focuses on Booker and his efforts to reduce crime in Newark and bring economic renewal to a city that has been blighted by drugs, gangs and unemployment for years. Brick City has won a Peabody Award, and has been nominated for a 2010 Primetime Emmy.

Booker also contributes to the 2011 documentary Miss Representation and comments on the representations of women in politics within mass media.

Booker was in Restaurant Impossible.

Mark Zuckerberg donation[link]

Booker attended a dinner at a conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, in July 2010 where he was seated with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg, who had no known ties to Newark, announced in September 2010 that he was donating $100 million of his personal fortune to the Newark school system. According to an article in the New York Times, Booker and Zuckerberg had continued their conversation about Booker's plans for Newark. The initial gift was made to start a foundation for education. The gift was formally announced when Booker, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Zuckerberg appeared together on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah Winfrey also has been a supporter of Booker and reportedly has given millions to Newark schools and organizations.

The timing of Zuckerberg's donation was questioned by some as a move for damage control to his image, as it was announced on the opening day of the movie The Social Network, a film that painted an unflattering portrait of Zuckerberg. On her show, however, Winfrey told the audience that Zuckerberg and Booker had been in talks for months and had actually planned the announcement for the previous month, and additionally, she and Booker had to force Zuckerberg to put his name to the donation, which he had wanted to do anonymously.^[62]

Feud with Conan O'Brien[link]

In the fall of 2009, Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien engaged in a satirical on-air and YouTube feud with Booker, with O'Brien jokingly insulting the city of Newark and Booker responding that he would ban O'Brien from the airport. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for the feud to end during a prepared comedy bit, telling Booker to chalk it up to O'Brien's head injury suffered less than two weeks earlier.^[63] Booker then appeared on O'Brien's show and assured viewers that the feud was over and that he was actually a big fan of O'Brien. O'Brien agreed that every time he made a joke about Newark, he would donate $500 to the City of Newark and also made a $50,000 donation to the Newark Now charity, which was matched by NBC Universal.

Personal life[link]

One of Booker's maternal great-grandfathers was Caucasian, and Booker also has African-American and Native American ancestry.^[4][64][65]

He works out, has been a vegetarian (for health and environmental reasons) since his days at Oxford, is uninterested in accumulating "stuff," and "has no known vices or addictions" other than books.^[66]

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."^[67] Brick Towers has since been demolished and a new mixed-income development was built there in 2010.^[68]

See also[link]

	New Jersey portal
	Biography portal

• List of mayors of Newark, New Jersey
• Brick City (TV series) - a documentary series on his term as mayor

References[link]

External links[link]

• Cory Booker Official Campaign Site
• Mayor Booker City of Newark Biography
• Newark Now website
• PBS series P.O.V. web site for Street Fight
• City of Newark, NJ - Contact Information
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues

v t e Mayors of Newark, New Jersey Halsey • Frelinghuysen • Miller • Halstead • Wright • Dod • Baldwin • Vanderpool • Miller • Quinby • Poinier • Bigelow • Runyon • Peddie • Ricord • Perry • Yates • Fiedler • Lang • Haynes • Lebkuecher • Seymour, Sr. • Doremus • Haussling • Raymond • Gillen • Archibald • Breidenbach • Raymond • Congleton • Ellenstein • Murphy • Villani • Carlin • Addonizio • Gibson • James • Booker

v t e Mayors of cities with populations exceeding 100,000 in New Jersey State capital: Tony Mack (Trenton)     Cory Booker (Newark) Jerramiah Healy (Jersey City) Jeff Jones (Paterson) Chris Bollwage (Elizabeth) Other states AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY

This article's lead section may not adequately summarize its contents. Please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (October 2011)

Ann Coulter
Coulter at the 2012 Time 100
Born	Ann Hart Coulter (1961-12-08) December 8, 1961 (age 50) New York City, U.S.
Alma mater	Cornell University (B.A.) University of Michigan Law School (J.D.)
Occupation	Author, columnist, political commentator
Years active	1996–present
Website
anncoulter.com

Ann Hart Coulter (born December 8, 1961) is an American lawyer,^[1] conservative social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist. She frequently appears on television, radio, and as a speaker at public events and private events. Well-known for her conservative political opinions and the controversial ways in which she presents and defends them, Coulter has described herself as a polemicist who likes to "stir up the pot" and does not "pretend to be impartial or balanced, as broadcasters do."^[2]