Mayor of Newark - Cory Booker

[dazzleman]

What I've read about him is very positive.

We should remember though that Sharpe James was originally elected as a reform mayor also.  Long periods of time in a corrupt, single-party system will ruin even some of the better politicians.

I wish Cory Booker well.  Still, I don't think a place like Newark can ever thrive in the longer run as long as it's run by a one-party political machine, as most of our cities seem to be.  Their politics is a reflection of their basic dysfunctionality, and at the same time helps to perpetuate it.

[dazzleman]

This type of thing goes on all the time in politics.  If you have a winning team in place during the campaign... why not bring them in to help govern?

[/quote]

Because they may be capable of helping elect you, but not of governing.  They're two very different skills.

Often, the people who helped get a politican elected become a major source of trouble for him when they're brought in to help him govern.  Booker is treading on thin ice, and ought to be careful, especially in the virtually communistic one-party system that exists in Newark.

[dazzleman]

This type of thing goes on all the time in politics.  If you have a winning team in place during the campaign... why not bring them in to help govern?

Isn't that basically what Jimmy Carter did?

Exactly.  And you saw the results of that.