Sharpe withdraws: In his own words...

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"In James' own words ..."

March 27, 2006

Mr. Robert P. Marasco
City Clerk
City of Newark
920 Broad Street
Newark, New Jersey 07102

Attention: Honorable Members of the Newark Municipal Council

Dear Mr. Marasco:

As an opponent of dual office holding, I will not be a candidate for re-election in the 2006 Newark Municipal Election and hereby request that my name be removed from the ballot. I also wish to publicly thank the 10,000 loving and caring Newark citizens who signed my petition of nomination.

When I took office in 1986 as Mayor, Newark faced a $40 million budget deficit and had to borrow money to balance its municipal budget. Newark also had wide spread abandoned properties and vacant lots. It also had an image problem. Even more distressing, laid-off police officers were standing at Broad and Market Streets handing out flyers depicting Newark as “fear city. . . a bankrupt city. . . one without leadership.” On January 25, 1986, The New York Times editorial asked, “Who can lead Newark?” (see exhibit 1)

I am pleased to report that under my leadership, working with the Newark Municipal Council, Newark has a budget surplus in excess of $400 million in dedicated accounts to ensure that it is used for job creation, economic development projects and property tax relief for the benefit of all citizens, extending to the year 2010. I would like to believe that under my leadership Newark has climbed the rough side of the mountain and has become a renaissance city with pride, prosperity and progress. Newark is now a destination city with planned programs and economic projects that will surface over the next decade.

Since becoming Mayor of this great city, we have hired a record number of police officers.. .more than 1,600. We have not laid-off a police officer in twenty years. Most recently, on March 3, 2006, we graduated a new class of recruits to address gangs and violence in our neighborhoods. On March 31, 2006 a class of fire recruits will graduate
to become Firefighters and in April 2006, we will place another class of police officer recruits in our academy.

In 1986 we initiated a most successful implosion program, bringing down all of our failed public high-rise housing projects namely Columbus Homes, Hayes Homes, Otto Kretchmer, Archbishop Walsh and Stella Wright. Citizens are now fighting to get into our state-of-the-art townhouses. Former HUD Secretary, Henry Cisneros, speaking at the United States Conference of Mayors meeting in Seattle, Washington, stated “if you want to see good public housing, visit Newark, New Jersey.”

We have built affordable housing in every ward and neighborhood. Society Hill at University Heights won the Harvard University Dively Award for being one of the best examples of urban housing sites in America. We have improved our infrastructure, built new train stations and added ten new hotels paying occupancy taxes as well. We have brought back neighborhood supermarkets, movie theatres, skating rinks and aquatic centers. We have refurbished the JFK Multipurpose Recreation Center, the Rotunda Pool, our parks, museum, library and our downtown YMWCA to name a few.

We are proud to have assisted the Newark Board of Education with money, land, plans for a new office building, the construction of new schools and the addition of new swimming pools. Added to this, thousands of students have been given the opportunity to attend colleges and universities of their choice because of the privately funded “Ready Scholars Program” that I introduced in 1986 with the support of Ray Chambers. Also my AsheIBollettieri/City (ABC) Tennis Program with the late Arthur Ashe further assisted students to achieve academically and socially. (See Exhibits)

IDT and the International Institute of Research and Public Health moved to Newark. MBNA built a new headquarters in Newark. Malcolm X Shabazz High School and the Ironbound community have new state-of-the-art athletic facilities. We are attending events at what was once called the “impossible dream” to build in Newark. . .the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC). We are watching minor league baseball in our state-of-the-art Bears/Eagles Riverfront Stadium. Families can dine at our new [HOP restaurant and a host of other quality restaurants. We can shop at our new Home Depot on Springfield Avenue.

Yes, a new Newark has emerged from the ashes of the rebellion in 1967. Please see the enclosed DVD containing my “2006 Slate of the City Address” outlining some of our progress. Also enclosed is an incomplete “James Report Card.” (see exhibits 2 & 3) No other city or mayor in the history of New Jersey can speak of a $400 million surplus for property tax relief Newark is healthy, well and primed to continue to be the leading city in New Jersey under the right leadership. Such leadership should demonstrate genuine love for the citizens and genuine love for the City of Newark and not merely spout rhetoric or perform publicity stunts.

For thirty-six exciting years (1970-2006), twelve years as a South Ward Councilman (1970-1982), four years as Councilman-at-Large (1982-1986) and twenty years as Mayor (1986-2006), I received and gave heartfelt love to the wonderful citizens of Newark, who became my extended family. No publicity stunts. No false, undeserved, unwarranted or self-serving media driven support. In fact, I had no media support whatsoever, even when deserved! And, no outsiders controlled us. We were from Newark, for Newark and loved Newark. We had the courage, vision, knowledge and strength of character to achieve against the odds and the paid political naysayers.

We have made Newark a better place and our progress is real and permanent. As pointed out in my “2006 State of the City Address”, and supported by an article in the January 2006 Kiplinger’s Magazine, property values in Newark have reached an all time high under my leadership. Homes purchased for a mere $40,000.00 are now selling for over $400,000.00. And remarkably we have one of the lowest water and property tax rates in New Jersey. We are a transportation, entertainment, service and college town with over 40,000 students walking our streets everyday and Berkeley College will soon open a campus in Newark.

Perhaps these are the reasons why two recent polls have Sharpe James defeating his closest challenger 60 to 30 percent, with 10 percent undecided. Newark in 2006 is a much better place with more ongoing visible progress than the Newark of 2002. These same polls revealed that my closest challenger had been invisible, inactive, a “no show” at community events and living out of the city since 2002. More importantly, owning no property in Newark and paying no taxes in Newark further eroded his support in the residential areas, and especially in my South Ward base.

Therefore, as we prepare for 2006 through 2010, there are serious issues before us in municipal government. Let us not be blindsided by “false” issues of change, simply for the sake of change. Mayor Frank E. Rodgers in the neighboring City of Harrison, served as Mayor for forty-eight years (1947-1995) with no questions of change, simply for the sake of change. He also served one term in the State Senate from 1979-1983. It has never been a question of how long one has served, but how well that individual has served.

We should not change from experienced leadership to leadership void of experience; or, from a proven record of service to one of no record of service; or, from having balanced twenty consecutive municipal budgets to one having never balanced a budget, simply for the sake of change. This false issue is desperate rhetoric that attempts to hide one’s shortcomings (no record to run on).

And then there’s the false issue of age. My hero, United States Senator Frank Lautenberg will run for re-election at age eighty-four (84) and will be ninety (90) years of age at the end of his winning term. Ronald Reagan won his first presidential term at the tender age of seventy-six (76) and served two full terms in office.

Change and age factors are targeted, self-serving political rhetoric that seeks to avoid comparison to my record in office, having moved Newark from “urban blight to urban bright,” having improved the quality of life and opportunities for all citizens, having fueled a true renaissance in New Jersey’s largest city and being named Mayor of the Year (2002) by the New Jersey Conference of Mayors. My record versus a highly paid outsider (out-of-town campaign fundraisers) with no administrative experience, a poor legislative record as Central Ward Councilman (a ward he lost to James in 2002) and owned by investors seeking municipal land and contracts.

The citizens of Newark, as revealed in the polls previously mentioned, did not accept this theme or premise of “change and new leadership” while offering only “for hire” community activists, convicted felons or disenchanted, disloyal or renegades from the James Administration. While being paid to run, how old, how new or how competent are members of my opponent’s team?

Thus, with the absence of any real change, reform or leadership in the offering by my previously defeated opponent, I wish to make known my real reasons for not seeking re-election in 2006.

As heretofore publicly stated, I am opposed to dual office holding whereas the State of New Jersey is not brain damaged to the point that one person must serve in two elected positions. There is an abundant supply of individuals possessing the talent, intelligence and creativity to serve in public office without the necessity of one person occupying dual elected offices.

I was selected and elected to the New Jersey Senate to spare Newark the possible use of “Senatorial Courtesy” to thwart the ongoing renaissance occurring in Newark. However, if you recall, when I was sworn in on June 21, 1999, I introduced Senate Bill #2030 which would have ended the practice of dual office holding in cities with populations of 100,000 or greater (see exhibits 4 and 5). In these large cities, mayors, council members and any other elected officials of Newark, Jersey City, Elizabeth and Paterson would not be able to serve as elected county officials or members of the state legislature. Unfortunately, the GOP controlled the state house and the legislature under then Governor Christine Todd Whitman, refused to support the Bill or even bring it to the floor for a vote. Today there are many new versions of my bill both in the Senate and the Assembly.

Nevertheless, my position has not changed and has grown even stronger from pragmatic experience and observations. Therefore, as stated after the 2002 municipal election, I will not be a candidate for Mayor in 2006.

There are many precious moments during my long tenure in municipal government that I will cherish for a lifetime, including the many wonderful people and places that have shaped my life. One of those moments occurred the night my wife and I were overnight guests of President & Mrs. Bill Clinton in the Lincoln bedroom of the White House.

I think also of the many, many supporters and observers who candidly state, “Sharpe, you can ‘t walk away from power. You are perhaps the most powerful African American politician in New Jersey. Sharpe, there is no way you will not be a candidate in 2006. No one simply gives up power. You can‘t do it. You still have that fight in you. Let’s win the sixth term and then retire! Let’s drive your opponent out of Newark forever.”

Yet, if any one thing stands out, it is that it was never about recognition, title, fame, power or winning. I never dreamed or wanted to be an elected official. I always thought of being a career educator. However, because I was a community activist (President of the United Community Corporation, Area Board 9 and President of the Weequahic Community Council), I was asked by the citizens of Newark to partake in the 1970 Black and Puerto Rican Convention. Thereafter, I was “selected and elected” by the citizens of Newark. Perhaps this is why ninety percent of the people who meet me on the street today still affectionately call me by my first name. . . “Hey, Sharpe”. . . as opposed to Mayor.

Finally, and most importantly, I wish to thank members of the Newark Municipal Council for their invaluable guidance, cooperation and assistance in improving the quality of life and opportunities in Newark for all citizens. Promises made should be promises kept and we made a “Sharpe Change” in Newark as promised heretofore in 1986.

Our Newark today is not a perfect city nor is it a city without problems, but it is a city with a marvelous future unfolding.

I now look forward to continuing to represent Newark and Hillside as State Senator in the 29th Legislative District. With heartfelt love and all the best wishes, I remain

Respectfully yours,

Sharpe James
Mayor
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