Booker’s Swanky Fundraiser on Saturday
Newark Star Ledger: A mighty splashy Saturday for Newark. The Star Ledger has an critical opinion piece on Cory’s Inaugural Ball on Saturday. Apparently, you can’t attend the main event unless you’re making some sweet moolah (or were a volunteer for the campaign). Anyone planning to go to the “FREE” events? 
If Jon Corzine could get by charging $250 a ticket for his gubernatorial inauguration, does it matter that Newark’s mayor-elect Cory Booker is charging $500 and up for his inaugural ball this Saturday at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium?
On the one hand, Newark cannot keep thinking of itself as a two-dollar town. A city that wants to be prosperous must act the part, strike the pose that attracts swanky visitors. If the new mayor can do that, bring’em on! This town will soon have a hockey arena to fill.
Yet the median household income in Newark is just a bit over $500 a week. It’s a place where for years city employees bought tickets to pricey mayoral events convinced that they had to, in order to keep a job or get a promotion. A $500 ticket? That’s happened before.
The $30,000 price for a luxury box at Booker’s shindig? That’s a record.
On the one hand, I appreciate what Booker is doing here: he’s trying to bring in outside interest (read: investment) on day one of his administration. Given the possible impression he’s given that Newark isn’t interested in honoring previous commitments, this could be a good approach.
On the other, though, this does create a bifurcation in the city: those with money (and influence), and those without. The only folks attending that wouldn’t normally be able to afford tickets are the Booker faithful that were hanging banners and handing out flyers on Election Day.
I think, on the whole, Booker is critically aware that the city needs money. If he wields his fundraising powerhouse to start drawing cash in and directing it towards the needs of its citizens, then I’m all for it. But he could have done a better job with the PR.
For more discussion, check out the Newark Speaks topic.