Saturday, April 14, 2012

Cory Booker, American Hero

Cory Booker first appeared on my radar while I was researching New Jersey news stories for a tv station. Booker was coming under fire because he wanted to cut city spending on toilet paper. It wasn't a popular move, but if you think about it, how bad is it?
Newark isn't exactly loaded, so why not cut spending where possible?
Cutting spending where possible, as it turns out, is one of the tenets of Booker's leadership as is privatization, yet he's managed to be popular with Democrats.
All in all, he strikes me as a pretty good, level-headed mayor.
But in a story that seems to be under-discussed, at least among my peers, he actually rescued a woman from a burning building. And from the accounts of the firefighters, it sounds like it was at great personal safety risk.
All in all, I think Newark's really lucky to have him as mayor, and I think this Forbes article, despite its messed-up title, gives good insight into why. Booker genuinely doesn't seem to care what other people think about him and is clearly hard at work to make his city a better place.
Whatever your policies, Booker represents the best in elected officials.