Payne slaps Cryan on call for James' ouster

Lol we'll see whos laughing if Payne wins and he cuts a deal with the GOP to take Senate control with Senators Beck and Colletti at his side.

Cryan asked an indicted State Senator who isn't running for re-election, to resign early. Perish the thought....

Just some points:

• An indicted public official should not be sitting in office.

 • The Democratic Party has picked their nominee for the Senate and its, Teresa Ruiz.

• If James steps down, she is the DEMOCRATIC choice to sit in that seat.

 • When a party selects their representatives and bestows their support, it should stand for something.

• Payne’s attack on the Chairman of the State Democratic Party is an insult to all democrats.

• Payne of Cryan; “I think this state chairman has his head in the sand”. The audacity of these words should resonate throughout the party.

• Not only does Payne NOT have the support of the Democratic Party, now he’s attacking the party. What an about-face!

Chairman Cryan has asked a Democratic Senator to step down and let the Democratic Candidate step into the seat. This is party politics. It is obvious Mr. Payne does not understand this, since he has fled the party and is running independantly. Sen. James has many issues, but the relevant one is he has not endorsed Ruiz, the nominee. He has shown support for both Quintana & Payne. Ever the showman, I expect Sen. James will again take to his bicycle with Quintana stickers on one side and Payne on the other. If Payne wants to complain to his chairman about race, all he need do is look in the mirror. As an independant, he is the Chair of the Payne party. He and Wilson can meet to criticize the actions of parties they don't belong to, because Democratics don't want or need to hear it from him.

When police officers are indicted for crimes they are prohibited from serving on the force, representing the justice system and utilizing their power to serve. Public service is a sacred privlidge: not an insiders blank public check writing exercise in entitlement... A way over the top and disingenuous media side show only adds insult to injury and is not befitting of the public, tax paying citizens and children in any town or city -anywhere. Kathy Callahan

... easy. The Dem leadership has made a conscious decision to renovate their representation in Newark and aggressively address the changing demographics of this city.  As the Hispanic population emerges more and more as a center of power, the political strength of the African-American community will commensurately diminish. The rather cold yet pragmatic calculation the Dems have made is that while it is necessary to compete for the burgeoning Hispanic vote, the loyalties of African-American voters will remain, despite increasing disenfranchisement.

As for Payne and other old line African-American leaders, you have to understand that these are men who have suffered with and born the scars of their city through decades of horrendous racial inequity and abuse. They broke the ground and planted seed in the worst of times. Now when it comes time to reap the harvest, they see the power they accrued slipping away.  I witnessed much of this firsthand having grown up in a household led by a Newark-raised father who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Montgomery, Alabama and who never lost hope that the city that afforded him an opportunity to realize the American dream would one day resurrect itself.  As for me, I spent nearly a decade mentoring at-risk inner city youth in Newark, not to mention living most of my life in close proximity thereof.  I've earned my stripes, so to speak, when it comes to all things Newark. 

For the record, I think that Sharpe should step down given his serial misdoings.  I have no love for him as evidenced by my many posts utterly derogating him and myriad verbal sparring matches with Johann.  And, yes, playing the race card here smacks of desperation.  Yet I am a bit put off by the callous disregard evidenced, ironically, by Dems toward Payne.  He may be running as an independent, but don't forget that he and those of his generation withstood every vulgar insult you can imagine and often imminent threat of bodily harm so that African-Americans could get even a meager slice of American pie.  His generation helped build the party he is now alleged to be defiling long before some of the people posting on here were even born and while Cryan was still listening to Doobie Brothers records on his hi-fi. 

Cryan, wouldbe well served to ponder who needs who more, the dems vis-a-vis African-Americans or vica versa.   If only the African-American vote was, as a Newark pastor friend of mine says, "brokered" one time in a statewide election rather than given away, then we would have our answer.   

"KNOWLEDGE IS GOOD" - Emil Faber

I agree that many of the African American political leaders are pioneers that work during and benefitted from the civil rights movement. However I must say that I believe the situation the very same officals face is a direct result of their style of leadership. Unfortunately they failed to develop younger leaders and as a result they find that many of the people that are voting now do not connect with them. Generation X and Y certainly participate in the voting process, however Assemblyman Payne and other leaders like him don't connect with the younger generation of emerging professionals. Cory Booker current Mayor of Newark has capitalized on a steady going feeling among many younger professionals that talent was not cultivated by the current group of leaders. The lack of foresight to develop talent left an opening for others to exploit. They can only blame themselves for the current situation. For example most of the candidates in the African American community that have run for office in the past two years have been related to current members in office. This list includes Sharpe James, Donald Payne, and Ron Rice. Given Senator Rice's son study politics and participated actively in his development as an elected official the other candidates that are related to the James and Payne families did not prepare themselves to be in office other then being related. That is sad considering the number of intelligent, qualified, and deserving young adults that have seen hope at being an effective member of the party only view hope  through people like Cory Booker, rather then being a part of the party because of the leaders their parents elected to improve opportunities for the community.

This Pastor has guts!! Thought you might enjoy this, Its very interesting This is a Prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It seems Prayer still upsets some people. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, Everyone was expecting the usual generalities, But this is what they heard:

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of __expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from Every sin and set us free.

Amen!"

The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In 6 short weeks, Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively.

The church is now receiving international requests for copies of this prayer from India , Africa and Korea Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, "The Rest of the Story," and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired.

With the Lord's help! , may this prayer sweep over our nation and whole heartedly become our desire so that we again can be called "one nation Under God." 

"If you don't Stand for something, you will fall for everything."