How sad! Mayor Sharpe James of Newark has decided not to run for re-election this fall. It might have been the boring Senate race in New York, but his mayoral race was something that Gothamist was looking forward to. James, the clear-cut winner in the Newark-New York City mayoral bad-ass match-up, citied his dual status as Mayor of Newark and State Senator as the reason for his decision. Of course, this didn't seem to matter when he delivered all those signatures to put his name on the ballot. James leaves the mayor's office after 20 years. He has been in the Senate since 1999 and his current term as senator ends in 2007. Speculation on the actual reason James dropped out ranges from fatigue, lack of money, or the actual chance of losing. Politics aside, we're all losing out on what would have been a very amusing race.




I'm guessing you didn't watch the POV documentary Street Fight on 13 last year.
This is a great blog, and the attitude for most posts is usually spot on, but even if only some portion of what that documentary alleges is true, he was a machine politician of the worst kind.
Please look into it and make up your own mind.
Completely due to that documentary - saw it at the film festival last year. What's left of his reputation would have been slammed against the wall when the campaign got into action...what a corrupt city Newark is, hope that Cory wins.