Cory Booker

Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Booker is a former Newark City Councilman. He was elected Mayor in 2006, becoming the 36th Mayor of Newark and the third African American mayor of that city.


Booker was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in the predominantly white, affluent town of Harrington Park in Bergen County, New Jersey. Booker's parents, Carolyn Rose (née Jordan) and Cary Alfred Booker, were among the first black executives at IBM. One of Booker's maternal great-grandfathers was Caucasian, and Booker also has African-American and Native American ancestry. Booker is an alumnus of Northern Valley Regional High School at Old Tappan, where he was a 1986 USA Today All-American football player.Following graduation, Booker traveled west to study at Stanford University and earned a B.A. in political science in 1991 as well as an M.A. in sociology the following year. He played varsity football — he made the All–Pacific Ten Academic team — and was elected to the Associated Students of Stanford University (ASSU) council of (four) presidents. In addition, he ran The Bridge, a student-run crisis hotline and organized help for youth in East Palo Alto, from Stanford students. While at Stanford, Booker also became good friends with Rachel Maddow.


Booker attended a dinner at a conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, in July 2010 where he was seated with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg, who had no known ties to Newark, announced in September 2010 that he was donating $100 million of his personal fortune to the Newark school system. According to an article in the New York Times, Booker and Zuckerberg had continued their conversation about Booker's plans for Newark. The initial gift was made to start a foundation for education. The gift was formally announced when Booker, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and Zuckerberg appeared together on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Winfrey also has been a supporter of Booker and reportedly has given millions to Newark schools and organizations.
The timing of Zuckerberg's donation was questioned by some as a move for damage control to his image, as it was announced on the opening day of the movie The Social Network, a film that painted an unflattering portrait of Zuckerberg. But on her show, Winfrey told the audience that Zuckerberg and Booker had been in talks for months and had actually planned the announcement for the previous month, and additionally, she and Booker had to force Zuckerberg to put his name to the donation, which he had wanted to do anonymously.


On September 23, 2009, on The Tonight Show host Conan O'Brien made the following joke: "The mayor of Newark wants to set up a citywide program to improve residents' health. The health care program would consist of a bus ticket out of Newark." Booker responded in a satire YouTube video telling Conan O'Brien to apologize, and that Conan is banned from ever entering Newark Liberty International Airport by putting him on the "No fly list." Conan responded by further making fun of Newark saying the only way he could get to Newark now would be like everyone else, "through a series of poor decisions." He also called out Cory Booker to come on the show to air out their grievances. Booker subsequently banned Conan from the state of New Jersey as well as all the sister cities of Newark on another satire video. In response, Conan read a letter on air from Elizabeth, NJ, Mayor Chris Bollwage, declaring that he will temporarily rename Terminal A of Newark Liberty (which lies in Elizabeth) the Conan O'Brien Terminal. Conan did a skit in which he complimented all the cities around Newark and said he had created a "geographic toilet seat" around Newark. The mayors of Bayonne, East Orange, Kearny, Jersey City, and Elizabeth have publicly sided with Conan O'Brien. He ended this by saying, "Your move, Mayor Booker."

The feud was unofficially ended when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for it to end during a prepared comedy bit, telling Booker to chalk it up to Conan's head injury suffered less than two weeks earlier. Mayor Cory Booker appeared as Conan's first guest on The Tonight Show on Friday October 16, 2009, and assured viewers that the feud was over and that he was actually a big fan of Conan O'Brien. They settled their feud with a deal that every time Conan made a joke about Newark, Conan would put $500 in the Newark jar, and the money would be donated to the City of Newark. Conan then made the following joke, "You can trust that this jar is safe because it is not in Newark," after which Conan placed the first $500 in the jar. Conan then made a $50,000 donation to the Newark Now charity, which was matched by NBC Universal, totaling $100,000.