I work in Newark, NJ, so the office scuttlebutt this past week focused on the federal indictment of former Newark Mayor Sharpe James. It came as a surprise, but in an inverted fashion; since the early 1990s, everyone “in the know” suspected James of taking a cut from all the real estate development going on in Newark. The James administration does deserve credit for getting a wide variety of real estate projects off the ground; during his 20 years in office, Sharpe James injected new life into a city that was otherwise going down the tubes. However, it seemed pretty clear that James was reaping his own gains from this, and was not limiting himself to using legal and ethical methods. However, James was a “Teflon genius”; he survived various investigations because the state and federal authorities could never make anything stick. Thus, we were taken aback on Thursday when US Attorney for NJ Chris Christie finally got an indictment against James (albeit, more than a year after James left City Hall, replaced by Cory Booker).

There’s still a long way to go until James either cuts a deal with the feds or goes to trial. But over the next few months, there may be some drama. From what I’ve heard, it’s going to focus around a former high-level Newark official and long-time associate of James, who is suspected of turning “state’s evidence” (this associate is also an elected official in his own right, on the county level; furthermore, he has been noted for his own questionable but very lucrative land dealings within the past few years). For a long time, there has been a wall of silence protecting Sharpe James. No one affiliated with him has dared to turn against him, even on pain of doing jail time (e.g., his former chief of staff Jackie Mattison). But now, a second-rate politico from Newark may emerge from the shadows and testify against James, allowing the feds to finally pin some serious land sale fraud charges on him and threaten the former mayor with real jail time.

In a way, it reminds me of that 1962 movie, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence”. Well, only in a rough sense – the movie plot was actually rather complicated. Metaphors only go so far. But still, if the politico that I’m thinking of sticks with the program that the US Attorney and FBI are setting up, he will go down in history as the man who shot down the seemingly untouchable Sharpe James. It’s going to be interesting.

One footnote to the situation: the Sharpe James indictment came on the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Newark Riots. PBS just aired an episode of “P.O.V.” devoted to the Newark Riots (“Revolution 67”), and Sharpe James was interviewed in it. He came across with much gravity and dignity, a man of history. But ironically, just a day later he is a man under indictment, accused of selling city properties at way-below market prices to a woman who was keeping company with him on a variety of “business trips”. The woman in question, Tamkia Riley, was a failed businesswoman who had no real estate experience. And yet the Mayor saw fit to direct valuable city properties to her, on the rationale that she would develop those properties in ways that would benefit the city’s economic base. But all she did was to resell the properties to other interests, at a very handsome profit.

So, it was hard to take seriously the noises being made by some of the local black activists that the US Attorney (who is white) had intentionally timed the indictment because of racial motivations. Even the last of the 1960’s white activists, Rich Cammerieri, made a similar statement in the local paper. I used to know Rich, and I respect him for all that he has done for Newark. But I can’t go along with his knee-jerk, “support the cause” comments. The criminal justice system needs critics, for sure, given all of the power that the state can bring against the individual. But as to Sharpe James — he will have his day in court, with some very good (and expensive) legal firepower at his side. If I were Rich Cammerieri, I wouldn’t waste energy on shielding Sharpe James from racial persecution by the police. That sort of thing may well still be happening here. But it’s the little guys, not the big fish just begging to be caught, that Rich should be worrying about.