Protesters Rally At Cory Booker POTUS Fundraiser In Belleville

BELLEVILLE, NJ — A coalition of progressive groups in New Jersey rallied at a recent presidential campaign fundraiser in Essex County for U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, blasting the senator for accepting support from fellow Democratic leaders George Norcross and Joseph DiVincenzo Jr.

On Friday, Booker put in some face time at a $2,800-per-person luncheon at Nanina's in the Park in Belleville spearheaded by Norcross, DiVincenzo and attorney Michael Critchley.

A large group of protesters were there to meet him.

With chants of “Shame!” and jangling bells, several New Jersey progressive groups banded together at the fundraiser to razz the arriving politicos. (Watch video below)

Protesters took particular aim at Norcross – a powerful, unelected Democratic leader in the Garden State who has been put in the spotlight over his role in an $11 billion corporate tax break scandal involving the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

• See related article: Troubles Surrounding NJ's 'Most Powerful Unelected' Man?

DiVincenzo, meanwhile, has faced harsh criticism over conditions at the Essex County Correctional Facility, as well as a controversial contract with ICE that rakes in tens of millions of dollars every year.

• See related article: Activists Rally In NJ: 'No ICE Blood Money At Essex County Prison'
• See related article: Essex County Makes Moves To Help Youth Inmates, ICE Detainees

DiVincenzo put in good words for Norcross and Booker, saying the “diversity” of the people at Friday’s fundraiser showed the “wide support” the senator has earned in his quest for the presidency.

“I am proud to stand with George Norcross and Michael Critchley to host an afternoon reception in support of Cory Booker for president,” DiVincenzo stated. “He's always been a staunch advocate for Essex [County] and will do the same for our country.”

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Protesters at Friday’s rally weren’t as ecstatic about Booker’s appearance.

“It’s disappointing that Senator Cory Booker has attended a fundraiser hosted by George Norcross and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr., a political boss who oversees an immigrant detention facility that has been cited for inhumane conditions,” New Jersey Working Families Alliance stated.

Prior to Friday’s event in Belleville, several other advocacy groups and nonprofits in New Jersey demanded that Booker cancel the fundraiser.

Members of the statewide coalition Take Back NJ wrote a letter to Booker, imploring him to stand by the values he’s made part of his POTUS campaign platform.

On Booker's campaign website, his team writes that the senator supports Citizens United and getting dark money out of politics. “That's why we're rejecting donations from corporate PACs and federal lobbyists,” the website states.

But the senator’s pledge not to accept “dark money” isn’t enough, activists said.

“We are concerned with a recent inconsistency between your national posture and your relationship with your constituents in New Jersey,” Take Back NJ spokespeople wrote. “We admire your stance on ICE, your pledge not to take PAC money, and your advocacy for the underserved, and yet we feel that these convictions are undermined by your acceptance of a fundraiser hosted by George Norcross and Joe DiVincenzo.”

“The age of cronyism, corruption, and political bosses needs to be over in New Jersey,” the coalition stated. “We are determined to rid our state of political bosses and the undemocratic influence they wield. We ask that you stand with us instead of with them. We ask that you stand by your values and your integrity and reject Mr. Norcross's and Mr. DiVincenzo's fundraiser.”

MADELYN HOFFMAN: NO MORE ‘MACHINE POLITICIANS’

Madelyn Hoffman, the Green Party of New Jersey’s challenger to Booker in the 2020 race for U.S. Senate, offered scathing criticism of the fundraiser, writing that she was appalled at the “corruption associated with those holding it and their agenda for New Jersey.”

Hoffman, who ran against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez on the Green Party ticket in 2018, blasted Norcross and DiVincenzo in an email the day before the fundraiser.

“Already, many organizations have criticized the senator for taking part in this $2,800/plate fundraiser, organized by what are viewed as ‘machine politicians’ – and have called on Senator Booker to cancel this event,” Hoffman stated.

She continued:

“First, despite multiple calls from many organizations for Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo to cancel the county’s contract with the U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement Agency (ICE), DiVincenzo continues to keep the facility open. The county makes $40 million annually from the ICE detention facility -- opponents have called this ‘blood money.’ The reports on the conditions inside this facility and the lack of real justice applied within makes the refusal to cancel the contract even worse.”

Hoffman stated:

“At the same time as the Democrats and others nationally raise legitimate questions and concerns about the nation’s immigration policy, in Essex County, they are enablers -- going along with Donald Trump’s policy. If Senator Booker is serious about his own criticisms of ICE, both nationally and in New Jersey, he wouldn’t participate in this fundraiser. Questions about this connection will plague him throughout his campaign.”

According to Hoffman, New Jersey residents should be “suspicious of and angry” at Booker for receiving Norcross support for his presidential bid.

“In my 2018 campaign, I spent time in and around Camden and saw evidence of the Norcross family vision for ‘developing’ this New Jersey city,” Hoffman recalled. “The rich clearly would benefit while taxpayers foot the bill and the community’s poor are left in the same situations they are in now. It was evident in the increasing number of charter schools in Camden, while public schools were allowed to deteriorate.”

“Surely, this sounds familiar to Newark residents, who watched how, under Mayor Cory Booker, public schools were largely overlooked in favor of the construction of more charter schools,” Hoffman said.

• See related article: Newark Schools Showed 'Substantial Progress' In Booker Era, Study Says

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