Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

A full term for Booker

Over nearly a year in Washington, freshman U.S. Sen. Cory Booker has shown the energy that made the former Newark mayor a national figure. He's sponsored bills that have been subsumed into successful legislation, brought home funding for worthy purposes in New Jersey, and made it a mission to figure out how to break the partisan divide that has earned this Congress the reputation of being one of the least productive in history.

Cory Booker, candidate for the US Senate from NJ, talks with the Inquirer's editorial board. (Ed Hille / Staff Photographer)
Cory Booker, candidate for the US Senate from NJ, talks with the Inquirer's editorial board. (Ed Hille / Staff Photographer)Read more

Over nearly a year in Washington, freshman U.S. Sen. Cory Booker has shown the energy that made the former Newark mayor a national figure. He's sponsored bills that have been subsumed into successful legislation, brought home funding for worthy purposes in New Jersey, and made it a mission to figure out how to break the partisan divide that has earned this Congress the reputation of being one of the least productive in history.

The 45-year-old Democrat was elected to the Senate in an oddly timed special election last year to finish the term of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg. Now Booker is running for a full six-year term against Jeff Bell, who defeated New Jersey's last elected Republican senator in the 1978 primary before losing the general election to Bill Bradley. Now Bell has returned to the Garden State from Virginia after three decades.

While it is troubling that he resumed his long-lapsed New Jersey residency just to run for Senate, Bell, 70, deserves credit for studying the troubled economy and proposing a solution - something not enough candidates or officials are willing to risk. However, his plan to return to the gold standard has little traction. Bell also advocates moderating the Federal Reserve's powers and forcing it to set interest rates closer to market rates. That would be painful in some respects, making debt more expensive, but it could also loosen Wall Street's stranglehold on the economy.

Monetary policy is the overwhelming focus of Bell's platform, but he is thoughtful about a range of issues. He says Congress' neglected role in declaring war deserves more respect and calls for an articulation of a clear strategic objective in the military action against the Islamic State.

Unfortunately, though, most voters won't hear much about Bell's views, because Booker has agreed to only one debate, scheduled for Saturday. This may not be a close race, but voters deserve to hear both candidates' views challenged and questioned in real time.

Booker, too, could use the debate time to discuss how he has helped more families refinance their mortgages, particularly in Cumberland County, which was hit hard by Superstorm Sandy but received too little emergency aid. He has also worked to help community colleges link students with jobs, give small-business owners more access to capital, allow towns to hire enough firefighters and police, and preserve rehabilitation programs for returning veterans.

Booker has cosponsored bills that would reinstate an excise tax on industrial polluters to cover the cleanup costs at Superfund sites, give towns a say on federal highway and rail projects affecting them, and allow students to refinance college loans. Significantly, Booker has teamed up with Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) on a bill that would expunge some nonviolent criminal records, though the legislation has a long way to go.

Still, Booker believes progress is possible in Congress on making college affordable, raising the minimum wage, and changing the corporate tax structure. For his deep understanding of policy, particularly urban issues, as well as his drive and bipartisan spirit, The Inquirer endorses CORY BOOKER for a full term.