Cory Booker Readies for Bigger Moves In the Senate

New Jersey U.S. Senator Cory Booker brushes off social media critics with endless optimism — unless someone suggests he dropped off the radar when he was elected to the Senate.

“It’s like ‘What happened to you?" Booker said, which he hears often from reporters. "Where are you?’”

Booker, a Democrat, came to Washington with a national reputation as a media-savvy mayor who brought national attention to Newark — whether it was shoveling out residents during a snow storm or pulling a neighbor from a burning building. But in his first two years in the Senate, Booker took a more low-key approach, and that makes it hard to assess how good a job he’s doing.   

A mayor has to be a self-promoter to draw attention to their city. But Booker said senators who hog the spotlight make few friends — especially freshmen.

“Down here, I realized before I even got here that that strategy I didn’t want to do that." he said. "I wanted to put my head down.”

Booker said he focused on hitting “singles and doubles." That meant smaller issues, like adding an apprenticeship program at New Jersey colleges or keeping a brain injury treatment center open for veterans.

But he’s thinking bigger now: planting the seeds of a new train tunnel between New Jersey and New York City in last year’s spending bill; insisting a package of tax cuts kept something for solar energy; and his top goal of overhauling the nation’s criminal justice syst                                                       

If there was any question Booker is ready to jump back  into the spotlight, he published a memoir in February and hit the road to promote it.

The second night of his book tour is at a former synagogue in Washington, D.C. Booker signs copies for admirers, strikes a well-rehearsed grin in selfies and flashes plenty of charm.

A man told the Senator that he used to work with his parents at IBM, which gets a big smile and handshake from Booker. Lots of people in line said they have a connection.

The Q&A is hosted by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro. Both men are thought possible Democratic vice presidential picks.

“What are you running for by the way, that’s what we want to know?" Castro prodded. "Since you brought it up.”

“Listen Castro, you don’t want to go down that road,” Booker shot back.

The memoir’s title —  “United” — suggests  Booker still thinks it’s possible get things done working with Republicans. He pointed to his work on last year’s massive transportation bill. It hadn’t been rewritten in a decade and Congress could only agree to extend spending one year at a time.

Environmentalists asked Booker to push the concept of “resiliency” in the bill. Nathan Cummins with the Nature Conservancy said that means designing roads, bridges and other infrastructure so that they can withstand storms and weather.

“I think folks, once the issue is explained to them, they really understand," Cummins said. "‘Oh, this can save money, this is better for the environment' and most importantly it keeps our community safe.”

Environmental issues that appeal to those who live on the coasts can be less popular in largely rural states with Republican lawmakers.

Even so, Cummins said Booker convinced Mississippi’s Republican Senator Roger Wicker the idea made sense. Wicker convinced Republicans to put it in the final bill.

And Booker convinced environmentalists to take the victory and give up on other ideas Republicans liked less.

“Even if that meant at times having to pull back a little bit to get a solution that everyone could agree with,” Cummins said.

But Booker’s also been criticized during his two years in the Senate.

During the last election cycle Wall Street donors gave Booker $2 million dollars – more than any other member of Congress. This cycle he’s raised nearly twice as much money from drug makers and health companies as from any other industry. Those corporate donations make some Democrats uncomfortable.

He has also run into trouble with one of his core constituencies — New Jersey Jews. Booker’s vote for a nuclear deal with Iran disappointed Jewish supporters who helped elect him.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach introduced Booker to Jewish groups at Oxford University and the two were good friends for 25 years. But there’s no mention of Boteach in the book, and the influential Rabbi said that’s because the two disagree about Iran.

And Booker continues draw criticism from Newark, where he is known best. Newark NAACP president Deborah Smith-Gregory said Booker, as a senator,  has been too cautious.

”He’s tackled some safe issues," she said.

That means complaining about long security lines at Newark’s airport to the Transportation Security Administration. Smith-Gregory thinks Booker should do more to help cities and schools replace pipes contaminating water with lead.

Booker’s national profile also continues to draw the same complaints as when he was mayor  — he’s on the road a lot.

Now, it’s dozens of book tour dates or stumping for Hillary Clinton in Iowa and four other states. Then, it was trying to convince wealthy donors like Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to fund Newark programs.

“ As a resident, I can’t say I really got an opportunity to know him as a mayor,” Smith-Gregory said. ”He was never really accessible.  Unless you went to the corporate functions where he was trying to get the philanthropist dollars.

The money Booker raised for Newark left a legacy that is strangely unpopular. That’s largely due to Zuckerberg’s $100 million donation for the city’s schools. The gift didn’t improve Newark’s schools much, and drew criticism for not inviting community input. Booker said it’s a lesson learned about the uses of philanthropy.

“The thing I’ve learned the hard way in watching our next mayor is that’s not a sustainable way to run your city,” Booker said.

Booker also acknowledges he should have kept  better track of of who was being stopped by Newark police and why. The department has since been put under the watchful eye of federal monitors.  It’s one reason why the senator said he’ll work this year to pass a criminal justice reform bill — and in the meantime, he’ll be traveling around to country to support Hillary Clinton.