United States Senator Cory Booker Campaigning For Presidency of the United States Gary Lawson United States Senator Cory Booker, Democrat, appeared at the Oak Park Plaza in Des Moines, on the evening of February 7, to announce his campaign for the Presidency of the United States. Senator Booker has an outstanding history of accomplishments that includes graduating from Stanford University, studying at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, graduating from Yale Law School, and receiving various other notable awards and recognition along the way. His political career includes serving on the Municipal Council of Newark (New Jersey), Mayor of Newark, and currently the junior, and first African-American, United States Senator from New Jersey. Following are Senator Booker’s responses to my interview questions: Lawson: What needs to be done to prepare the nation for the next recession, and how will minority populations be taken into account? harder…and just finding it harder to make ends meet. There are a lot of things we have to do. We have to make sure that the tax system works to support middle class and working class people, and not just moving wealth up to the wealthiest…who don’t need that help. We need to make sure that we get pathways to jobs training and education that can help get people jobs for the twenty-first century and paying a living wage…or more…that can help create careers and prosperity. Finally, we need to make sure that jobs pay adequately. On Wall Street…people are short-terming stocks… and corporations are not investing in their workers, because they are worried about the next quarterly earnings. We have to get back to a system…an economy…that really values and invests in work…and just doesn’t pull wealth away from workers to benefit and enrich the few. Booker: Well, in many ways, families are feeling like they’re in a recession right now. The wealthiest amongst us might be doing well, but there are a lot of folks who are finding it very hard to make ends meet. We’ve got to get back to a country, no matter whether there’s a recession or not, where we have ways of supporting the American worker. That is just not happening right now. People are working harder and harder…and 7 Lawson: Iowa’s Human Development Index ranking (how well individuals are doing with education, health, and income) for African-Americans is below the national average for African-Americans. What do you think needs to be done to bring about better accountability for increasing well-being of not only AfricanAmericans, but the minority community in general? Continued on page 9
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