Candidates for Mayor of Newark, NJ spar over candidate's letter on behalf of gang leader

Two candidates for Mayor, both currently serving on the City Council, of NJ's largest city - and also one of it's most dangerous - spar over a controversial issue regarding the local government's response to gang leaders.

Please read this article before commenting.

http://www.politickernj.com/70507/newark-mayoral-candidate-ramos-reacts-baraka-letters-behalf-gang-leader

I don't really know anything about the two candidates to be able to have any opinions on them. As for the Project Chill plan, I think it's possible it could help if it's done well. I just hope that they can do something to help bring gang violence down.

I don't think any of them would be too great. For one, the 4 candidates running are all Democrats. Most ghettos will usually be found to be run by Democrats.

There are 3 City Councilmen and a former NJ State Assistant Attorney General running.

None of them has really stuck out as the lesser of evils, so to speak.

Ras Baraka seems to be considered the frontrunner. But Anibal Ramos seems to have the backing of the Democratic Party Organizations in the different wards of the city.

From my studies of criminology, there are a lot of things a Mayor can do to fix a messed up city. A lot of it has to do with education and after school programs, to both better educate the youth to give them more productive futures, as well as keeps them busy from doing not so good things.