Political Prisoner: Sharpe Twists and Turns
By Art Gallagher , Originally posted at PolitickerNJ
Sharpe James never lacked for self-confidence. Or strong opinions. In the first chapter of his new memoir, the former Newark mayor likens himself to his “role models;” biblical and historical political prisoners Jesus, John the Baptist, the Apostles James and Peter, Gandhi, Mandela and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Governor Christopher Christie, who as U.S. Attorney prosecuted James in 2008 on five counts of fraud related to the sale of Newark owned property, is likened to Lucifer and “a slovenly intoxicated King Herod” who was given James’s figurative “head on a platter” by former friends and associates who lied under oath in order to save their own necks from prosecution.
James refers to Christie and former President George W. Bush as “head hunters.”
Political Prisoner reads like two books. In between the opening chapter that sets up the context of his persecution and the closing chapters recollecting his prosecution and imprisonment, James tells the compelling story of his remarkable life lived during a tumultuous American century.
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