Conservative Magazine Sues Cory Booker Over Murder Anecdote

National Review, the conservative magazine founded by lockjaw patrician William F. Buckley, is suing Newark Mayor (and Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate) Cory Booker. At issue: Public records involving the murder of Wazn Miller, who was shot to death in Newark in 2004; Booker has claimed he held Miller as the man whispered “stay with me, stay with me.”

NR editor Rich Lowry wants to examine the official records to see if they bear out Booker’s claims.

It should be easy to get more information about the Miller case. New Jersey is an open-records state. Yet for weeks now, we have been stonewalled and given the run-around by everyone we’ve asked for help in obtaining the relevant police records. We’ve asked nicely, we’ve asked firmly, we’ve asked in every way imaginable, but gotten nowhere. It is much easier to learn about the most sensitive aspects of top-secret national-security programs than it is to get Newark police records related to that day.

Enough is enough. Yesterday we filed suit against the Newark Police Department, the City of Newark, and Mayor Booker to obtain the records in keeping with New Jersey law. This suit shouldn’t be necessary, but the official obstruction in Newark has made it so. In such an instance, everyone should favor openness.

Booker probably brought this on himself by creating a composite character, “T-Bone,” to illustrate his anecdotes about life on the rough streets of Newark. The result? Journalists are going to work harder to verify his other stories.