No worries...he's an irrelevant putz; no one reads his misguided ravings. May he flounder in his own bilge.
Legislators may erase the post of state poet
Move comes after bid to fire Baraka from job
Thursday, December 05, 2002
BY JEFF WHELAN AND TOM HESTER
Star-Ledger Staff
Senate Democrats will try something new today in the effort to oust controversial poet Amiri Baraka as New Jersey's poet laureate: abolish the job altogether.
Senate Co-President Richard Codey (D-Essex) yesterday said he will propose scrapping the post of state poet laureate when a Senate committee takes up a bill that would give Gov. James E. McGreevey the power to dismiss Baraka.
Baraka is under fire for penning a post-Sept. 11 poem that critics contend is anti-Semitic, a charge he denies. McGreevey attempted to remove him from the post, but was told by Attorney General David Samson he did not have the authority under the 1999 law that created the position.
Codey is co-sponsor of a bill that would allow the removal of a poet laureate and change how the state picks one. He said the idea of amending the legislation to get rid of the job completely grew out of discussions between lawmakers and the McGreevey administration.
"In retrospect, do we need a state singer? Do we need a state dancer?" Codey said. "Where does it stop? Sometimes you have to Monday-morning quarterback."
McGreevey spokesman Kevin Davitt said, "We support any legislation that allows for the removal of the poet laureate. Abolishing the office in light of recent events might not be such a bad idea."
Jewish organizations have demanded Baraka's ouster since he read "Somebody Blew Up America" at a poets gathering at Waterloo Village during the summer. They have assailed the poem as anti-Semitic, citing in particular four of its 107 lines, which repeat discredited claims that 4,000 Israeli workers in the World Trade Center were told to stay home the day terrorists attacked and destroyed the towers.
Baraka has repeatedly said he is not anti-Semitic and insists the lines bolster the poem's central thesis that leaders of Israel and America knew the attacks were coming but allowed them to occur as a way to promote international warfare and restrictions on domestic freedoms.
When McGreevey stopped payment on the $10,000 state grant that Baraka was to have received as the state's honorary poet laureate, and lawmakers drafted bills to oust him in October, the poet threatened a court fight "to defend the rights of poets and the First Amendment."
One official familiar with the latest move said the state could better defend itself against such a suit if it got rid of the position rather than firing Baraka.
Baraka could not be reached for comment yesterday. Earlier this week, he told the Associated Press he would not attend today's Senate State Government Committee hearing because he was not personally invited to testify.
Both co-chairmen of the Senate committee said yesterday they were not sure there would be support for getting rid of the poet laureate's post.
"I have no idea whether or not there are enough votes for that from Republicans," said Sen. Garry J. Furnari (D-Essex). "At first blush, it seems it might be a shame that the way we have to handle this is the elimination of the office."
Sen. Walter J. Kavanaugh (R-Somerset), the panel's co-chairman, said he was surprised when McGreevey appointed Baraka poet laureate in May, but added: "I do not feel we should get rid of the position because concern has been expressed about someone's appointment."
Codey said that even if New Jersey has no poet laureate, legitimate poets would still be able to apply to the state for grants. "'Mr. Baraka is entitled, just like any other poet, to apply," he said.
http://www.nj.com/statehouse/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-0/103907307774520.xml