Interview with Reverend Edward Allen
10th Congressional District Democratic CandidateUrban Times News
UTN Newstaff
Undated
Who is Ed Allen?
I’m African American man and I am proud of who I am – I’m proud of whose I am. I am a man who’s given his life to God and working to help people. I have been happily married for 25 years and I am the father of two children, though some other children also call me daddy. I try to be a fair and honest person. So I have a very few enemies personally. Be plenty of people don’t like me because of who I am and what I believe in and what I stand for.
What do you stand for?
Just Fairness, Respect, and what I call The Cause. The Cause is justice for people the system has overlooked, hurt, and locked out.
Why are you running for Congress?
I believe that I can do a better job representing the people who live in the 10th Congressional district. Mr. Payne is a decent person as far as I know. But Mr. Payne has nor represented the average working person as well as I believe needs to be done. I have worked in Newark since the early 70s. I have helped hundreds get better education, housing, lives, and led hundred to salvation. I know Newark well. Mr. Payne knows the people too, but Mr. Payne has represented big business, big politicians, and big interests. Congress should represent the needs and wishes of the people. But unlike Mr. Payne who doesn’t know the people of Elizabeth, Linden Roselle, Rahway and Perth Amboy, I do. I have set up day centers, senior centers, halfway houses; I developed jobs for the young and the old. I worked for 30 years making lives better and bringing people from despair and poverty to hope and opportunity.
What about the Newark Mayoral Race?
I support Cory Booker. Yes, I supported Mr. James in the past. Only the downtown has changed. Where the people live, drugs and thugs rule the streets. People tell me that the lock themselves in at dusk and look out before they come out in the morning. I’m in my third decade of Pastoring in Newark and believe me it’s worse now than ever before. Oh, it’s election time so there are a few more cops on the streets but that’s a joke to the boys from the hood. Just Sunday past one fellow told me that he wasn’t worried; he had already made his payment for the week.
It is true that a lot of new houses are being built but who owns them?
Not the people who have stuck and stayed. Mayor James has sold off the land needed for new abbot schools. Soon Newark will have the money for new schools but the city political leadership has not provided for the coming of new schools. It is wrong to sell the legacy of Newark’s children for political donations.
Cory Booker is young and his future is like the future of Newark. Sharpe’s time has past. He’s not thinking about the future he represents history. Cory will get Newark’s communities jump-started. It will take a young man full of energy and ideas to lead Newark.
Do you have a problem with Congressman Donald Payne?
No. Not at all. I just think that I would be a more representative choice of the people served by that congressional seat. I disagree with Mr. Payne about certain issues. Jersey City where I live, for example, is the State’s second largest city. There is no one Congressman representing Jersey City. Mr. Payne’s District covers part of Jersey City. But Mr. Payne’s heart is on Newark and he does what Mayor James wants done.
The way the districts are divided, the voting power of Jersey City is cut into three pieces, the way it falls into three Congressional Districts. So no single Congressman represents a majority of the people in Jersey City.
I also have an issue with the lack of communication between Mr. Payne and Mayor Glenn Cunningham. I’m told that Congressman Payne hardly if ever even speaks to Mayor Cunningham. If the Congressperson who represents Jersey City doesn’t respect the people’s choice then the people need to choose a congressperson that will work for the greatness and federal needs of Jersey City, Newark and the rest of the 10th Congressional District because that what I do. In fact, that is what I have been doing for the last thirty years anyway. I’ve been working for the good of the 10th district for a very long time already and without the benefit of any Congressional office, and if I do say so, I have managed to do quite a bit in these years.
Reverend, you seem to be saying is so many words, “if you could do all this without help, just think what you could with the power of the office behind you?”
“You said it, and I won’t disagree.
By the way, I should mention that Mr. Payne supports Mr. Menendez of the 13th Congressional District and certainly does not communicate with Mayor Cunningham. In short Mr. Payne is more concerned about helping Menendez, who has shown contempt for African-Americans and if the truth be told, all Americans, by his actions.
What do you Mean, contempt for Americans?
First, Menendez made deals to get the Congressional seat in the first place. The voting strength of Jersey City was cut in three and a new district so gerrymandered a blind man could see through the fraud. The district was rigged, stacked, boxed, for Menendez. Just look at the foolishness – the 13th Congressional District has a piece of four different counties, Hudson, Essex, Union, and Middlesex, just enough from each to make sure Blacks and Puerto Ricans get nothing. When Payne supports that kind of engineering of districts, it hurts everybody who lives there, It goes against everything the struggle in civil rights did to get fair reperesentation.
As for Mr. Menendez – he is the Chairman of the House Committee on Homeland security and he is taking money from the very people who supported the
