As Gov. Jon Corzine gears up to sign the state budget, a brouhaha is brewing over a $100,000 earmark to a Newark nonprofit that critics say has lionized Louis Farrakhan and Amiri Baraka.

Two Democratic legislators — Sen. Sharpe James and Assemblyman William Payne, both of Dist. 29 in Newark — sponsored the $100,000 budget resolution on behalf of the Newark-based Women in Support of the Million Man March, Inc.

The organization runs educational, cultural, and crime-prevention programs for inner-city youths. It operates a child care center and plans to open a charter school in Newark in September.

But critics point out that the organization considers among its "heroes" Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, and Baraka, the playwright and political activist. Jewish organizations have long accused both men of being anti-Semitic and of using their positions to promote hateful ideas about Jews.

Republican legislators have been leading the charge against the earmark, although some Democrats have been highly critical as well. They are demanding that Corzine use his line-item veto to strike the grant from the budget. By law, the $33.48 billion state budget, passed on June 21, must be signed by June 30.

"The goal is to get the governor to line-item out this special appropriation," said a spokesman at the New Jersey General Assembly's Republican Office who would speak only on background. "He should take his pen and put a line right through it and that's that."

The spokesman asked why the Women in Support body was singled out for funding among the dozens of organizations working to serve underprivileged youths in Newark.

"If you look at their Web site, it talks about how they've honored Louis Farrakhan and Amiri Baraka, who blamed Israel for 9/11 appalling things," he said. "Are those people being held out as wonderful people to the youth of Newark? They certainly have a lot of baggage in terms of their anti-Semitism. Their Web site speaks for itself."

Republican legislators are petitioning the governor to veto this and other "Christmas tree" items in the budget, the spokesman added. "They've all been encouraging him to line-item out these types of things," he said. "Other than that, there's not a whole lot we can do at this point."

Another Republican legislator, Assemblywoman Marcia Karrow of Flemington (R-Dist. 23), said she questioned the wisdom of funding an organization that has honored people who have made "anti-Semitic, inflammatory comments."

"There are plenty of organizations that don't have that baggage," said Karrow, who is Jewish. "Gov. Corzine certainly could and should line-item out this item from the budget."

Asked whether she holds out any hope for that outcome, Karrow responded, "It depends on how many people in the Jewish community are outraged by this and express their displeasure."

Karrow also blamed the legislature's process for approving earmarks.

"What really concerns me about this is that the legislature is continuing to play favorites and not going through a vetting process," said Karrow. "I'm blaming the two budget committees for not holding hearings on the resolution to give money to this group."

Another Jewish legislator, Amy Handlin of Belford (R-Dist. 13), called the $100,000 earmark "dangerous and frightening."

"It's one of the reasons why I'm proud of my "no" vote on the budget overall," she said. "There were a number of allocations in the budget that have been criticized as so-called pork projects, and there are those who would characterize this as one more pork project. But I see it as far more dangerous than that. This sends a terrible message that Farrakhan's ideology and hate is not only acceptable to some significant number of NJ residents but to our state government."

Handlin said she hopes the governor will revisit the allocation to WISOMMM and choose to strike it out. "I know it was sold as money going to a group that provides social services — which is exactly the same as saying that Mussolini was okay because the trains ran on time," she said. "Clearly, it isn't okay."

Handlin suggested that individual citizens should flood Corzine's office with calls about the resolution. "If he can understand the danger of support for this ideology," she said, "then I think we have some real hope he'll take his red pen and delete it."

In response to a query by NJJN on June 25, the governor's office released a brief statement, which read in part: "The governor and his staff are currently reviewing the appropriations act passed by the legislature to ensure that it conforms with their objectives prior to signing."

Another Jewish Republican who is calling for Corzine's veto is political activist Steve Klinghoffer of Short Hills, who said the budget resolution for WISOMMM is "potentially a very disturbing development."

"Why an organization that is sponsoring individuals who have blatantly anti-Semitic views is receiving government funds — I find that very disturbing," said Klinghoffer, a past president of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey.

Klinghoffer said he has reached out to members of the legislature on the issue. "I'm certainly hoping the governor issues a line-item veto on this particular item. I'm counting on the governor to do that," he said. "Hopefully, once he becomes aware of it, he'll veto this $100,000 allocation."

Jewish Democratic legislators are also weighing in on the issue.

"Whether or not the money is going to help at-risk youth — which is probably a very good thing, keeping kids away from drugs and crime — I find it enormously troubling if there's even the possibility of giving this money to subsidize hate," said John Adler of Cherry Hill (D-Dist. 6).

"I'm going to look at it and determine whether the budget language restricts the money for a good purpose or is so broad and ambiguous that it allows for the subsidy of hate," Adler said. "We can't be about that as legislators of any faith or any background."

Sen. Barbara Buono of Edison (D-Dist. 18) said she has conveyed her displeasure over the budget resolution to the governor's deputy chief of staff.

"I'm urging the governor to line-item veto it," Buono said. "I have a serious problem with state money going to a group affiliated with Louis Farrakhan, who throughout his career has been spewing anti-Semitic remarks."

Sen. Loretta Weinberg of Teaneck (D-Dist. 37) also expressed dismay over the matter.

"I would hope that we don't give taxpayer money to groups that choose to honor people like Louis Farrakhan," she said. "I prefer that we be funding organizations and leaders who choose to bring people together."

But representatives of the Community Relations Committee of UJC of MetroWest NJ, which covers Essex County, were more circumspect in their reaction to the earmark.

CRC chair Merle Kalishman said she is reluctant to jump to conclusions about the $100,000 grant until she studies the matter thoroughly.

"I don't have enough information at this point," Kalishman said. "If, in fact, this is a program that's going to help the youth of Newark, that's something we can certainly applaud. But if the money is going to anything else, that would be unfortunate. I don't want to be involved in a rush to judgment."

Lori Price Abrams, CRC director, also expressed the need to study the matter more deeply. In an e-mail message, she noted that she had consulted about the issue with two leaders in the African-American community in Newark — Clement Price, director of the Rutgers Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience, and Margaret Kee, education chair of the Newark Branch of the NAACP.

"[B]oth vouched for the excellent contribution which WISOMMM makes to the landscape of Newark life," Price Abrams wrote in her message. She noted that Price had mentioned the organization's proposed charter school and that he described Fredrica Bey, its executive director, as "a humanistic Black woman."

"I take away the understanding that they themselves are not anti-Semitic," Price Abrams wrote, referring to the organization's leaders. "Therefore, an attempt to undercut funding for this group based on their affiliation with the likes of Farrakhan would have unfavorable and likely unintended repercussions for our community and our bridge-building goals".

"[T]he Jewish community would be better served to first attempt to address issues of concern through a conversation, which, she wrote, could be brokered by Newark Mayor Cory Booker or Clement Price.

Calls to the legislators who sponsored the earmark and to Bey were not returned by press time.

As its name implies, WISOMMM was founded in support of the 1995 Million Man March in Washington, organized by Farrakhan. Although many in the African-American community believe the march was a watershed in post-civil rights era empowerment for the black community, Jews insist it was tainted by its connection to Farrakhan. In a series of public statements that extended from at least 1994 to as recently as this year, Farrakhan has referred to the "Jewish people" as "leeches," "wicked deceivers of the American people," and "the greatest controllers of Black minds."

Baraka, a famed playwright formerly known as Leroi Jones, was ousted as New Jersey's poet laureate over lines in his poem "Somebody Blew Up America" and subsequent statements in support of an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory that Israel had prior knowledge of the 9/11 terror attacks, which it passed on to thousands of its citizens.

Since 2000, WISOMMM has used its largest annual fund-raising event, the African Ball and Awards Dinner, to honor public figures for their community, corporate, educational, and political service, according to the organization's Web site.

"Each fall," the site states, "WISOMMM takes time out to celebrate and publicly recognize sheroes [sic] and heroes in Essex County and [the] New York Metropolitan area."

Leading the list of 10 honorees cited on the Web page are Farrakhan and Baraka. Also listed is James, who received the group's recognition in his former role as mayor of Newark.

The current earmark is not the first time NJ lawmakers sought funding for the group. In 2004, then Sen. Corzine and his Democratic colleague Frank Lautenberg announced $9 million in federal funds for homeland security. It included a $350,000 earmark to support WISOMMM's Boycott Crime Campaign.

The same funding also included $250,000 for Ohel Children's Home and Family Services, a Jewish organization, for child abuse prevention.

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