Kabili Tayari

Jersey City Deputy Mayor Kibili Tayari: Politicker photo 

DENVER - Seated on a park bench in front of the Inverness Hotel, Jersey City Deputy Mayor Kibili Tayari looked out across the expansive courtyard and parking lot dotted with the recognizable faces of New Jersey politicians zig-zagging in different directions.

"What’s going to make us unified coming out here?" he asked. "Obama’s got to pound that one nation theme. He’s just got to keep pounding that all week long. There are enough Americans who have that in their hearts. That’s the message, man. America."

It’s not going to be easy coming out of the convention, said Tayari.

"Dr. King used to say that in order for evil to triumph, all we have to do is sit back and do nothing," said the deputy mayor, who’s been with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Il.) since the start.

It’s a rough day on Grove Street.

The Jersey Journal reports that Jersey City Deputy Mayor Kabili Tayari was arrested yesterday for driving a rental car that was reported stolen.

Tayari, who was charged under his original name, Randy Brown, had reportedly failed to return a car he had rented from an agency at Newark Airport.

“This is purely a civil matter where clearly there was no intent to take the rented vehicle beyond the contracted time limit. We believe this issue will be resolved amicably between both parties,” read a statement by Healy spokesman Stan H. Eason.

However maverick the man, there is a respectful progression in politics for those who have been in the system long enough to call themselves survivors.

So when young self-declared reformers appear on the political stage out of nowhere promising to deliver a better governance, the older generation often can’t help but view them skeptically. What’s the personal worth in the end of going through all of the battles if one cannot finally possess and celebrate some wisdom that comes from experience?