Twitter Exchanges Get Mayor to Go on Food Stamps

A Twitter battle between Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker and a political detractor will have the mayor feeding himself solely with food stamps “for a week or a month.” Booker issued the challenge to a self-described veteran and Army wife on Twitter who accused the mayor of wanting to “redistribute wealth.”

The Twitter exchange began with Booker posting a quote:

The Twitter exchange revealed that Booker favored government programs that would improve the food provided by schools as a long-term investment that would eventually cut costs of prison and police, according to the Huffington Post, while his detractor contended that food stamps were sufficient assistance and that government should not spend more on assistance programs.

Earlier today, Booker shared the challenge details with his followers:

 


A spokesperson from the Mayor's office also said that the Mayor may ask more citizens to join in the challenge as a way to raise awareness of social programs. 

With more than 1 million Twitter followers, Booker is no stranger to Twitter fame. On New Year's Eve 2010, the mayor responded to a tweet from a 65-year-old man who needed his driveway cleared -- Booker volunteered to shovel the snow. Booker told Government Technology that social media sites like Twitter are changing politics. “It changes conversations from private to social,” he said. “If you don’t build up the tool, you really surrender to the space or come off as very robotic. It’s about creating authentic, dynamic feeds.”

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