Career
He served as Mayor of Paterson, New Jersey for five years. He was the first African-American mayor in Paterson"s history. Prior to his time as mayor, Barnes served as a City Councilman from Paterson"s 3rd Ward and was first elected to the City Council in 1974.
He was the first Republican elected mayor by Paterson voters since Lawrence "Pat" Kramer was elected in 1978, although Paterson"s elections are not conducted on a partisan basis. surrounding Barnes" business dealings (see below) led to his defeat.
Near the end of Barnes" term, he was included in a statewide investigation of corruption in several cities. The investigation led to an forty-count indictment of Barnes handed down by United States Attorney Chris Christie on January 25, 2002.
In announcing the indictment, Christie cited,among other things, Barnes" forcing of contractors to pay for trips he took while mayor and providing "female companions" to accompany him. Barnes also was charged with extortion and graft, the latter due to his dealings with an Irvington, New Jersey paving contractor who had earned $16 million in city contracts.
lieutenant was largely through his dealings with this contractor, United Gunite, that the investigation into Barnes deepened, as the firm had been accused of paying bribes to many municipal officials statewide.
Barnes initially denied the charges and promised to fight them vigorously, but his declarations of innocence fell largely on an apathetic voterbase and his support dwindled to the point where he was defeated in the general election by a significant margin. In July 2002, two months after Barnes" defeat, he entered into a plea bargain with the federal government which resulted in a 37-month prison sentence in 2003. Although he was admitting guilt, presiding Judge William Bassler did not believe that Barnes had taken full responsibility for his actions.
Bassler specifically noted that Barnes" blamed his crimes on overwork and getting "caught up" in city politics, for his inability to see that what he was doing was wrong.
In sentencing, Bassler said that Barnes had betrayed the trust of the citizens of Paterson, the city, and his family with his conduct. He was 64 years old.