New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg told a reporter that Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who has announced that he plans to run for Lautenberg’s U.S. Senate seat in 2014, needs a “spanking,” because he is “disrespectful.”
Lautenberg aides previously told Politico that Booker, a rising star in the Democratic Party, is “disrespectful” for openly seeking Lautenberg’s seat prior to the 88-year-old senator officially announcing his retirement — which still has not occurred.
“I have four children. I love each one of them. I can’t tell [you] that one of them wasn’t occasionally disrespectful, so I gave them a spanking and everything was OK,” Lautenberg said, after an Inquirer reporter questioned him about his aides’ comments Tuesday.
Lautenberg will turn 89 years old Wednesday. Booker is 43.