Reports: Cory Booker Bails on University of Iowa Welcome Week Speaking Event

Newark New Jersey Mayor and rising star in Democratic politics Cory Booker has backed out of the University of Iowa Welcome Week schedule, according to multiple news outlets.

The possible 2016 presidential candidate was on the calendar of events on the school's website to deliver a lecture on Aug. 29, but his campaign staff asked his booking agency to cancel all of his appearances during the campaign for the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg's seat, according to the Daily Beast.

Booker signed a contract in May and would have earned $30,000, according to the Daily Beast citing University of Iowa spokesperson. The campaign and university officials appear to be offering different explanations, though.

Booker campaign spokesperson Silvia Alvarez told the Daily Beast that a visit to Iowa “was not on Booker’s schedule” and said she had no idea how the event ended up on the University’s website.

According to Lin Larson, an spokesman for the University, there simply may have been a “breakdown between the company [that represents Booker] and the University.” He told the Beast while “as of now, Mayor Booker’s speech has been cancelled” but that there was a contract and that “we did expect him to come.”

In an email to the Daily Beast, another university spokesman, Tom Moore, said "campaign staff had asked his booking agency to cancel all of Mayor Booker’s appearances" during the campaign for the seat of Senator Frank Lautenberg, who died on June 3.

According to Moore, Booker would have been paid $30,000 for the event, "inclusive of airfare and ground transportation costs."