{{Short description|African-American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Sara Bost | alt = | caption = | order = | office = Mayor of Irvington, New Jersey | term_start = {{start date|1994}} | term_end = {{end date|2002}} | predecessor = Michael G. Steele | successor = Wayne Smith | birth_name = Sara Brockington Bost | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1947}} | birth_place = Irvington, New Jersey | death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} --> | death_place = | citizenship = | party = | spouse = Fred Bost<ref>{{cite journal|title=Women Mayors|journal=Ebony|date=Nov 1998|volume=54|issue=1|page=181|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RQqGveI5oYIC&q=Sara+B.+Bost&pg=PA181|access-date=20 November 2016|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|location=Chicago, Illinois|language=en|issn=0012-9011|oclc=1567306}}</ref> | children = | parents = <!-- overrides mother and father parameters --> | mother = <!-- may be used (optionally with father parameter) in place of parents parameter (displays "Parent(s)" as label) --> | father = <!-- may be used (optionally with mother parameter) in place of parents parameter (displays "Parent(s)" as label) --> | relatives = | education = | alma_mater = | profession = | known_for = First female African-American to serve as Mayor of Irvington, New Jersey | signature_alt = | website = <!--Embedded templates / Footnotes--> | module = {{Infobox person | child = yes | criminal_charge = Attempted witness tampering | criminal_penalty = One year in a Federal prison | criminal_status = Completed }} }}
'''Sara Brockington Bost''' (born 1947) was the first female African-American to serve as Mayor of Irvington, New Jersey. She was the first African-American to head the Women Mayors Division of the United States Conference of Mayors.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Jessie Carney Smith |title=Sara Brockington Bost |encyclopedia=The Complete Encyclopedia of African American History |date=June 2015 |isbn=9781578595846 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8KHCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT2027 }}</ref> In 2003 she was sentenced to a year in prison for witness tampering.<ref name=sentenced/>
==Biography== Bost was born in 1947 in Irvington, New Jersey. She worked as a bank accountant and then was elected as the Essex County freeholder president.<ref name=khav/> She also served as a board member for Essex County College. Starting in 1994, she served two terms as Mayor of Irvington, New Jersey.
Bost was indicted in March 2002, charged with accepting kickbacks amounting to $8,500 from two city contractors. She was also charged with witness tampering after she met with the former town administrator and counseled him to lie to federal investigators. The administrator, David Fuller, became a government witness against her. She was prosecuted by Chris Christie, the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey.<ref>{{cite news |title=Christie Raises the Ante, And Perhaps His Profile |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/01/nyregion/christie-raises-the-ante-and-perhaps-his-profile.html |newspaper=New York Times |date= June 1, 2003 |access-date=2015-10-11 }}</ref>
In a plea deal in 2003, Bost pleaded guilty to the one charge of witness tampering, and the other charges were dropped. She was sentenced to a year in prison and served it at Federal Prison Camp, Alderson.<ref name=sentenced>{{cite news |title=Irvington Ex-Mayor Is Sentenced To a Year in Witness Tampering |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/09/nyregion/irvington-ex-mayor-is-sentenced-to-a-year-in-witness-tampering.html?ref=topics |newspaper=New York Times |date=September 9, 2003 |access-date=2015-04-01 }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Jennifer Herman |encyclopedia =New Jersey Encyclopedia |title=Chronology |year=2008 |isbn =9781878592446 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tc4uZ2HBG2oC&pg=PA104 }}</ref> In 2010 the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission fined her $27,000 for failing to file required campaign finance reports by the mandated deadline and for accepting campaign donations that exceeded New Jersey's statutory limits.<ref name=khav>{{cite news |author=Richard Khavkine |title=Former Irvington mayor hit with $27,000 fine for campaign finance violations |url=http://www.nj.com/news/local/index.ssf/2010/06/former_irvington_mayor_hit_wit.html |newspaper=The Star-Ledger |date=June 3, 2010 |access-date=2015-10-11 }}</ref>
Bost has been a resident of Barnegat Township, New Jersey. Her husband, Fred M. Bost, died in 2021.<ref>Oglesby, Amanda. [https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/716864540/ "Barnegat's Fred M. Bost, political pioneer, has died at 82"], ''Asbury Park Press'', February 26, 2021. Accessed January 3, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Before retiring in Barnegat, Bost worked as a top administrator in the Essex County Sheriff's Office and entered politics to give voice to the region's voiceless, his wife Sara Bost said.... In their retirement years, the couple moved to Four Seasons At Mirage, an age-restricted community in Barnegat."</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bost, Sara Brockington}} Category:1947 births Category:New Jersey politicians convicted of corruption Category:Mayors of places in New Jersey Category:People from Barnegat Township, New Jersey Category:People from Irvington, New Jersey Category:Living people Category:African-American mayors in New Jersey Category:Women mayors of places in New Jersey Category:21st-century African-American women politicians Category:21st-century American women politicians Category:21st-century African-American politicians Category:21st-century mayors of places in New Jersey Category:20th-century African-American women politicians Category:20th-century American women politicians Category:20th-century African-American politicians Category:20th-century mayors of places in New Jersey Category:African-American women mayors