NEWARK

— New Jersey Devils owner Jeff Vanderbeek says the recent wave of withering attacks against him by Newark Mayor Cory Booker has made him regret bringing his team to Newark.

Vanderbeek, in a meeting with The Star-Ledger editorial board Thursday, said he ignored the advice of friends and invested $185 million to help the city build the Prudential Center, a gleaming facility that has anchored a downtown revitalization in the state's largest city.

But now, in the wake of a week-long media blitz by Booker and an arbitration ruling that effectively ended six years of contentious negotiations over revenue sharing at the $375 million arena, Vanderbeek says he should have listened to his friends.

"I was told chapter and verse ‘Don’t go there. Don’t step foot in that city,’" he said.

Asked if he was sorry he came, Vanderbeek said, "Right now, I have to be."

But in the same breath, he said he has no intention of leaving.

"We plan on being here. The mayor can say whatever he wants," Vanderbeek said. "I’m a big boy."

Vanderbeek’s statements were his first public comments since a panel of three independent arbitrators issued a ruling April 3 that largely favors the Devils in their ongoing dispute over how the team and the city share proceeds from the arena.

One day after the ruling, which left the city owing the team about $600,000, Booker launched into a public tirade, calling Vanderbeek a "high-class, highfalutin’ huckster and hustler," and "one of the most despicable owners" in the National Hockey League.

Vanderbeek said Booker’s diatribe was unfair and accused him of political grandstanding at the expense of the truth.

He said Booker is frustrated because his plan of running for governor or U.S. Senate may no longer be viable so he now must turn his eyes toward a third term as mayor.

"In maybe a year-and-a-half, he’s trying to undo six years of being this outsider because he may have to get elected mayor again," Vanderbeek said. "I’m the most convenient (target)."

Booker responded that he was defending the interests of his constituents.

"I am disappointed that Jeff Vanderbeek believes my passionate defense of the people of Newark and taxpayers around the state is ‘political.’" he said. "It is not political to want Vanderbeek to fulfill his commitments to Newark’s nonprofit youth organizations. It is not political to want Vanderbeek to fulfill his commitments to job training and placement in the midst of a brutal recession."

Booker was referring to a lease requirement that the Devils pay a certain amount of money each year for job training and youth programs. The Devils have paid $346,000 out of $1.8 million, but Vanderbeek said he has received no indication of how the money was spent.

Booker has made several assertions about the Devils and the arbitrators’ ruling that have been called into question this week. For instance, he said the Devils took the city to court when it was actually the city and the Newark Housing Authority, the arena developer, who initiated the arbitration.

Booker also said a letter which guarantees the Devils $2.7 million a year in parking revenue was unconstitutional. However, the arbitrators ruled the letter merely codifies provisions in the lease approved by the city council.

Vanderbeek also cited previous public statements made by Booker over the years declaring the Devils owner a "lifelong partner" to the city who had created "community center" with the arena. Those statements, he said, are in stark contrast to Booker’s most recent comments labeling Vanderbeek a liar and cold-blooded businessman.

"You have a mayor saying to business ‘You come in and I’ll cut you a deal," Vanderbeek said. "‘But if I don’t like you in a couple of years, or if something happens, or if I get up on the wrong side of the bed, you know what? I’m coming after you."

Vanderbeek said Booker’s turnaround sends a bad signal to other potential investors in Newark.

"That’s not good for business," he said. "That’s tearing down the five-and-a-half years that we all put this blood, sweat and tears into."

For his part, Booker said the fight isn’t over."As mayor I will not back down from my persistent demands that he meet his obligations to the city," he said.

Amid the verbal sparring, both men indicated they would be willing to talk, but as of now the verbal guns remain drawn.

"This should be a partnership," Vanderbeek said. "There’s many, many ways for one and one to equal three here."

Booker said he, too, would be willing to talk.

"I’m still open to doing anything that will benefit the city of Newark."

Related coverage:

• Opinion: Mayor Cory Booker: Devils owner let Newark down

• Editorial: Newark Mayor Cory Booker's poetry slam...on the New Jersey Devils

• PolitiFact N.J.: Booker claims Devils owner took city to arbitration, refused to pay charitable dollars

• Newark reducing police outside Prudential Center amid feud between Mayor Booker, N.J. Devils owner