By Walter Elliott
ESSEX – Voters in Newark, Irvington, Orange and Belleville have the opportunity to return or replace three mayors and up to 18 council seats in the May 10 nonpartisan municipal elections.
Participating registered voters have the opportunity to hold a referendum on the incumbent candidates who are seeking re-election, including one Newark at-Large Councilman who was appointed to office last year.
Voters will choose at least five new council people in Newark and Orange since those sitting elders have, for various reasons, decided not to pursue re-election.
Voters in all four towns who want change in their mayor’s office and/or council chamber have up to 38 challengers to choose from on the May 10 ballot – and maybe more should any write-in campaigns emerge. Those who are elected will take office on or just after July 1.
The May municipal elections are non-partisan, where no political party identifies its candidates by name. That does not stop elected officials from openly endorsing their own choices and/or using party machinery to campaign and get out the vote.
Some May 10 campaigns, going by signage and mailings, have been on the trail since the 2021 year-end holidays. All have hit high gear – candidates forums or nights, rallies, door knocking, print and posted ads – by now.
There has also been at least a little controversy along the trail, including which prospective candidates missed the ballot over petition signatures and/or residency requirements.
PART I
In this section, we will recap those running for positions in Irvington and Orange. Please note that the following outline is largely in alphabetical order and not as found on the ballot. Slogans as found on their ballot will further identify candidates.
In IRVINGTON, two full slates of candidates are vying for mayor and three at-large Township Council seats.
For MAYOR, Anthony “Tony” Vauss is heading the “Team Irvington Strong” ticket. He is also seeking his third term. Challenging is Paul Inman of his “Team Inman: Irvington Needs New Leadership.”
Inman who was first elected as East Ward Councilman in 2012, joined Vauss’ ticket after his own 2014 mayoral attempt. He was re-elected under the TIS umbrella without opposition in 2016. The two former Irvington Board of Education presidents had a falling out, however, and Vauss campaigned for the Rev. Sean Evans.
A majority of participating East Ward voters selected “Irvington Strong” runner Evans over the independent Inman in the May 12, 2020 Ward Council Election.
“Irvington Strong” and “Team Inman” are also competing for the three at-Large COUNCIL seats.
Incumbents Renee C. Burgess, Charnette Frederic and Dr. October Hudley – all “Irvington Strong” – are also seeking their third terms.
Network engineer Yasmina King, former 2018 candidate Allison Morris and J&D Housing Development President Durrell Watford are on “Team Inman.”
In ORANGE, 13 candidates are competing for all four Ward Council seats and East Ward voters are to choose from among an incumbent and three challengers.
Current and former Council President Kerry Coley, who is running for his third term, is “Putting the East Ward First.” The retired Orange police officer had challenged Dwayne D. Warren for mayor in 2016.
Tyrone J. “Boom” Tarver, who led the drive to change the Orange Board of Education from a mayor-appointed panel to a voter-elected one, is putting “Children and Community First.”
Current one-term OBOE Member Fatimah Z. Turner says, “We’ve Got Work to Do.”
“Local Talk” is meanwhile watching this ward contest to see whether members of Turner’s campaign will try to levy a personal attack on Tarver as had happened during the Nov. 2, 2020 nonpartisan Orange Board of Education.
Turner, after Oct. 30, had allowed the following statement against Turner to be published: “I’m surprised by your apparent Republican affiliation and opposition to women in leadership, given the fact that you have a bright daughter who could be the next Kamala Harris or Michelle Obama.”
Tarver, in 2020, was a ward leader for the Orange Democratic Committee.
A majority of citywide Nov. 2, 2020 voters gave Turner 3,064 votes, or 18.73 percent from among nine candidates. Incumbent Tarver narrowly lost to Turner running mate Jeff Wingfield.
North Ward voters are to choose among an incumbent and two challengers. Longtime incumbent Tency Eason is running to “Continue the Progress in Orange.” Real estate investor Sharief A. Williams, making his second ward run, wants “Your Voice, Your Vote.” BauBau Garden founder Kami A. Willis is running under “We the P.O.L.i.T.I.C.S.”
South Ward voters are to choose a member from an incumbent and three challengers.
Jamie B. Summers-Johnson, who won her second term by either one or three votes in 2018 (depending on whether the two write-in votes are counted), is seeking her third term for “Continuing Orange’s Progress.”
Then-challenger Brandon K. Matthews, who is an Orange Historic Preservation Commissioner, has decided not to run this year.
Lynval H. James, who ran in the 2020 at-large council elections, is saying he is “Working for a Better Orange.” Seven Oaks Society founder James H. Ward III says he has the “Vision for Change.”
In the West Ward, voters are to choose from among four candidates to succeed Harold Johnson, Jr. Johnson, who is retiring after two four-year terms, was among the first to endorse Quantavia L. Hilbert. Hilbert, who is making her second run, is flying “A Fresh Voice for Orange” banner.
Bensham Manor Holdings owner Jonathan Beckford, who has posted campaign materials in English and Spanish, says he has “A Steady Hand in a Turbulent Time.” Orange Public Schools employee Genora L. Jenkins is calling “Time for Change.” Mohamed L. Toure, who was an Orange constable in 2016, is saying, “When There’s Adversity, There’s Change.”
PART II
In this section, we will recap those running for positions in Newark and Belleville. Please note that the following outline is largely in alphabetical order and not as found on the ballot. Slogans as found on their ballot will further identify candidates.
NEWARK voters have the opportunity to decide on the mayor and all nine Municipal Council members all at once every four years. This has been so since the city’s governing structure was changed from Mayor-Ward Commissioner to the current Mayor-At Large and Ward Council format in 1954.
For MAYOR, the contest is between Ras Baraka and Sheila A. Montague.
Incumbent Baraka, who is leading the “Moving Newark Forward 2022” ticket, is seeking his third four-year term. He has been South Ward Councilman and deputy mayor as well as Central High School principal.
Montague, running her own campaign, is an Essex County College professor and former Newark Public Schools teacher. The Changing the Lens Together founder and Parents United for Local School Education co-founder had run previous campaigns for council and board of education members.
City monitor Donna Jackson and former Newark Board of Education Student Representative Debra Salters did not make City Clerk Kenneth Louis’ certification or DNMC.
All five At Large Council candidates are running on the “Moving Forward” platform practically unopposed.
C. Lawrence Crump, Esq. is looking for his first elective office. He was Mildred Crump’s chief of staff until his mother resigned last year due to health issues. Clerk Lewis cited the 2021 election calendar for not running a special one-year election for “Larry” Crump.
Incumbent Carlos Gonzalez, who was part of the 2006 Team Booker sweep, is seeking his fifth consecutive term.
Luis Quintana, “The Dean of the Municipal Council” and interim Mayor November 2013-July 2014 (between Cory Booker and Baraka), is seeking his eighth council term.
Rev. Louise Rountree, currently Baraka’s Deputy Mayor of Clergy Affairs, is looking to succeed the outgoing Eddie Osborne. Osborne, a labor union official, did not file signature petitions before the 4 p.m. March 8 deadline.
Those who Did Not Make Certification were Dr. Elaine A. Aquil, Dannisha J. Clyburn, former mayor Sharpe James and Khalil T. Kettles.
There are 17 overall candidates seeking four Ward Council seats.
In the Central Ward, incumbent LaMonica McIver (NF2022) is seeking her second term.
Challenging is CHS Head Boys Basketball Coach Shawn McCray. McCray, who had run for Central Ward office in 2018, The Zoo Crew Basketball founder is running for “Building a Better Central Ward.”
East Ward voters are to choose the retiring Augusto Amador’s successor from among four candidates.
Retired Newark Police Chief and Director Anthony Campos is making his second run for office. He was narrowly defeated by Amador in a 2018 runoff election.
Supermarket chain executive Jonathan T. Seabra is making a second run under his own “I’m With You” banner.
Former Newark Police detective Michael J. Silva, who is on the NF2022 slate, is also running under his own “Always Ready to Serve” slogan.
Luis Weber, currently Newark Police ABC Executive Director, wants to “Revive the East Ward.”
North Ward incumbent and NF2022 member Anibal Ramos, Jr., barring a write-in campaign, is running unopposed in a run for his fifth straight term.
South Ward voters are to succeed the outgoing John Sharpe James from among six balloted candidates.
Bloomfield College Student Leadership and Engagement Director and former council runner Terrence Bankston is saying “It’s time for Independent Leadership.”
Christina G. Cherry, the South 17th and 18th Street Neighborhood Association President, is calling her campaign, the “Right Motive, Right Time, Right Person.”
The Rev. Patrick Council, former Deputy Mayor of Economic Development and current, is running with NF2022 and his own “South Forward” slogan.
Douglas H. Freeman, Weequahic Sports Authority President, has the “Sweat Equity, Grassroots and a Vision” banner.
Trenton Jones wants to “Love Newark First” which is also the name of his resident outreach organization.
Cynthia Truitt-Rease, the South Ward Economic Development Corporation emergency service representative, calls herself “Unbossed + Unbought.”
Altriq White’s name, however, is among those not ballot-certified. The Leaders for Life founder told a Superior Court judge March 28 that, although he received a lease for ward residency, it was not signed until last June. The judge then ruled that White had not met the one-year minimum residency requirement.
Three-term incumbent James (he was first appointed to complete Congress-bound Donald Payne, Jr.’s remaining term in 2013) is retiring from the council. He has endorsed Council as his preferred successor.
West Ward voters are being asked to choose their next council member from a ballot of six.
High School Academic Program founder Lyndon F. Brown is a “Candidate With Proven Record of Service.”
Former South Ward Councilman Oscar James II has moved here and is billing himself “Leadership You Can Trust.”
Lavita Johnson, currently the mayor’s Office of People’s Assembly assistant manager, wants to “Rebuild, Renew, Return.”
Dupree L. “Do it All” Kelly is part of NF2022. The rapper/entrepreneur, who has his own “Together We Can Do It” slogan, made an independent run in 2018.
Former NYPD officer Michelle Lyn Middleton says she has West Ward “Plans to Prosper.”
Lawyer-turned-N.J. Department of Community Affairs assistant commissioner Chigozie U. Onyema declares “A Better World is Possible.”
Outgoing incumbent James McCallum has been finishing his two-term tenure and is preparing for his July 21 sentencing here in federal court for wire fraud and filing a false 2018 tax return. He had pleaded guilty to those two counts on March 15.
McCallum’s viability became moot since Oct. 20, 2020. U.S. Department of Justice attorneys charged him for his part in a bribery and kickback scheme with a now-former Newark Community Economic Community Corporation Corp.
BELLEVILLE voters have two competing slates for mayor and two ward council seats on their ballot.
For MAYOR, incumbent Michael A. Melham and challenger Steve J. Rovell are going head-to-head. Melham, who heads the “Building a Better Belleville Together” platform, is seeking his second term. Second Ward Councilman Rovell, who leads “Belleville Families First,” is challenging Melham.
The two at-Large COUNCIL seats are contested by four candidates. Deputy Mayor Naomy De Pena and Thomas Graziano, both on “a Better Belleville,” are seeking their second terms.
Challenging are “Belleville Families First” members Chares Hood and Tracy Juanita Williams.
Prospective voters have until May 3 to obtain Vote By Mail Ballots. Some municipal ballot drop boxes may have changed location since the Nov. 2 General Election. Details, including voting machine polling station locations and hours, are found at essexclerk.com.
