Mims Hackett

ORANGE - The city at its summit straddles a ridge in the western hill country of Essex County, where affordable housing high-rises loom over residential twoPlanning Board chairman Dwight Holmes and his wife, Beverly. and three stories and churches, the public library, the Elks Lodge and Main Street, packed into 2.2-square miles with an elevated train track cutting along the edge of the valley and Highway 280 splitting the city in half.

Orange lost its once formidable industrial base on the south side over four decades ago, and now it’s trying to shake off the after-effects of its mayor’s tumble from power.

None of Mims Hackett’s would-be successors disagrees that the Abbott District town needs redevelopment, and all six of them are willing to work with the Berg Development Corporation, its partners and other developers to see the fruition of commercial and residential projects.

At Large Councilman Donald Page 

ORANGE - The foes of At-Large Councilman Donald Page say he’s a chronic naysayer and grandstander, the kind of councilman who’s been so determinedly anti-administration that if he gains the executive’s chair himself he will short circuit for lack of knowing any role other than agitating underdog.

"Page is a no-vote on the city council," says Tency Eason supporter William Hathaway. "Every time he votes, he votes no. He’s there to bring a negative vibe to Orange."

Betty Brown and Orange Police Sgt. Kerry Coley.

She wishes she could have been the one to vanquish Mims Hackett.

But while other politicians were either lining up behind him, or still in college, or getting steam-rolled in Senate campaigns against Dick Codey, activist Betty Brown was challenging Hackett head-on.

Eldridge Hawkins, Jr. 

ORANGE - Midway into a mayoral candidates’ forum in a senior housing facility in the North Ward, an elegant, bearded man walks briskly to the front of the room and occupies a chair almost directly in front of At Large Councilman Donald Page.

Conspicuously seated apart from the rest of the audience, the man studies closely the politician widely viewed as the frontrunner in the race.

Zoning Board Chair Janice Morrell

ORANGE - Long serving zoning board chair Janice Morrell has a circle of supporters who follow those meetings, and who swear that in terms of integrity and preparation, she is unmatched among the field of mayoral candidates.

A retired director of minority affairs at Rutgers University, Morrell works by the book, particularly when it comes to Orange development projects. Even someone’s off-handed remark about the state Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) exacting measures in overseeing the remediation of the Berg Hat Factory produces a stern gaze from Morrell.

North Ward Concilwoman Tency Eason 

ORANGE - If Donald Page can boast that he’s the candidate in the race who has most actively opposed Mayor Mims Hackett, North Ward Councilwoman Tency Eason is the only person who can rightfully argue that she has already defeated Page.

When she challenged the sitting North Ward councilman with Hackett’s blessing in 2002, she beat him by ten votes.

Sen. President Richard Codey (D-Essex) in Newark with Mayor Cory Booker and Council President Mildred Crump.

ORANGE - Politics here invariably comes back to the state’s most popular politician, former governor and Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), who grew up across the street from the city’s other favorite son, Two Ton Tony Galento.

"With Tony, what you saw was what you got," Codey recalls.

A rotund puncher who trained on spaghetti and beer, what that got Galento was a fourth round technical knockout at the hands of heavyweight champion Joe Louis, and a subsequent supporting role as a heavy in "On the Waterfront."

Eldridge Hawkins, Jr. 

ORANGE - There are no smiles cast across a cold ten feet of space where North Ward Councilwoman Tency Eason faces her rival At-Large Councilman Donald Page as the City Council considers giving the Berg Development Corp. a 20-year tax abatement to redevelop and occupy the old Berg Hat Factory in the valley.

The project was supposed to be completed in January, or a few months after Mayor Mims Hackett marched into federal court in handcuffs on a charge of taking a $5,000 bribe from a phoney insurance contractor.

But the old building with broken windows still juts over the neighborhood and question marks abound about the status of that project and others meant to kick-start this city at the edge of gangland crisis, and now staggered by the Hackett scandal.

"It’s been six years and no major projects are finished," resident Shirley Hendricks reminds the council. "At least five to six buildings should be done over there."

Another resident, Harold Johnson, wants to know if the city has planned appropriately for the impact of 600 condo units - 500 in the historic Valley section, and 100 on Main Street.

"We’re hoping they’re empty nesters," frets Johnson.

Downtown Orange 

ORANGE - Five candidates for mayor not named Mims Hackett participated in a Citizens for Responsible Government (CRG) forum at the Appian Way Restaurant here today in front of a crowd of 150 people.

"For a long time these elections have been Hackett against who?" said community activist Nicole Williams, referring to the mayor who ran Orange for 12 years before opting not to pursue re-election amid an imbroglio of federal corruption charges brought against him and ten other elected officials in a statewide sting last year.

"This forum at the very least lets us know we have a choice," Williams said.

Dwight HolmesORANGE - Dwight Holmes remembers the pride he felt playing football and running track for Orange High School. As mayor he would like to help restore that pride to a city reeling from scandal.

"I want Orange pride back in Orange," said the candidate. "When I was a kid it meant a lot to say you were an Orange Tornado."

His life-long history in Orange is important to the mayoral candidate. Forty-seven years old, he says he still holds the city schools' record for the 100-yard dash at 9.6 seconds.

 "Having a mayor who's actually from the town, that's something Orange hasn't had in a long time if ever," said Holmes. "I have a stake in this city. I've purchased a home. I plan on being here awhile."