ORANGE, NJ — The Orange Democratic Municipal Committee held its annual breakfast fundraiser at the Orange Elks Lodge 135 on Saturday, March 18, and although featured guest speaker gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy was unable to attend, those who did come more than filled in for him.
“I stay in trouble in Trenton because I am not there to have a job,” said 34th District Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver, who was also presented with the Orange Democratic Municipal Committee Vanguard Award at the event. “I’m not there to be liked. I am not there to make friends. I am there to represent the interests of the people that elected me to office and I am there to call you out when you do wrong. That’s what I am there for. But a lot of people who sit in these chairs, that is not how they operate.”
Oliver may be in the running as a possible lieutenant on Murphy’s gubernatorial ticket and, if that does turn out to be the case after the results of the Democratic Party primary election on Tuesday, June 6, then she is already in full-fledged campaign mode, if her speech was any indicator.
“I often say, as Democrats, we eat ourselves; Democrats don’t act like Democrats,” said Oliver. “Democratic Party means you represent the working man and woman. You represent the disenfranchised person. You represent the person who is homeless, the person who doesn’t have a job, the person who the law enforcement community has not given equal justice to. That is the party of the Democrats.”
Oliver challenged those attending the fundraiser to get involved and stay involved.
“If your voice is not there, if you are not engaged, then you are going to see some bad things happen,” said Oliver. “My challenge to all of you is you must be involved. You need to attend city council meetings; you need to attend board of education meetings; you need to attend freeholder meetings; and you need to write and call your elected state representatives as well, because, let me tell you something: When a legislator at any level gets a bunch of phone calls and a bunch of letters, they certainly will go another way. But if they don’t hear from you, if they don’t see that this is important to you, they will vote another way.
Other attendees, including former Gov. Richard Codey, Newark City Council President Mildred Crump, state Sen. Nia Gill, and Essex County Board of Chosen Freeholders President Britnee Timberlake, also spoke at the event. Their presence at the breakfast spoke volumes to the organizers, who have been working for years to revitalize the organization that had grown moribund and irrelevant with past leaders. Even former Orange police Capt. Kevin Sooy, who now serves as the Republican mayor of Bernardsville, came back to the city he used to police to participate in the Orange Democratic Municipal Committee event.
“We just finished up our Democratic breakfast fundraiser and it was a good event, we presented some very worth people with awards, and that’s what it was all about,” said City Council Vice President Kerry Coley, who is also an East Ward Councilman and Orange Democratic Municipal Committee Chairman, on Saturday, March 18. “It was about the grassroots and reaching back and letting folks know that their everyday tasks don’t go unnoticed or unappreciated. It’s all about service, just like (Oliver) said.
“And I want people to know that dark cloud that has lingered over Orange because of that federal investigation — there is hope. There is sunshine in Orange and today was one of those days where people came out and said ‘we want to be a part of something that’s good.’”
West Ward Councilman Harold Johnson said it was also about putting Orange back on the map, in terms of its social and political relevance to the larger Democratic Party organizations at the county and state levels.
“I’m loving it; we had a fantastic breakfast, we finally got back into the swing of things and our motto is to make sure that we have all our state officials come meet the people of Orange,” Johnson said after the event. “Gov. Codey came and represented Phil Murphy today, who was really tied up, but he supported us 100 percent. Our numbers were about 250; just raw community coming out and spending the day with their local and state legislators. It was a beautiful affair.”
ODMC hosts annual Breakfast Fundraiser at Elks Lodge 135 added by Chris Sykes on
View all posts by Chris Sykes →