Team Irvington Strong calling for generational leadership change

IRVINGTON, NJ — Seven people turned in their nominating petitions for one of the four ward seats in the Municipal Council election by the deadline on Monday, March 7. Township clerk Harold Wiener  then had a drawing on Monday, March 14, to determine candidates’ positions on the ballot: 1A, Cathy Southerland, and 2A, incumbent Councilman David Lyons, in the North Ward; 1A, Sandy Jones, and 2A, Al-Tariq Shabazz, in the South Ward; 1A, incumbent Councilman Paul Inman, in the East Ward; and 1A, incumbent Councilman Vern Cox, and 2A, Irvington NAACP President Merrick Harris, in the West Ward.

Lyons, Jones, Inman and Cox are being backed by Mayor Tony Vauss and the Team Irvington Strong social and political organization that is heir to the old Team Irvington group founded by former Municipal Council President and Essex County Freeholder D. Bilal Beasley and current Freeholder Lebby Jones. Shabazz, Southerland and Harris are running as Independents.

Vauss said he hopes the relative lack of challengers in the election on Tuesday, May 10, compared to the crowded field that came out in 2014 for the mayoral and at large council seat election, is a good sign for the outcome of this year’s races. But he said it would have been nice if the Team Irvington Strong candidates were running for re-election uncontested, the same as the slate his team is backing in the Board of Education election on Tuesday, April 19.

Vauss said, however, “You can’t always have everything that you want.” But he said he believes anyone in town willing to look objectively at his administration’s and Team Irvington Strong’s record of public service accomplishments, up to this point, can respect what they have done and what they are planning to do, going forward.

“Hopefully, I think it means that people appreciate the work that we’re doing and that they see that they really have people out here trying to make Irvington better,” said Vauss on Saturday, March 5. “I think the council members that are up for re-election have done such a tremendous job and I think you judge a person’s character by the work that he or she does and they’ve done some tremendous work over the past two years and we’re just looking forward to the challenge.”

Essex County Democratic Committee Chairman Leroy Jones is also the chairman of the East Orange Democratic Committee and said the challenge in an uncontested election is the same as when there is active opposition providing competition.

Jones said 2016 really is an election year that includes presidential and congressional elections; elections for county surrogate and county committee; and “Then we move into 2017 and that’s when it’s going to be on and popping.” But he said he believes Vauss and Team Irvington Strong are up to the challenge.

“That’s what Tony’s team is all about,” said Jones on Saturday, March 5, at East Orange Mayor Lester Taylor’s third annual Mayor’s Ball. “Tony, much like Lester, is a guy that hit the ground running. He’s a relentless enthusiast for his city. He’s tenacious, when it comes to campaigning, and he learned that from a mentor that we all embraced and that’s D. Bilal Beasley. There’s no opposition, but they’re going to go out here and tell the story and do what they have to do in that school board election.”

Jones said he believes Vauss and company will do what they have to do in the municipal election and the June Democratic primary election and the November presidential election, too.

“They have local council races in Irvington as well and they’re going to push it because that’s Team Irvington Strong,” said Jones. “I’m a believer in Team Irvington Strong. I’m a supporter of Team Irvington Strong. And just like East Orange, I think Irvington is beginning to turn that corner, so people can be proud of urban communities and the mayors that represent them.”

Jones said Vauss and Taylor are part of the generational changing of the guard, when it comes to leadership in Essex County that also includes other municipal leaders such as Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, Bloomfield Mayor Michael Venezia and Hillside Mayor Angela Garretson. He said their rise is a good thing for the county’s present and future and he’s proud to have played a role, however small, in helping to make it happen.

“It’s working man and it’s about passing the torch generationally,” said Jones. “At some point, I’m going to be moving on, too, so I want to know that there’s going to be good folks in place to hopefully leave at least a tiny bit of a legacy for people, like me and Bilal.”

Venezia said he’s proud to be a part of that generational change to which Jones is referring. The group has been referred to as Essex own “Young Guns” and he said he doesn’t mind having that moniker attached to his name and administration.

“I’m actually the youngest, even though I feel older every day,” said Venezia on Monday, March 7, at a press conference outside East Orange City Hall, where he and Taylor announced their respective municipalities’ partnership with New Jersey Working Families to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. “It’s a great group. They’re all good friends and we’re all doing great things and I think people are tired of the Old Guard that kind of wanted to stay in there. We were just talking about all of the redevelopment going on in Bloomfield and it’s bringing a lot of working professionals in. That area that was desolate for years, you go there now on a Saturday afternoon and you see massive amounts of people shopping, walking the dogs, so it’s great to have that kind of environment in the township. As long as you present yourself as a professional, not as a young punk, I think it works.”

However, Venezia said change isn’t always easy for everyone to accept and embrace, whether it’s generational or not.

“I tell a story where, when I was running for office, I was 31 years old at the time and it seemed like everyone who was probably 60 and above was all about having a young mayor and everybody that was around 35 and under was all about having a young mayor but that gap between like 35 and 60 were fighting it like: ‘I should be there and not him,’” said Venezia. “So that’s how it goes and we’ll see how it works out.”

  Team Irvington Strong