Local

Nutley Commissioner Carmen Orechio 

NUTLEY - A car pulls up in front of the VFW Building on Washington and Commissioner Carmen Orechio emerges from the passenger side.

"Hey, Carmen!" comes a familiar cry.

The former state senate president is well known in New Jersey.

But everybody knows him in Nutley, where the 84-year old has served for 40 years on the Board of Commissioners.

JACKSON - Team Kafton figured if they kept hitting the Council candidate Michael Kaftonopposition with gypsy moths, taxes and Mayor Mark Seda's salary increase, they could beat incumbent GOP Councilwoman Emily Ingram and her running mates on Election Day.

In a few hours, they will learn the effectiveness of their repeated mail attack pieces coupled with five debate forums in which former Democratic Mayor Michael Kafton and his running mates kept pointing to Ingram's alliance with Seda.

"He's working the senior communities hard," campaign spokesman Pat Politano said of Kafton. "He's wandering everywhere. Mike's been all over town."

RIDGEWOOD - Anne Zusy recently registered as a Democrat to vote for Barack Obama. Paul Aronsohn likes Hillary Clinton. And Keith Killion, who’s registered as a Republican, is a John McCain supporter.

But the three stood outside of a post office in Ridgewood today to run as a team for three council seats, saying that the village needs new blood in its government. The fact that the three of them could run together, they say, is evidence how seriously this traditionally Republican town takes its non-partisan elections.

Their opponents are incumbent council members Betty Wiest, the town’s Deputy Mayor, and Jacques Harlow. Wiest spent most of the day at home calling supporters to get them out to the polls, while Harlow competed in a senior citizens’ tennis tournament, which he said would help take his mind off of the election.

PATERSON - The campaign of Councilman Aslon Goow reported goodWard Two Councilman Aslon Goow and ally Millie Mulero GOTV efforts as around 500 voters across the 2nd Ward turned out to vote as of this afternoon.

"We're strong in our areas, including the Hillcrest neighborhood and the senior buildings," said Goow campaign spokesman Ryan Yacco.

Goow is trying to fend off Elizabeth Rosado, wife of former Councilman Jerry Luis Rosado and an ally of Mayor Jose "Joey" Torres.

Mason contractor John Larko is also challenging.

EAST ORANGE - Former Assemblyman Willis Edwards intends to run for mayor of East Orange next year, he told PolitickerNJ.com.

"I would bet my house on it, although I have made no formal announcement at this time," said Edwards, an executive with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and adjunct professor at William Paterson University.

For 12 years, Mayor Robert Bowser, 74, has served as chief executive of this Essex County city, population 74,000.

Edwards, who is in his late 30's, said he appreciates Bowser's leadership and notes with pride the resurgence of the 3.9-square mile city under the leadership of the long-serving mayor.

JACKSON - Team Ingram braced for a last weekend hit from the Council candidate Todd PorterKafton campaign, which came in the form of a mailer depicting Councilwoman Emily Ingram and her running mates as the puppets of Mayor Mark Seda.

Seda's unpopular in town at the moment owing to property taxe hikes.

Former Mayor Michael Kafton and his running mates, Bobbie Rivere and Mike Reina, see an opportunity to bump the mayor's ally, Ingram, off the town council, while also denying her running mates, Charles Garafano and Todd Porter.

PATERSON - In arguably the most bitterly contested Paterson wardJulio Tavarez fight of the season, the campaigns of Ward 5 Councilman Juan Torres and challenger Julio Tavarez savored a brief afternoon lull before the 4-8 p.m. press.

"My people are eating now," said Tavarez. "I think overall we are getting a good response out there. We're gearing up. The real fight begins at 4 when all the people start coming home from work."

The challanger last night held a packed pre-Election Day rally at the Masonic Temple, complete with speeches and Latin dance music.

In what many Paterson political insiders believe is Torres's hardest re-election fight over the course of his two terms in office, the councilman today said he is upbeat.

Morrell campaign manager Peter Learmont, left, and Morrell supporter Royland Cain 

ORANGE - In front of the Love of Jesus Church, Peter Learmont, campaign manager for Janice Morrell, urges a Donald Page supporter to abandon her backing of the long-serving councilman and side with the Morrell campaign.

He meets resistance.

"When they tried to raise my taxes, Donald Page voted 'no,'" Ollie Marshall-Rico says.

Eldridge Hawkins and campaign volunteers 

ORANGE - Standing in front of the Oakwood Avenue School with his orange t-shirted supporters, Eldridge Hawkins, Jr., says he's taking nothing for granted.

"While the other candidates were driving their caravans around this weekend, six cars deep, I was out there knocking on doors," says Hawkins.

Last night, state Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex) sent out a robocall for Hawkins.

TEANECK -- Both sides in the hotly contested council election in this town play down their part in the long-standing feud between Bergen County Democratic Organization Chairman Joe Ferriero and state Sen. Loretta Weinberg.

But here on Weinberg’s home town, that rift is impossible to avoid.

Sitting down for a roast beef and chopped liver sandwich at a kosher eatery called Noah’s Ark on Cedar Avenue, councilman Elnatan Rudolph said that, while he doesn’t hide his ties to Ferriero, his opponents are the ones making the rift an issue. He noted a campaign piece that depicted him as a wind up toy, with Ferriero doing the winding.

While Honis and the two other candidates who act as her semi-official running mates dismiss partisan politics, Rudolph doesn’t buy it.

“They can tell you that. But it’s the same people who worked for (Weinberg), the same county committee men and women, who are supporting them in the race,” he said.