Morrell makes her case for competence

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.

"The DEP was not severe, not if you’re going to have children taking classes there," she says. "There were chemicals on that site, including mercury."

Born and raised in Elizabeth and a resident of Orange for 35 years, Morrell contends that the Hackett administration didn’t aggressively monitor redevelopment progress at the old hat-making factory, which the Berg Development Corporation envisions as a mix of artists’ lofts and retail space.

Now the project is stalled and Morrell has probing questions about what she sees as the city’s lethargic oversight role.

"My perspective was though the city had conveyed the site, the city’s responsibility did not terminate at that point," she says.

If Morrell has forged her reputation out of an excruciating sense of detail and planning, her downside as a mayoral candidate may be an egg-headed-ness prized in academia and on boards and commissions - but often anathema on Election Day.

She has a few Mike Dukakis-like moments in the debates, as when North Ward resident Adonis Carter goes to the microphone with an impassioned question about crime and Morrell offers a relatively technocratic reply.

"My problem is here on the streets everyday," Carter says. "This town is unsafe for seniors. A walk to the corner store for a soda is a journey fraught with trials and tribulations, with guns and gangs and attitudes. You guys are all up in the air, but I’m street level, you understand? I live here. You’re talking about retired people, some of them handicapped. We don’t deserve disrespect. We know you have the top covered, but I’m on the bottom. I should be able to walk down the street without facing ignorance and disrespect."

Morrell in her answer discusses how the city needs to avail itself of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, a suggestion consistent with Morrell’s belief in taking advantage of programs and services that already exist rather than playing the hero.

Meanwhile, bracketing her answer are two can’t-get-to-the-microphone-fast-enough rivals: Eldridge Hawkins on one side talking about his experience as a cop, how he’d look for ways to get officers out from behind their desks and back on the streets, and resume open gym for young people; and At Large Councilman Donald Page, on his feet on the other side, promising to fire a police director he says is in denial, vowing to ride with patrolmen, and committing to clean up North State Street so seniors, in his words, can enjoy their golden years.

Morrell the problem solver argues that sometimes the best thing an executive can do is to pick up a phone to call the right source. It’s not glamorous, she says, but she’s interested in what’s effective, and eschews public displays of emotion.

"I’m shy," she confesses, sitting in her campaign headquarters on Scotland Road in the city’s South Ward. "I’m not driven by emotion.

"I’ve worked with CEOs and I’ve worked with homeless people," she says. "I will invariably spend more time with the person in dire financial straits. I heard those seniors the other day. All they want to do is go outside and sit on a park bench."

A respectable third among candidates in the fund-rasing department, according to the last ELEC report, Morrell nonetheless knows she entered the race late, particularly compared to Page and Hawkins - some of her supporters worry.

Still, Morrell on occasion reveals the competitive streak undergirding her image as the cool-headed intellect.

"We don’t need a cheerleader in Orange," Morrell says. "I was an athlete in school, I ran track and played basketball."

She knows her attentiveness to numbers and charts on the zoning board hasn’t exactly made her a rock star on the streets of Orange, but she projects the quiet satisfaction of someone intent on fulfilling her public duties.

People have noticed, though public endorsements have been scant. When Morrell asked Senate President Richard Codey if he would endorse her, he told her he didn’t know her, and by contrast went way back with the Hawkins family.

Even her supporters are low profile.

At one of the debates, a city employee asked at random about his preference in the mayor’s contest says he won’t talk to the press unless he can be assured it’s on condition of anonymity.

A moment later he says, "God help us if Janice isn’t elected. She’s all about integrity. She’s my gal. She’s a very serious person, and she really cares about this town."