Young West Orange| West Orange Mayoral Candidates (Vote for 1) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Krakoviak | Tammy Williams | Susan McCartney | Susan Scarpa | Joyce L. Rudin | Phillip A. Orphanidis | Brian Rock |
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
| Former council member (12 years) and council president; background in financial journalism and municipal bonds, now a business communications consultant. He describes himself as the council’s fiscal watchdog. He proposes finishing a financial turnaround: cutting spending, paying down debt, increasing transparency, supporting seniors, and pursuing what he calls sensible downtown development. | Council and Planning Board member; entrepreneur and real estate broker for 20+ years, and founder of the West Orange Stop Suicide Advocacy Coalition. She proposes tackling the township’s roughly $171 million debt through tight spending and infrastructure investment, along with downtown revitalization, more community engagement, and education and tech opportunities. | Incumbent mayor (first woman mayor of West Orange), council member 2002–2022, and founder of First Mountain Preschool. She cites securing more than $19 million in grants (including about $7.2 million for roads), partnering to preserve Rock Spring Golf Course, and helping recruit Target and Trader Joe’s. She proposes continued work on public safety, infrastructure, and economic growth. | Current council president. Grew up in West Orange, attended West Orange High, and raised her family here; speech-language pathologist in the school district, with a background in sales, marketing, and finance. She says she takes no money from developers or special interests. She proposes a four-point plan: run the budget with business-style efficiency; walkable neighborhoods that help small businesses; traffic safety and school overcrowding; and more services for seniors. | Grew up in West Orange and now serves on the council; former reporter for PBS, NPR’s Marketplace, and Consumer Reports TV, and a longtime activist on open space and hunger. She emphasizes listening to residents and careful spending. She proposes a more walkable downtown with off-street parking. | A 25-year West Orange homeowner whose parents, he says, were taxed out of town. His campaign emphasizes affordability: no municipal tax increase for four years; a 1% annual rent-increase cap (0% for seniors) for four years; a spending freeze; opposition to new PILOT agreements; and keeping ICE out of township buildings without proper legal authority. (Patch) | Board of Education president (five years on the board, four as president); classroom teacher, union negotiator, and data analyst. He says town hall is bogged down in infighting and needs steady, practical leadership. He proposes focusing on bus-stop safety, more preschool, and infrastructure. |
| joekrakoviak.com | tammy4westorange.com | No active site found | scarpaformayor.com | joycerudinformayor.com | No active site found | brianrock.us |
| West Orange Township Council (vote for 2) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Micaela Bennett | Matthew Dvorin | Kenneth Gibbons | Justin Goldsman | Jackie Hendy |
 |  |  |  |  |
| Attorney and forensic clinician (social work master's degree) with a career in public service and mental health. She sits on the Citizens Budget Advisory Board and runs the West Orange Matters Facebook page. She calls herself an independent voice against insiders: control taxes, protect open space, make school funding transparent, build an inclusive town. | Paralegal in health-research compliance at a New York medical center, a Rutgers and Baruch graduate. Long-term financial planning, responsible development, and fixing sewers and storm drains. | Third-generation West Orange resident, CPA and small-business owner, with 30+ years in auditing. Spending discipline, budget oversight, lower property taxes. | Lifelong West Orange resident (Redwood Elementary, then the University of Miami and University of Florida). He worked for the late Congressman Donald Payne Jr. and as chief of staff to Assembly policy chair Gary Schaer, and serves on the Environmental and Public Relations commissions. He would be the council's youngest member and pitches new ideas: solar and Green Acres grants, multi-year budgets, "Council on Your Corner" meetings, safer walks to school, small-business help and a 3% rent cap. | 18 years in town (Valley, Gregory, Hazel neighborhoods) and owns a local real estate business. Four themes: no deals behind closed doors, pay for results not promises, checks on power, and protecting neighborhoods. |
| micaela4westorange.com | mattdvorinforwestorange.com | gibbonsforwestorange.com | goldsmanforwo.com | jackieforwestorange.com |
| West Orange Board of Education | ||
|---|---|---|
| Larry Weintraub | Maria Vera | Brendan T. Mims |
 |  |  |
| Physicist and West Orange parent. He wants multi-year plans to close the district's roughly $10 million yearly budget gap, rebuild trust in the schools, settle the teacher contract and push for fairer state school funding. | Current board vice president, running for another term. A longtime educator and guidance counselor in the Orange school district; born in Peru and living in West Orange since 1990. Her ballot slogan is “For Our Children.” | No campaign website or platform statement was found in the sources reviewed as of October 1; his ballot slogan is “Anchored by Students.” |
| larry4boe.com | No active site found | No active site found |
Info
Madthew PL
Young West Orange
[email protected]