Ex-Orange Boss Hawkins Running for West Orange Mayor

Eldridge Hawkins Jr., the former mayor of Orange, is seeking the office of mayor in West Orange.

Hawkins, a retired West Orange police officer, cited a “spike in armed robberies and other violent crimes” and “crippling property taxes” among his reasons for seeking the office.

“With more than 25 years in West Orange and as one who was raised, went to school, volunteered and worked in our township, I know how great our community can be and I have a unique vision for our future while embracing the best of our past,“ Hawkins wrote in a statement on his website.

Following his unsuccessful bid for a second term as mayor of Orange in 2012, according to nj.com, the 34-year-old Hawkins returned to West Orange.

Current West Orange Mayor Robert Parisi told nj.com that Hawkins’s cross-Orange jump to become mayor was “a little awkward.”

Parisi hasn’t announced whether or not he plans to run for mayor again when his term expires later this year.

Hawkins is a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, the Maplewood and Oranges Unit of the NAACP and a Master Mason.

The former West Orange police officer lost a suit in state superior court in 2011 which accused West Orange’s business administrator and township police chief of misconduct and conspiracy.

A racial discrimination suit against West Orange is ongoing, according to nj.com.