Village President Candidate Profile: Alex Torpey

As South Orange goes to the polls, Patch profiles the candidates.

Meet candidate Alex Torpey:

Background and Beliefs

My name is Alex Torpey, and I believe it is time for a new voice and new leadership in South Orange. I believe we can reduce our property tax burden without sacrificing the quality of our services. I believe we can improve our public safety without incurring more costs. I believe we can include - not exclude - residents, business owners and the university community in decision making. I believe in a future of South Orange where every policy, every development project and every decision reflects an informed, engaged and invested community.

It is for these reasons that I am challenging the status quo and running for Village President. Growing up in South Orange, having graduated from CHS and being a volunteer on the Library Board, Citizen’s Public Safety Committee, the Rescue Squad and owning a business in town have all given me the perspective and understanding of our community’s needs that I believe we urgently need.

Challenges Ahead

It’s true that I am approaching government from a new perspective - starting with the fact that I am 23 years old and have never held public elected office before. And while that may seem to present some challenges, it brings a much needed fresh perspective to the table, along with a significant amount of relevant experience in public safety, a tremendous amount of energy, optimism, enthusiasm and experience working with technology, media and communications.  But most importantly, I want to change the way we do business in South Orange to encourage, rather than discourage, our talented, intelligent and experienced residents to participate in both deciding and implementing policy.

I also believe that we need to stop treating our municipal employees as the problem and work with them to make them part of a solution to the budget problems that we all face, rather than outsourcing public services to a private company over which we have no control.  I believe that we can take advantage of new technologies to help our employees provide the same or better level of services at the same or lower cost.

Last Word

You have a choice between two very different candidates on May 10th. Just take a look at both pureprogress.organd alextorpey.com, and then you tell me which candidate is most capable of being open, inclusive and putting in the necessary time, energy, creativity and passion that will be required from our next Village President.

Learn More

Learn about what I believe and my ideas for the future of South Orange: alextorpey.com/future
Get in contact with me: alextorpey/contact
See the latest updates from the campaign: alextorpey.com/blog
View Photos, videos and mentions in the press: alextorpey.com/media
Get involved, to support a new future for S.O.: alextorpey.com/volunteer

For more election information:

The election is May 10, 2011. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m.

Deadline to apply for an “Application for Vote by Mail Ballot” for the Municipal Election is May 3, 2011.  Download the “Application for Vote by Mail Ballot” here.

Apply in person at the Essex County County Clerk's Office up until 3 p.m. May 3, 2011.

To find out more, contact the Village Clerk’s Office at clerk@southorange.org or call 973-378-7715 x7724.