Vincent Orange

Vincent Bernard Orange, Sr. (born April 11, 1957) is a former American politician from Washington, D.C., and former president of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce.

Vincent Bernard Orange was born April 11, 1957, and raised in Oakland, California.

With a scholarship Orange attended Fountain Valley School of Colorado in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

He graduated from the University of the Pacific, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1979 and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications in 1980.

In 1981, Orange worked weekends as a security guard at the Washington Post, a position he kept for fourteen years.

In 1983, he earned a Juris Doctor from Howard University School of Law.

He worked as a senior tax accountant for accounting firm Arthur Andersen from 1983 to 1987.

From 1987 to 1989, Orange worked for the district's department of finance and revenue.

He was manager of the district's Tax Amnesty Program, and he was acting chief of the District's Office of Real Property Tax Assessment Services Division.

In 1988, he graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he earned a Master of Laws in Taxation.

Orange is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

In 1988, he served as a United States delegate to the United States/Japan Bilateral Session: "A New Era in Legal and Economic Relations" in Tokyo, Japan.

In September 1990, he served as a delegate to the Moscow Conference on Law and Bilateral Economic Relations.

In 1990, he ran for chair of the Council of the District of Columbia, against Democrat John A. Wilson, who was then a council member representing Ward 2.

Also running for chair was Libertarian Party candidate Jacques Chevalier.

Orange criticized Wilson's chairmanship of the council's Finance and Revenue Committee, noting that the district's financial troubles happened during Wilson's eleven-year tenure.

Orange advocated collecting unpaid tax bills, rather than increasing tax rates, as he said Wilson wanted to do.

Wilson won the Democratic primary with 82 percent of the vote, to Orange's 18 percent.

In 1991, he was hired as acting director of internal audit for the University of the District of Columbia.

The next year, Orange discovered that the university was paying a fuel supplier, Tri-Continental, for fuel it never actually received.

According to the District's inspector general, over a period of eighteen months, the District had paid one million dollars to Tri-Continental for fuel it had not received.

The day after Orange released his memo naming two university administrators to be at fault, Orange's employment was terminated.

The university said that Orange had been hired under an invalid contract.

After Wilson's suicide in 1993, Orange was one of seven individuals to file to run to fill the position of Council Chair.

Also filing to run in the race were Ward 4 Councilmember Charlene Drew Jarvis and Linda Cropp.

Orange did not collect enough signatures to run, and his candidacy was disqualified by the District of Columbia Board of Elections.

Orange's appealed, saying that the District's requirement of filing nominating petitions with 3,000 valid signatures was onerous, but District of Columbia Court of Appeals disagreed, and Orange stayed off the ballot.

Orange declared himself a write-in candidate.

Clarke won the election with 47 percent of the vote.

Write-in votes, including those for Orange, were one percent of the total.

In 1994, Orange ran for councilmember to represent Ward 5, along with incumbent Harry Thomas, Sr. and eight other Democratic party candidates.

Orange advocated banning new liquor licenses, developing Fort Lincoln, and building a new convention center at New York Avenue and Florida Avenue.

Thomas won with 39 percent of the vote, compared to Orange's 17 percent.

In 1998, Orange ran again for councilmember to represent Ward 5; Harry Thomas, Sr. ran for reelection.

The Washington Post's editorial board endorsed Orange's candidacy.

Orange emphasized improvements to New York Avenue, improving the economy and schools, and restricting liquor licenses.

Orange defeated Thomas, receiving 38 percent of the vote to Thomas' 34 percent.

An attorney and a certified public accountant, Orange represented Ward 5 on the Council of the District of Columbia from 1999 to 2007, and was an at-large member from 2011 to 2016.

He lost the June 2016 Democratic primary election to Robert White.

Although his term was not due to end until January 2, 2017, Orange resigned from the council effective August 15, 2016, in the wake of conflict of interest charges over his new employment at the Chamber of Commerce.