Mercer County Executive

In 1972, the State of New Jersey passed the Optional County Charter Law, which provides for four different manners in which a county could be governed: by an executive, an administrator, a board president or a county supervisor.{{citation |last = Miller |first = William|title = Model County Administrative Codes Under the Optional County Charter Law of New Jersey|publisher = New Jersey Department of Community Affairs|year = 1974 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=5d9PAQAAMAAJ |accessdate = March 21, 2018}} Mercer County voters in a 1974 referendum voted to establish the executive office.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/03/archives/woodsons-fight-for-renomination-highlights-primary-election-today.html |quote=The only other major contest in the state involves the Democratic nomination of a Mercer County Executive, a new office created by the voters in last year's referendum. The county race involves Arthur Sypek, the director of the County Board of chosen Freeholders and Mayor Arthur Holland a Trenton. |title=Woodson's Fight for Renomination Highlights Primary Election Today |last=Sullivan |first=Ronald |date=June 3, 1975 |newspaper=The New York Times |accessdate=March 20, 2020}}

A court case between Mercer County's Executive and the Board of Chosen Freeholders in which the New Jersey Superior Court Law Division clarified interpretation as to the rights and responsibilities of the two branches of government was decided in 2001.{{cite court |litigants = Robert D. PRUNETTI, County Executive of Mercer County, Plaintiff, v. MERCER COUNTY BOARD OF CHOSEN FREEHOLDERS, Defendant |vol = |reporter = |opinion = |pinpoint = |court = Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division |date = November 13, 2001 |url= https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nj-superior-court/1011719.html |quote=In 1972, the Legislature adopted the Optional County Charter Law, providing a county the opportunity to reorganize its form of government into one of four alternative forms: (i) the County Executive Plan; (ii) the County Manager Plan; (iii) the Board President Plan; or (iv) the County Supervisor Plan. See N.J.S.A. 40:41A-1 et seq. Six counties have elected to reorganize their governmental structure pursuant to the Optional Charter Act. They are respectively: Atlantic, Bergen, Hudson, Essex, Mercer and Union Counties. Five of these counties...have opted for the County Executive Plan.}}

Mercer is one of the five of 21 counties of New Jersey with a popularly-elected county executive, the others being Atlantic, Bergen, Essex, and Hudson.Rinde, Meir. [http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/15/10/26/explainer-what-s-a-freeholder-understanding-nj-s-complex-government-system/ "Explainer: What’s a Freeholder? NJ’s Unusual County Government System"], NJ Spotlight, October 27, 2015. Accessed March 21, 2018. "Five counties -- Atlantic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Mercer -- opted for popularly elected county executives in addition to freeholder boards."

Democrat Arthur Sypek Sr. (1917–2002) was the inaugural officeholder of the county executive. A resident of Lawrence Township, he had served in the U.S. Army during World War II, a real estate and insurance agent, member of the Lawrence Township Planning Board, and a Mercer County Freeholder for 16 years.{{cite news |url=https://archive.centraljersey.com/2002/04/29/arthur-sypek/ |title=Arthur Sypek - Central Jersey Archives |author=Staff |date=April 29, 2002 |publisher=Newspaper Media Group |accessdate=March 20, 2020}}

In the 1975, Sypek defeated then-Trenton mayor Art Holland in the Democratic primary and S. Harry Sayen, the Mercer County Republican chairman, in the general election. Sypek was defeated for re-election by Bill Mathesius in 1979 and died on April 23, 2002.

Republican Wilbur H. "Bill" Mathesius, from Hopewell Township, served three terms from 1980 to 1991.{{cite web|url=http://www.nj.com/times-opinion/index.ssf/2018/01/thoughts_on_mercers_political_1.html|title=Thoughts on Mercer's political parties - Stoolmacher|date=4 January 2018|publisher=|accessdate=23 March 2018}} He was referred as "Wild Bill" during a political career that included stints as Assistant United States Attorney and county prosecutor.

{{cite web|url=http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2008/11/judge_mathesius_denied_reassig.html|title=Judge Mathesius denied reassignment|date=18 November 2008|publisher=|accessdate=23 March 2018}}

Mathesius was appointed to the New Jersey Superior Court in 2002{{Cite web|url=http://observer.com/2009/12/difrancescos-lame-duck-nominations/|title=DiFrancesco's lame duck nominations|website=The New York Observer|date=18 December 2009}}[https://www.njcourts.gov/notices/020115g.pdf Order Supplemeneting 2001-2002 General Assignment Order], New Jersey Judiciary, January 8, 2002. Accessed March 14, 2022. "It is ORDERED that effective upon the taking of oath, and until further Order, Superior Court Judge Wilbur H. Mathesius is hereby assigned to the Superior Court, Criminal Division, Mercer County (Vicinage 7)." and was briefly suspended in 2006 for comments regarding the death penalty.{{cite court | litigants = IN RE: Wilbur H. MATHESIUS, a Judge of the Superior Court of New Jersey. | vol = | reporter = | opinion = | pinpoint = | court = Supreme Court of New Jersey | date = November 30, 2006 | url= https://caselaw.findlaw.com/nj-supreme-court/1075865.html}}{{cite web|url=https://www.law.com/njlawjournal/almID/1202426145320/?slreturn=20180221191211|title=Voluble Mercer Co. Judge Mathesius Won't Be Renominated, Governor Says - New Jersey Law Journal|publisher=|accessdate=23 March 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/01/nyregion/01judge.html|title=Judge's Words Cost Him a Suspension of 30 Days|date= December 1, 2006|website=The New York Times|accessdate=23 March 2018}} In 2008, Governor Jon Corzine declined to reappoint him.{{cite web|url=http://www.trentonian.com/article/TT/20081119/NEWS/311199980|title=Judge Mathesius: 'Politics will have its way'|date=5 October 2004|publisher= The Trentonan|accessdate=23 March 2018}} He last presided over a murder trial in which there were irregularities.{{Citation |last = Glatt |first = John |title = Never Leave Me: A True Story of Marriage, Deception, and Brutal Murder |publisher = St. Martin's Press |year = 2007 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GJmKVfrqgJ4C&q=Bill+Mathesius&pg=PA252 |isbn = 9781429904704}}

Republican Robert "Bob" Prunetti, served as executive from 1992 to 2004. During his tenure Prunetti sued the Board of Chosen Freeholders in a case which led to a court interpretation as to the rights and responsibilities of the two branches of government.

As county chief, he collaborated with City of Trenton to develop what became known as the Sun National Bank Center.{{cite web|url=http://www.trentonian.com/article/TT/20170504/NEWS/170509873|title=Bob Prunetti suddenly loses job as MIDJersey Chamber of Commerce chief|date=5 October 2004|publisher=|accessdate=23 March 2018}}

Prunetti was appointed by then-Governor Chris Christie to the Trenton's Capital City Redevelopment Corporation{{cite web|url=http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2012/06/prunetti_appointed_to_capital.html|title=Prunetti appointed to Trenton's Capital City Redevelopment Corporation|date=20 June 2012|publisher=|accessdate=23 March 2018}} He later become Chief of the MIDJersey Chamber of Commerce.

Democrat Brian M. Hughes was first elected in November 2003. He was re-elected in 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019.{{cite web|url=http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2015/11/mercer_county_election_results_2015.html|title=Mercer County election results 2015|date=4 November 2015|publisher=|accessdate=23 March 2018}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nj.com/mercer/2019/11/nj-election-results-2019-mercer-county.html|title = N.J. Election results 2019: Mercer County|date = 6 November 2019}}

Hughes is a graduate of Thomas Edison State College and a resident of Princeton. He is a member of the notable Hughes-Murphy political family. His father was two-term New Jersey Governor and New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard J. Hughes.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/08/us/richard-j-hughes-governor-and-judge-dies-at-83.html|title=Richard J. Hughes, Governor and Judge, Dies at 83|first=Joseph F.|last=Sullivan|newspaper=The New York Times|date=8 December 1992|publisher=|accessdate=23 March 2018}} His brother, John Hughes, is a serving federal magistrate. His half-brother, Michael Murphy, is an influential lobbyist, former county prosecutor, and a 1997 candidate for governor. His sister-in-law is a Superior Court judge.

Hughes previously served as Deputy Executive Director of the Governor's Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse. In 1992 he made an unsuccessful bid to represent New Jersey's 4th congressional district in Congress.{{Cite web|url=http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/02/former_governors_son_longtime_state_lawmaker_both_considering_bids_to_replace_holt_in_congress.html|title=Former governor's son, longtime state lawmaker both considering bids to replace Holt in Congress|date=18 February 2014}} In 1997, was elected to the Board of Chosen Freeholders and served two terms, including one as Freeholder President.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mercercounty.org/government/county-executive/meet-the-county-executive|title=Meet the County Executive | Mercer County, NJ}} In 2014, he was elected the first Vice President of the County Executives of America (CEA).{{cite web|url=http://www.trentonian.com/general-news/20140721/mercer-county-executive-hughes-voted-in-as-vp-of-nation-organization|title=Mercer County Executive Hughes voted in as VP of nation organization|date=21 July 2014|publisher=|accessdate=23 March 2018}}

Democrat Daniel R. Benson is life-long resident of Hamilton. He was elected in November 2023, after Hughes dropped his re-election bid earlier that year after Benson defeated him at the Mercer County Democratic Convention.{{Cite web|url=https://newjerseyglobe.com/local/dems-hold-county-offices-in-camden-essex-hudson-mercer-middlesex-union/|title=Dems hold county offices in Camden, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Union|date=7 November 2023}}

• Atlantic County Executive
• Bergen County Executive
• Essex County Executive
• Hudson County Executive

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{{Mercer County, New Jersey Government}}

Category:County government in New Jersey