A Progressive Perspective: An Update on Hughes vs. Benson Race

On Monday Night Football in the 70s and 80s, the broadcast team was Frank Gifford, Howard Cosell, and “Dandy” Don Meredith. When a game’s outcome had been determined Dandy Don’s signature call was singing “Turn out the lights, the party’s over” (a line from a Willie Nelson song “The Party’s over”).

I think it’s time for Brian Hughes to “turn out the light” on his attempt to fend off a challenge from Assemblyman Dan Benson to succeed him as County Executive. I’ve written previously that Hughes’ chances of defeating Benson at the upcoming March 5th Democratic Endorsement Convention were slim and he faced an uphill battle to defeat Benson off the party line in a primary. Yet I felt that Hughes respectfully deserved the opportunity to make his case as to why he should be given another term and why there was no reason to make a change in the leadership of the County.

However, revelations from an investigation by the New Jersey Office of State Comptroller (OSC), triggered by a confidential complaint, changed all that. The OSC investigation found that Mercer County incurred and paid nearly $4.5 million in penalties and interest for delinquent tax filings and payments to the IRS and the state Division of Taxation between 2018 and 2021, resulting in waste that was paid by Mercer County taxpayers. The investigation also found that David Miller, the county’s chief financial officer and a Hughes appointee, “did not hold or even apply for” a required certification throughout his tenure as CFO.  As a result, Mercer County was without “a properly credentialed CFO for over a decade.”

The OSC’s investigation found that the Mercer County Finance Department (MCFD) failed to follow best practices, creating a risk for fraud, waste, and abuse. The report detailed that the “MCFD does not have an organizational chart clearly defining the department’s reporting structure, identifying the positions available within the department, and listing the current staff members. MCFD also does not have written policies and procedures establishing internal controls and the segregation of duties that provide checks and balances on employees involved in approving expenditures of public funds.”

According to the OCS investigation report, Lillian Nazzaro, the County Administrator (who was an attorney and Deputy County Counsel for 15 years prior to assuming her current position) was responsible for overseeing MCFD. “Ms. Nazzaro told the OSC that she was unaware of any written policies or procedures guiding the operation of MCFD.  When asked specifically about policies governing the segregation of department duties, the County Administrator stated that an employee’s formal job title and the duties assigned to that title ensure department duties are effectively segregated.  When questioned further, however, she acknowledged that the formal job titles and duties do not necessarily correspond to the work MCFD employees perform or ensure the segregation of duties.”

“Additionally, annual independent audits of the County repeatedly noted issues regarding a lack of adequate staffing within MCFD. The auditor noted that inadequate staffing levels resulted in untimely reconciliations and untimely compliance with audit requirements.”  Further, the County’s auditors, Mercadien, P.C., found “material deficiencies” in internal controls in 2020-001 and “significant deficiencies” in 2020-002.

These findings reflect a lack of controls and oversight within the Hughes administration as well as possible fraud and/or criminal behavior. The situation clearly warrants further investigation including a possible independent forensic audit of the finance of the county government. How this was covered up for so long needs to be determined.  And who knew what and when?

In light of the state’s findings, I believe it is highly unlikely that Brian Hughes can make a compelling case that he is best suited to lead the county in the future; let alone deal with the various other arguments that Hughes acknowledged to me in an interview were out there and being tossed-out about him: “I’m too old, too sick and bereft of ideas”.

Here’s an example of why running makes no sense to me based on the OCS findings. In my most recent discussion with Hughes he talked about his efforts to keep taxes down and emphasized that during his next term he would work to “control rather than expand government.” He noted that his task was going to be made harder by unsuccessful projects, like the Trenton arena that were approved prior to his tenure, but the bonds floated to finance the projects still have to be paid off. It’s hard to make the case for fiscal responsibility when the action of one of your key appointments cost the taxpayers nearly $4.5 million.

There is no question that many, including me, will wonder whether the problems that arose in recent years were related to Hughes’ hand-off management style or other factors. It was widely acknowledged that he was not a hands-on Jimmy Carter-type of chief executive.

Brian Hughes is a good, decent, dedicated person with a deep commitment to public service who day-in-and-day-out triumphs over his circumstances. He has done considerable good for Mercer County during his tenure and that should not be forgotten. I respectfully hope that he decides to end his efforts to serve a sixth term as County Executive.

Irwin Stoolmacher is president of the Stoolmacher Consulting Group, a fundraising and strategic planning firm that works with nonprofit agencies that serve the truly needy among us.