The following letter was received in response to the article “Retiring Hughes reflects on 20 years as county executive,” which was published in the January issue of the Robbinsville Advance.
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Following the recent interview with Brian Hughes, ex Mercer County Executive, was akin to following an interview between PRAVDA (the Russian news organization founded by Lenin and Stalin) and Vladimir Putin; with the news organization bypassing a discussion of the Ukraine invasion and other Putin atrocities.
The “puff piece” approach by the Gazette stands in sharp contrast to a Hughes administration chock full of ineptitude during his 20 years of service to the Mercer County community.
This may be best remembered by the discovery in the last few years leading up to 2023, that Mercer County has squandered millions in taxpayer monies.
This revelation brought the need to hire an independent forensic auditor to review the financial activities of the County—a $ 400 million operation, with neither Hughes—as county executive- nor any of his eight Commissioners with a shred of education or experience in the financial field.
The Mercer County Forensic Audit was completed and presented to the Commissioners on Sept. 12, 2023. Surprisingly, not one of the Mercer County newspapers decided to cover this story or the forensic results (more about this later).
Some of the key findings of the forensic report were as follows:
1. The chief financial officer of Mercer County had his license and certification lapse.
2. The computer systems supporting the accounting systems were antiquated.
3. Total lack of knowledge and relevant experience of the financial staff (it should be noted that in the past I criticized Mercer County government hiring practices because individuals were hired not based on their relevant education and experience, but based on whether they were County Democrat supporters and/or friends or relatives of Democrat office holders.)
4. Lack of financial controls and segregation of duties to prevent fraud.
5. Lack of Bank Account reconciliations.
6. Staff complaints and workplace issues that were not managed in a consistent manner: staff fear of retaliation for complaining.
7. Lack of a policy and procedures manual.
8. Undertaking a test of transactions found that 54.3% of disbursements were paid without adequate or any documentation.
9. Of the 47 wire transfers examined in the test of transactions, all 47 were performed by the county staff with no supporting documentation.
The Mercer County Forensic Audit provides conclusive evidence that entrusting a $ 400 million dollar government agency run exclusively (100%) by one political party- none of whose members understand finance was a recipe for disaster.
As mentioned beforehand, not one of the newspapers that Lawrence Township residents might read found this story worthy enough to even cover.
When I last ran for County Commissioner in 2015, not one of these papers attended a single Commissioner meeting during the entire year I was campaigning.
When I travel around Mercer County I can certainly say that we probably don’t need any more Starbucks or Dunkin Donut restaurants.
We also don’t need any newspapers that continue “carrying water” for the Mercer County Democratic political machine by refusing to carry stories that might be critical of them.
Ira L. Marks
Lawrence Township
Former Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes speaks in Rosedale Park in Hopewell at a ribbon-cutting for the Park Commission's Zagster Bike Share Program in 2019.,
