Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes abruptly left virtual county meeting
TRENTON >> Respect my authoritah!
Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes didn’t like fielding questions — not even softball ones from fellow Democrats on what Republicans suggest is his “rubber-stamp committee.”
The Democratic kingmaker abruptly left his virtual March 11 budget presentation mid-sentence after growing frustrated with county commissioner John Cimino, according to a recording obtained by The Trentonian.
The odd duck-out occurred after Hughes stumbled through prepared remarks about the county’s proposed flat-tax $332.2 million budget — he said the proposed budget was for “3 million, 300 hundred, 2 million that is under state-mandated cap” — while facing questions about his ability to continue leading the county.
“Thank you all very much,” Hughes told commissioners, before peacing out.
Administrator Lillian Nazzaro, sensing Hughes had logged off, interjected: “Dave, can you speak to that?”
CFO David Miller pinchhit for the county executive, confirming for Cimino that the county was receiving $71 million in stimulus aid from the feds through the American Rescue Plan Act, the recording shows.
“I do understand we’re going to get tranche one up front and then a second tranche, and we’re going to have an extended period of time to expend the funds,” Miller said.
Cimino confirmed the bizarre exchange to The Trentonian, saying commissioners were puzzled about what occurred.
“I just wanted to get it on the record because there’s been lots of different reports,” Cimino said of the $71 million aid figure. “I had just asked the county executive how much money we were getting? He half-answered it; that’s true and accurate.
And then he didn’t fully answer it, and then he got up and walked away. Clearly, we’re all virtual and we’re on Zoom now, so for anybody that was part of that initial virtual meeting that night, would have seen exactly what transpired. There was some confusion in and around it with him. I don’t know exactly what caused it.”
Cimino was generous with how he described the interaction. The recording shows Hughes did not address the question at all before storming out.
“The numbers are pretty substantial for Mercer County in regards to those dollars that are carved out,” Cimino said on the recording. “It’s $71 million for Mercer: $35 million within six months and the other $35 million over three years. Is that accurate? I know we don’t know what we can spend it on has to be COVIDrelated instances, but they’re the numbers Mercer will be seeing. Is that correct?”
“We are absolutely at no position to tell you what the federal government is gonna let us spend money on,” Hughes responded.
“I didn’t ask what we are allowed to spend it on,” Cimino clarified. “I’m talking about the dollars.”
Hughes said his goodbyes and left without addressing the follow-up, leaving staff to handle it.
No one tried getting Hughes’ attention after Miller answered for him or doublechecked to see if he was still on the call. The meeting went on without Hughes.
Board chairman Samuel Frisby, a fellow Democrat, said he also had questions for Hughes but commissioners didn’t get that far.
He admitted Hughes’ sudden exit was “rude” but said he’s seen the county executive “miffed” before when pressed up.
“We have some ideas about how we want to see it spent. We were about to go down that road,” Frisby said. “He apparently didn’t really want to go down that road, so he signed off of the call. … I really don’t understand the county executive signed off the way he did. You’d have to ask him on that one. … It was rude.”
Hughes didn’t respond to a phone call seeking comment. The Trentonian sent a detailed list of questions to county spokeswoman Julie Willmot called it an “inadvertent miscommunication.”
Hughes is under fire after a pair of unforced errors: The administration faces allegations that it covered up his June 1, 2020, encounter with Pennsylvania State Police and the $660K theft of taxpayers funds from the county by two Nigerian nationals.
Those bombshells were revealed in exclusive Trentonian reports, yet Hughes still hasn’t answered for them.
His administration waited two years before saying a word about the fleecing, carried out by Emmanuel Igomu and Jude Constantine Balogun, until the newspaper asked questions about it this week.
Commissioners also appeared to have been left in the dark about the theft, which occurred in February 2019.
The feds in Georgia prosecuted and locked up both men who they said were scooped up in an international dragnet of 281 people in the U.S. and overseas involved in “business email compromise,” or BEC, schemes that intercepted and hijacked wire transfers of vulnerable agencies.
“Republicans and Democrats alike and every Mercer County resident should be outraged over the coverup and lack of transparency in Mercer County government,” Lisa Richford, chairwoman of the county GOP committee.
Republicans have also claimed the Hughes administration hid the county executive’s bizarre interaction with police last summer, at the height of New Jersey’s pandemic.
Hughes abandoned a county-issued vehicle along the Pennsylvania Turnpike near the Lawn Service Plaza, about 20 miles outside of Harrisburg.
He told the trooper he was involved in a race with four others in Paris, France. The trooper called Hughes’ wife, Pamela, who explained Hughes had a condition that caused confusion.
He was taken to a local hospital, and the trooper called Hughes’ chief of staff Kelly Ganges who arranged for someone from the county to pick up the vehicle.
Hughes explained that he suffered an adverse reaction to a prescribed medication he’s been on for years to treat a rare nerve disorder.