William Everett Schluter (November 5, 1927 – August 6, 2018) was an American

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

politician from New Jersey, who served in both houses of the

New Jersey Legislature The New Jersey Legislature is the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, as defined by the New Jersey Constitution of 1947, the Legislature consists of two houses: the General Assembly and the ...

in two separate instances.

Early life and career

Schluter was born on November 5, 1927, in

Bronxville, New York Bronxville is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the town of Eastchester. The village comprises one square mile (2.5 km2) of land in its entirety, a ...

to Frederic E. and Charlotte M. Schluter. He grew up in Princeton, New Jersey and attended

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

and Princeton University, where he played on the hockey team. In 1950 he married Nancy Albright Hurd. They settled in Pennington, New Jersey. Schluter was elected to the Pennington Borough Council in 1963 and served for six years. He was a delegate to the

1964 Republican National Convention The 1964 Republican National Convention took place in the Cow Palace, Daly City, California, from July 13 to July 16, 1964. Before 1964, there had been only one national Republican convention on the West Coast, the 1956 Republican National Conven ...

for

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...

New Jersey Legislature

Schluter ran an unsuccessful campaign for the

New Jersey Senate The New Jersey Senate was established as the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature by the Constitution of 1844, replacing the Legislative Council. There are 40 legislative districts, representing districts with an average population of 232, ...

in 1965 against Sido L. Ridolfi in the 6th Legislative District encompassing all of Mercer County. However two years later, he was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly from District 6A (encompassing Mercer County outside of Trenton and

Ewing Ewing may refer to: People * Ewing (surname) * Ewing (given name) Places ;United States * Ewing Township, Boone County, Arkansas * Ewing, Illinois, a village * Ewing Township, Franklin County, Illinois * Ewing, Indiana, an unincorporated communi ...

) and was reelected in 1969. In 1970, Schluter was appointed to the

New Jersey Election Law Revision Commission The New Jersey Election Law Revision Commission (ELRC) was a bipartisan panel established in 1964 to review all of the state's election laws and recommend ways to modernize them. New Jersey's election laws had not been overhauled since 1930. The E ...

, which produced a landmark report in 1975 recommending ways to reform New Jersey's election laws and curb political corruption. Schluter later wrote in 2017, "This report and the work of the Commission inspired me to take up the banner of reform, which has been the backbone of my political career ever since." In 1971, in a newly reapportioned legislative district combining parts of Mercer County and all of Hunterdon County, Schluter was elected to the

. However two years later in 1973 in a new 14th district encompassing Mercer, Hunterdon, Middlesex, and Morris counties, Schluter lost the seat in 1973 to

Anne Clark Martindell Anne Clark Martindell (July 18, 1914 – June 11, 2008) was an American Democratic Party politician from New Jersey, as well as a diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to New Zealand from 1979 to 1981. Early life and family Anne Cl ...

, as Democrats took control of the State Legislature in the wake of the Watergate scandal. In 1976 Schluter ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives from the 13th congressional district against the Democratic incumbent,

Helen Stevenson Meyner Helen Day Stevenson Meyner (March 5, 1928 — November 2, 1997), also known as Helen S. Meyner, was an American politician from New Jersey. A Democrat, Meyner served as a U.S. Representative from New Jersey from 1975 to 1979. As the wife of New Je ...

, who like Martindell, had won in a Republican-leaning district in the aftermath of Watergate. In the hotly contested race, Meyner defeated Schluter by a narrow margin. In 1978 Schluter ran for the House seat again but lost in the Republican primary to Jim Courter, who went on to defeat Meyner in the general election. Schluter returned to the

in 1987, when Dick Zimmer moved from the Assembly to the Senate following the death of Senator

Walter E. Foran Walter Edge "Moose" Foran (May 14, 1919 – December 8, 1986) was an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey, who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature. He followed in the footsteps of his father, Arthur F. Foran, wh ...

. Schluter won a special election Zimmer's Assembly seat in the 23rd district, and then was appointed to the State Senate after Zimmer succeeded Courter in the House of Representatives in 1991. Schluter's Assembly seat was filled by Leonard Lance.

Gubernatorial bid and later career

Schluter served in the State Senate until 2001, when he would have had to run against a fellow incumbent, Democratic Senator Shirley Turner, due to

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

. Instead, he ran as an independent in the race for Governor of New Jersey, with the help of

Doug Friedline Douglas Friedline (19572006) was a Minnesota-born political campaign director in the United States. Friedline worked exclusively with independent and third party candidates with the goal of breaking the two party oligopoly in American politics. F ...

, the former campaign manager of Governor Jesse Ventura of Minnesota. The relationship brought an endorsement from Gov. Jesse Ventura of Minnesota. However a few weeks later, on September 11, 2001 the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City caused an immediate cessation of political campaigning in New Jersey, and supporters diverted their otherwise campaign contributions to disaster relief organizations. This prevented Schluter from raising sufficient funds to qualify in the gubernatorial televised debates. By the time the race restarted, Schluter lagged far behind Democrat Jim McGreevey and Republican

Brett Schundler Bret D. Schundler (born January 14, 1959) is an American Republican politician from New Jersey. Schundler was the mayor of Jersey City from 1992 until 2001. Schundler was the city's first Republican mayor since 1917. He ran for Governor of Ne ...

, and garnered only 1% of the vote. Schluter was appointed to the State Ethics Commission in 2006 by Governor Jon Corzine. He was a resident of Pennington, New Jersey. Schluter remained somewhat active in New Jersey politics. He was the author of a book, ''Soft Corruption: How Unethical Conduct Undermines Good Government and What To Do About It'', published in spring 2017 by Rutgers University Press. Schluter died on August 6, 2018 in his Pennington home following complications from pancreatic cancer of which he had been diagnosed for two years.

References

External links

New Jersey Legislature - Senator William E. Schluter (R)
(Archived version from November 9, 2001) {{DEFAULTSORT:Schluter, William E. 1927 births 2018 deaths New Jersey city council members Republican Party New Jersey state senators People from Bronxville, New York People from Princeton, New Jersey People from Pennington, New Jersey Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Politicians from Mercer County, New Jersey Princeton University alumni Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly New Jersey Independents Deaths from pancreatic cancer Deaths from cancer in New Jersey