William E. Schluter

William Everett Schluter (November 5, 1927 – August 6, 2018) was an American Republican Party politician from New Jersey, who served in both houses of the New Jersey Legislature in two separate instances.

Early life and career

Schluter was born on November 5, 1927, in Bronxville, New York, to Frederic E. and Charlotte M. Schluter. He grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, and attended Phillips Exeter Academy and Princeton University, where he played on the hockey team.^[1] In 1950 he married Nancy Albright Hurd. They settled in Pennington, New Jersey.^[2]

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 for Barry Goldwater.

New Jersey Legislature

Schluter ran an unsuccessful campaign for the

In 1970, Schluter was appointed to the New Jersey Election Law Revision Commission,^[5] which produced a landmark report in 1975 recommending ways to reform New Jersey's election laws and curb political corruption.^[6] 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."^[7]

In 1971, in a newly reapportioned legislative district combining parts of Mercer County and all of Hunterdon County, Schluter was elected to the New Jersey Senate. 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, as Democrats took control of the State Legislature in the wake of the Watergate scandal.^[8]

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, 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.^[3]

Schluter returned to the

Schluter was appointed to the State Ethics Commission in 2006 by Governor Jon Corzine. He was a resident of Pennington, New Jersey.^[12] 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.^[13]

Schluter died on August 6, 2018, in his Pennington home following complications from pancreatic cancer of which he had been diagnosed for two years.^[3][1]

References