would be elected from equal-sized districts. The first executive, Peter Shapiro, was elected in November 1978 and took office together on November 13 of that year, one week after election day, together with the nine newly elected freeholders. County executives Peter Shapiro: 1978–1985 Peter Shapiro had been the youngest person elected to serve in the New Jersey General Assembly and was one of the people who helped push through the change in the Essex County charter in 1977 creating the position of county executive. Shapiro ran for the new office, defeating Sheriff John F. Cryan, the candidate of the well-entrenched Democratic organization led by county chairman Harry Lerner in the primary, before knocking off Republican Robert F. Notte in the first general election for the post in November 1978. He took office with the nine newly elected members of the restructured freeholder board one week after election day, on November 13, 1978. Shapiro was reelected with 69% of the vote in the 1982 general election, defeating Republican James Troiano. During his tenure as county executive, he worked for administrative reform, reorganizing 69 agencies under 8 principal departments, leaving office as executive to run for Governor of New Jersey, unsuccessfully. Nicholas Amato: 1987–1991 Democrat-turned-Republican Nicholas R. Amato, who had resigned as the Essex County Surrogate to run for office, was elected in 1986, knocking off Shapiro, who was running for a third term of office. Amato was able to capitalize on voter frustration with 22% increases in county tax rates and the division within the Democratic Party following Shapiro's overwhelming loss in the 1985 race for governor to Republican Thomas Kean by the largest margin of victory ever recorded for a gubernatorial race in New Jersey, 71%–24%. When Amato switched his registration back to the Democratic Party, he was unable to get official primary support in the primary and did not seek re-election in 1990. Thomas D'Allesio: 1991–1995 Democrat Thomas D'Allesio was elected in 1990, having defeated Republican Michael Vernotico of Millburn. D'Allesio resigned from office in 1994 following his conviction on federal extortion charges. James Treffinger: 1995–2003 Republican James W. Treffinger was elected in 1994, defeating Mayor Cardell Cooper, Democrat of East Orange. The Democrats had faced a challenge after Cooper and Thomas Giblin wound up tied with 22,907 votes in the June primary, after three recounts. A series of court battles ended in August with Cooper selected as the