NY Times exposes Menendez using his power to steer millions to donor
In defending his friend, Senator Bob Mendendez, against the salacious charges of sleeping with underage Dominican girls for money, Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid dismissed the allegations because they originated with the conservative website, The Daily Caller.
Maybe Reid will take The New York Times more seriously.
Two years ago, Dr. Melgen, despite an apparent lack of experience in border security issues, bought an ownership interest in a company that had a long-dormant contract with the Dominican Republic to provide port security. Mr. Menendez, who is chairman of the Senate subcommittee that holds sway over the Dominican Republic, subsequently urged officials in the State and Commerce Departments to intervene so the contract would be enforced, at an estimated value of $500 million.
Menendez abusing the powers of his office on the behalf on campaign contributors or out of personal vengeance is not news to regular MMM readers. Over the years we’ve written about how he and other Democrats in the New Jersey congressional delegation pressured the FDA to approve a faulty medical device, how he blocked the appoinment of a federal judge whose boyfriend investigated him as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and how he used Senatorial Courtesy to end the career of a distinguished diplomat at the behest of campaign donors.
We’ve been little more than an annoyance to Menendez. But now that the mainstream media is putting the senator under a microscope, he could be in real trouble. Yesterday I wrote that Menendez would probably survive his recent scandal unless he was indicted or convicted. Now I’m not so sure. At the very least, his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Commitee could be at risk. There is one Democrat, Barbara Boxer of California, with more seniority than Menendez on the committee. Two Democrats, Robert Casey, Jr of Pennsylvania and Ben Cardin of Maryland have the same Senate seniority as Menendez. They must have ambitions and friendships with Harry Reid too
Posted: February 1st, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Bob Menendez | Tags: Barbara Boxer, Ben Cardin, Bob Menendez, Bob Menendez scandals, Bob Menendez sex scandals, Dr. Salomon Malgen, Harry Reid, Matthew Bryza, Menaflex, Menendez scandals, Menendez sex scandals, New York Times, Patty Shwartz, Rebert Casey JR | Comments Off on Menendez-Melgen Relationship: It’s more than plane trips and hookers.
While most of the media is justifiably covering the events in Libya and Egypt today, I thought I’d bring some attention to a foreign policy issue in the Middle East that has been going on for two years involving our junior New Jersey U.S. Senator Bob Menendez that has escaped the attention of the New Jersey media.
MMM readers may remember how Menendez blocked U.S. Magistrate Patty Shwartz’s nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals because her boyfriend was the lead prosecutor who investigated the senator in 2006.
It came to our attention today, via the president of Azerbaijan, that Menendez has been similarly abusing his senatorial courtesy power in the domain of foreign affairs.
Yesterday, President Ilhan Aliyev said that Menendez is racist and that he is cooperating with a political adversary of Aliyev’s on behalf of the Armenian lobby in his country.
His compatriot Breivik killed about 80 people and he was sentenced to 21 year imprisonment. And it means that he got 3 month of imprisonment for each people.Is that possible? Why does he keep silence about this? Or there is one pro-Armenian Senator Menendez and he is against Azerbaijan and Islam. His last work was that he was not allowed to extend the term of the former U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan and to prevent his nomination for two reasons. The first reason is that the US ambassador does not recognize the so-called “Armenian genocide”. And he should not recognize as the U.S. government does not recognize this “genocide”.
The second reason is that the ambassador’s wife is of Turkish origin. It is racism. However, I want to stress that no one can affect my will, opinion, action, and have never affected.’
The ambassador that Aliyev is talking about is Matthew Bryza.
President Obama nominated the career diplomat Bryza to be the ambassador to Azerbaijan, an oil rich former Soviet state which is a rare constitutional secular republic with a predominantly Muslim population, in 2010. Menendez and California Senator Barbara Boxer put a hold on the nomination because, The Washington Post Editorial Page Editor says, of the senators ties to (and donations from) the Armenian community.
Azerbaijan and Armenia are long term geopolitical and cultural rivals.
Despite Bryza’s strong endorsement from the elite of the diplomatic community, Menendez held out his judgement as superior to that distinguished bipartisan group and that of Obama, in a letter to the editor of the Washington Post.
Obama made Bryza a recess appointment. Menendez continued to oppose his nomination and Bryza’s diplomatic career came to an end this past January. Because Bob Menendez and Barbara Boxer get political donations and support from Armenians, a talented ambassador to an important Middle Eastern country was sent home.
MMM knows little about the Azerbaijan/Armenia conflict. We highly doubt it will be an issue in the campaign between Menendez and GOP nominee State Senator Joe Kyrillos, as Kyrillos has exceptionally close ties to the Armenian community. Joe’s wife Susan is of Armenian descent. The conflicts between the two countries and cultures is not the point.
The point is that Menendez has a pattern of abusing his power for his own personal and political interests, to the detriment of our national interests.
New Jersey’s mainstream media has not covered the Menendez/Bryza disgrace. Yesterday the President of Azerbaijan gave them a reason to cover it. When the head of state of a foreign country calls a U.S. Senator a racist, that should be news. MMM is happy to point the story out to our mainstream media friends, just in case they missed it with all the other pressing foreign affairs news.
Posted: September 12th, 2012 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2012 U.S. Senate Race | Tags: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Barbara Boxer, Bob Menendez, Joe Kyrillos, Matthew Bryza, Muslim, President Ilhan Aliyev, Racist, Washington Post | 8 Comments »
