What if Menendez resigns?

It’s not considered likely that Senator Bob Menendez will resign as a result of the bi-partisan admonishment he received from the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics.  NJ and Washington Democrats have become a much more forgiving people since Senator Bob Torricelli was forced out of office after his admonishment 16 years ago.

As Bret Stephens wrote in a Trump bashing piece in the NY Times yesterday, America’s standards have declined over the years.   Menendez’s admonishment for trading the power of his office for luxury travel and massive campaign contributions will likely blow over as the Democrats and their media partners continue their mission to destroy the Trump presidency.

But what if the Russian collusion with the Senate Ethics Committee works and Menendez decides to take a job running Dr. Salomon Melgen’s port security business in the Dominican Republic while looking over his luxury villa?

If Menendez resigns, Governor Phil Murphy gets to appoint someone to fill the vacancy until January. That person would run in Menendez’s place for a six year term in the November election. Who would Murphy choose? Read the rest of this entry »

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Monmouth Democrats Back Menendez For Reelection

Monmouth Democrat Chairman Dave Brown

Monmouth County Democrat Chairman David Brown responded to the news that indicted U.S. Senator Bob Menendez will face a second trial on federal corruption charges by endorsing the senator for reelection in November, according to a report at PoliticsDW.

“Whether it is fighting for progressive values or standing up to Donald Trump’s disastrous and economic and environmental policies, Senator Bob Menendez has had our side,” said David Brown, the Monmouth County Democratic Chairman.

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N.J.’s Menendez trial delayed for up to a year

WASHINGTON — A U.S. District Court judge on Thursday pushed back the trial of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez for as much as a year to provide time for appeals of motions filed with the court. Judge William Walls said the trial would not start next month as originally scheduled because he expected any rulings on a… Read the rest of this entry »

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Menendez aides attemp to avoid testifying in grand jury probe of senator, report says

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New Menendez Scandal Emerging

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez has another sex and influence scandal brewing.

This time Menendez is alleged to have had an affair with Cecilia Reynolds, the married publisher of the Freehold based Spanish language newspaper, Nosotros, and to have used the power of his office in an attempt to thwart the federal investigation into his friend, Anibal Acovedo Vila, while Vila was the governor of Puerto Rico, according to a report in The New York Post.

Menendez and Reynolds traveled to Vila’s isolated beach retreat on Puerto Rico in 2007, according  NYPost, who report they are in possession of a nude photograph of Reynolds on the beach and another of the couple dressed in shorts with Menendez wrapping his arms around her waist.  The photographs and other documentation were provided to NYPost and other media outlets by an anonymous tipster who Reynolds said is a former disgruntled business partner.

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Menendez Co-Sponsoring Anti-Abstinence Sex Education Legislation

Maybe he was doing research in the Dominican Republic

U.S. Senator Bob Menendez is co-sponsoring the Real Education for Healthy Youth Act, a bill that would expand comprehensive sex  education programs in schools, while ensuring that federal funds are spent on  “effective, age-appropriate and medically accurate” programs, according to The Hill.

The Real Education for Healthy Youth Act aims to reduce unintended  pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and expand sex education  programs at colleges and universities. The bill would also prevent federal funds  from being spent on “ineffective, medically inaccurate” sex-education  programs.

“Research has shown that programs which teach abstinence and contraception  effectively delay the onset of sexual intercourse, reduce the number of sexual  partners, and increase contraceptive use among teens,” Lee said. “These programs  also reduce unintended pregnancy and the transmission of sexually transmitted  infections, including HIV.”

Senator Frank Lautenberg and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) are the primary sponsors of the legislation.

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Menendez was still doing Melgen’s bidding last month

The scrutiny that his relationship with Dr. Salomon Melgen was getting didn’t keep U.S. Senator Bob Menendez from using his power as an advocate for his benefactor last month.

Menendez intervened with the Department of Homeland Security in January, asking that they not provide port security equipment to the Dominican Republic. Menendez was concerned that the advanced screening equipment would undermine the efforts of Melgen’s company that has a $500 million contract with the DR for port security operations.  Dominican customs officials have been trying to cancel the contract with Melgen, citing its excessive cost, over the objections of Menendez.

Melgen has been a friend and contributor of Menendez’s for over 20 years.  After being caught failing to disclose flights to the Dominican Republic on Melgen’s private plane, Menendez paid Melgen $58,500 in January for two flights that occurred in 2010.   Melgen’s eye care clinic was raided by the FBI in January.  Media reports say the eye doctor is being investigated for $8.9 million if Medicare/Medicaid fraud and that he owes the IRS $11 million.

Menendez has also intervened with federal health care officials regarding Medicare/Medicaid billing on behalf of Melgen.

The New York Times has the story.

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NY Times calls for Menendez’s removal as Chair of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Ethics Investigation

In a scathing editorial that did not mention the prostitution and pedophilia allegations against U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, The New York Times has called for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to remove New Jersey’s junior senator from his newly acquired post as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator Robert Menendez was never a distinguished choice for chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the position he ascended to this month by virtue of seniority. Concerns about that quality gap have sharply escalated amid new disclosures about Mr. Menendez’s use of his position to advance the financial interests of a friend and big donor. Instead of trying to protect Mr. Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, needs to remove his gavel, at least pending credible resolution by the Senate Ethics Committee of the swirling accusations of misconduct.

The editorial goes on the summarize how Menendez abused his power as a Senator on the behalf Dr. Salomon Melgen, his friend and benefactor. Menendez held a Senate Sub-Committee hearing, where he was the only senator present, to pressure the State Department to prevail on the Dominican Republic to enforce a contract for port security with a company that Melgen has an ownership interest in.  In 2009 and 2012, Menendez contacted federal health care officials to question their rulings that Melgan had over-billed the government $8.9 million in Medicare and Medicaid payments to his Florida eye care clinic.

The editorial concludes,

It appears Mr. Menendez has learned little from his own previous ethics issues or from the fall of a former New Jersey senator, Robert Torricelli, who decided not to run for re-election in 2002 amid allegations that he had inappropriately aided a big donor and accepted expensive gifts. It is unclear whether the Senate Ethics Committee has initiated a formal inquiry into Mr. Menendez’s conduct, but a prompt and thorough review is surely called for. In the meantime, Mr. Menendez needs to relinquish his leadership role, at least temporarily.

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