“I Should Keep
My Mouth Shut”
New Jersey’s “Senior senator”, Robert Menendez, has admitted some “senior moments” over the past few months. Apparently, he forgot to pay for two plane trips offered by a private backer, a Florida doctor named Salomon Melgen. The thread of missed payments has now given way to allegations of intervening into a port security contract. The FBI is also investigating Menendez’ alleged visits to prostitutes in the Dominican Republic, including underage women.
Of course, Menendez’ connections to illicit people and poor judgment is not new. He had (unknowingly?) hired an illegal immigrant/sex offender from Peru to serve in his office as an unpaid intern. This “oversight” did not break in the press until after Menendez’ reelection in 2012.
For a man who has no problem skirting the immigration laws in this country, it is low indeed for him to be lecturing anyone, including the Republican Party, on the need for immigration reform in this country. Menendez outlined why immigration reform is a must. ABC “This Week” guest anchor Martha Raddatz’ refusal to pursue the allegations against is both laughable and inexcusable. He claims that “Republicans” need immigration reform, but he needs a severe comeuppance for his dalliances overseas as well as in Washington.
Despite the growing concerns surrounding Menendez, these investigations are not the first time that a Democratic Senator from New Jersey has been in trouble.
Remember Robert Toricelli? The New Jersey Democratic Party would like most people to forget the guy. The ethics violations against that former senator were so grave, he was polling behind by double digits behind the Republican candidate in a state that is two-to-one Democratic. The Democratic Party was likely to lose the Senate seat because of those frequent ethics violations, so the Republican Party resisted permitting Toricelli to step aside and let another Democrat run. Toricelli dropped out of his 2002 reelection campaign, and thus “Night of the Living Dead” Frank Lautenberg resurrected to run for the office. The Republican Party sued for an immediate redress from the United States Supreme Court, but they rejected the writ of certiorari, and the retired Democrat cruised into office.
Currently, Newark Mayor Cory Booker had the tenacity — or audacity — to ask for the chance to run for Lautenberg’s senate seat, yet a growing number of supporters for the incumbent rebuffed. Then again, designating a Senate Seat before it’s available seems all the rage in New Jersey. But that’s another story altogether.
Despite the months of stalling on this story, despite the previous record of senators stepping down, the “mainstream media” is only now reporting the growing allegations against embattled New Jersey senator Robert Menendez. Every voter in the Garden State should demand that this legislator relinquish his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee until the FBI has finished its investigation into the senator’s shady dealings.
Better yet, perhaps Menendez should resign his office altogether, while he still can and save himself and his party some unneeded embarrassment. His departure would be the second in nearly two decades, so it would not be too much of shock. Perhaps then New Jersey voters would finally elect a Republican US Senator, one who would tell it like it is, be willing to compromise without caving on core values, and represent the needs of all voters.
The New Jersey GOP needs to pay attention to the faltering legacy of “Mendacious Menendez”. Perhaps Monmouth state senator Joseph Kyrillos may consider stepping back into the limelight to run again. With the dedicated help of ultra-popular New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, perhaps the Garden State GOP could advance a credible and viable candidate to win the party’s first senate seat in over forty years. Besides, New Jersey voters, and this country, deserve better than a flabby liberal who is liberal with his campaign donors and his private life.
The Democratic Party then and now has never held Menendez in high esteem, anyway. I still cannot believe that party operatives called him “Flabby Menendez.” His service as mayor of Union City was one thing, but he now has a responsibility to all New Jerseyans, and all Americans in foreign matters, not just a concentrated interest of rich campaign donors.
“Mendacious” Menendez has been mired in dirty politics and backward deals since he ran for city council in Union City. His time is up, and New Jersey deserves better. Mendacious Menendez, move out of office, now!