This came out of the blue (for me, at least):
The Justice Department expects to file corruption charges against Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, a law enforcement official said Friday, culminating an investigation that has dogged the senator for two years.
The investigation has focused on his relationship with a Florida eye doctor who is a longtime friend and political benefactor. Federal prosecutors said Mr. Menendez did political favors for the doctor, Salomon Melgen.
A lawyer for Mr. Menendez did not immediately return a message seeking comment, but the senator and his lawyers have adamantly denied that Mr. Menendez did anything improper.
The expected charges, which were first reported by CNN, are expected in the next few weeks, the official said.
The investigation began with a tip — unproven and vehemently disputed by Mr. Menendez — that Dr. Melgen had helped pay for underage prostitutes for Mr. Menendez in the Dominican Republic. The women who made the accusations ultimately recanted, but the F.B.I. continued to investigate.
The scrutiny shifted to the senator’s relationship with Dr. Melgen and whether he traded gifts for official duties, and federal agents raided Dr. Melgen’s offices. Both men have denied doing anything improper.
So, New Jersey peeps- what state level Democrats have a shot at winning a Senate race…
Ben Cisco
Bye Felicia!
Gin & Tonic
What is it with the fucking eye doctors?
kindness
Good. Menendez was way too happy to play Lieberman when it suited him.
JPL
Has Christie asked him to resign yet?
The Main Gauche of Mild Reason
This isn’t new. He claimed mid-last year that it was a giant Cuban-backed plot to discredit him.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/sen-robert-menendez-seeks-probe-of-alleged-cuban-plot-to-smear-him/2014/07/07/e9ba25a0-efe8-11e3-914c-1fbd0614e2d4_story.html
Botsplainer
Clearly, this means we should vote GOP because both sides.
Given anonymity of the source, 60/40 that this is as false as Fitzmas.
TR
Rush Holt! He lost to Booker in the last primary but he’s freaking amazing.
Mike in NC
Stories about corrupt NJ politicians are really of the dog-bites-man variety.
Germy Shoemangler
@Mike in NC: Yes, NJ is like Chicago in that way.
Still waiting for the other shoe to drop re: the Prince of Darkness Andrew Cuomo.
max
This came out of the blue (for me, at least):
There were issues earlier. Personally, everything I’ve heard out of him makes him sound like an asshole. The main issue is who is coming in to replace him.
max
[‘Considering Menendez, I’m not sure Christie’s replacement is going to matter much.’]
boatboy_srq
@Gin & Tonic: Indeed. Even the ones with respectable credentials.
Germy Shoemangler
May I also say that, as much as I love reading Charlie Pierce, the web makeover is a hot mess? What’s going on at Esquire? Did Hearst give the directive to jazz up the pixels?
Bystander
Rush Holt would be a great replacement. Since he’s a scientist, he must be Kryptonite for supermen like Imhofe.
jonas
If this ends up being an opportunity for NJ to elect a Democrat who is 1. not corrupt, 2. actually somewhat progressive and 3. willing to work with his own party’s president to get shit done, then there could be a silver lining here. But NJ, like New York, appears to still be largely dominated by the party machines and that doesn’t bode well.
Xantar
Clearly this is a politically motivated plot by the Obama Justice Department to get more seats for Democrats in the Senate.
boatboy_srq
BTW what the BLEEP is with the adverts here? Are we really getting spammed with the “this filter pitcher filters out fluoride… and other disease-causing contaminants”?
Carolinus
@The Main Gauche of Mild Reason:
He argued the Republican operative shopped about underage prostitutes charge was a smear/plot. Its only relation to the Salomon Melgen quid pro quo charges is that the prostitues, who later recanted, matched their stories to his Melgen plane ride timeline.
SatanicPanic
Clearly fallout from Hillary not using a government email address. Already she’s taking down other Democrats.
dedc79
There’s this guy Toricelli who I’ve heard great things about….
jharp
I like that Congressman who was spearheading the Christie investigations.
He seems to have exactly what it takes.
Can’t think of his name though and can’t find him on the Google.
BGinCHI
Good fucking riddance if true.
Springsteen should get off his lazy ass and run. He hasn’t had a decent record since Darkness on the Edge of Town.
The Moar You Know
Not if but when for this douche. Shouldn’t be too hard to replace.
Amir Khalid
@BGinCHI:
You can’t be serious. Do you really think the distraction of a day job will help him as a musician? Besides, The Ghost of Tom Joad was pretty good.
Mike J
Ferguson is going to get swept under the rug, people will claim the whole kerfuffle was just over some jokey emails.
Two police officers, court clerk out at Ferguson over racist emails
Cacti
I hope Bob didn’t do anything as grievous as using a private e-mail address.
WaterGirl
@Germy Shoemangler: Couldn’t happen to a nicer person.
Mandalay
@JPL:
You mean future Senator Chris Christie [R-NJ], right?
Since he has zero chance of becoming president I think Christie would probably like him to stick around like a bad smell for another year or so, and eventually try to take his seat.
BGinCHI
@Amir Khalid: How about Bon Jovi?
Now there is a guy with time on his hands.
beltane
@BGinCHI: What about Senator Springsteen?
Duh, I didn’t see you comment above. Since there are no non-corrupt pols in NJ, a celebrity candidacy might be an answer.
Amir Khalid
@BGinCHI:
Well, he is better at acting than at music. He’ll probably be better at politics too. Yeah, he should be the one to run.
BGinCHI
@Amir Khalid: He was born to run.
beltane
Jon Stewart is from New Jersey. Maybe he should run.
MissWimsey
@MikeJ Did you see this? It’s mind blowing how corrupt the whole St. Louis municipalities situation is.
WaterGirl
@BGinCHI: I laughed out loud.
catclub
@Gin & Tonic:
ur doing it rong.
mainmata
@TR: Yes, people in his district frequently had bumper stickers that said: “My Congressman is a rocket scientist.” Holt would be a brilliant choice and would elevate the average Senate IQ by about 100 points.
catclub
@dedc79: I hope he keeps the pressure up.
WaterGirl
@MissWimsey:
I am beginning to wonder if 50% of people who hold any kind of power are sociopaths.
Germy Shoemangler
@WaterGirl: His latest idea: 5-year renewals for teachers. Teachers would renew their certification every five years. And of course, they’d have to pay a fee to re-certifty.
mainmata
@max: Betting Menendez will try to stretch this out until next year when his appointed replacement will immediately be primaried.
Cluttered Mind
As long as we’re tossing out celebrity nominations, how about we start a Draft Peter Dinklage movement?
catclub
@boatboy_srq: adblock plus.
BGinCHI
@Germy Shoemangler: Of course who knows more about the ins and outs of teaching day to day than a sitting US Senator?
Unbelievable.
BGinCHI
@Cluttered Mind: Genius.
If not him then how about Bobby Cannavale?? I love that guy.
JrungyBrogan
Rush Holt would be a cool pick up, but I think he wanted Lautenberg’s seat and once he lost to Booker was out of the game. Frank Pallone, on the other hand, came in second to Booker in the same primary, has progressive bona fides, and can raise money. Also, he is a great guy and an awesome representative for his constiuents. Frank Pallone would be a huge upgrade in the Senate if Menendez gets the boot.
catclub
@TR: Yes! Rush Holt. Odds of Christie appointing him? Eight ball says: “very low.”
OGLiberal
Jim McGreevey?
Seriously, though, no real bench in the GOP here in the Garden State. I think Tom Kean Jr. fizzled out long ago. Joe Kyrillos (my childhood pediatrician’s kid) doesn’t have the name recognition and he’s a swarthy dude of Lebanese descent so not sure he’d appeal to the NJ wingnuts. I’d say Holt or Frank Pallone. Have a biased affinity for Pallone since he’s been my House Rep (and a very good one) for most of my adult life, although recent redistricting has us now stuck with abortion obsessed Chris Smith. Pallone breezed by Kyrillos when Joe Jr. challenged him for the House seat and in 2012 Menendez beat Kyrillos by 18+% so not sure if the GOP bosses are going to hitch their wagons to that pony this time around. (Menendez also beat Kean Jr.)
Of course, Menendez could weather this storm. He’s a Hudson County pol…by those standards this guy is an angel.
mai naem mobile
Seriously, anybody known the rules for replacing a NJ senator? Does Christie have to replace with a Dem? Is it law or just tradition because we know what the GOP like to do with tradition when it comes to the Senate.
Germy Shoemangler
@BGinCHI: No, it’s gov. Cuomo’s idea. He just loves needling public school teachers. They’re begging him to visit their classrooms to see what they do, and what they have to work with (34+ student class sizes) but he hasn’t expressed an interest.
Wants more private schools. Education, Inc.
gene108
I want Menendez to beat this.
If David Vitter can get re-elected after admitting to breaking the law and soliciting prostitutes, I’d hope a Democrat won’t fold so fast.
Mike J
@WaterGirl: Here’s a stunning bit:
Don K
@Mike in NC:
Right. I was going to Rutgers in the mid-70s when there were a ton of indictmentsof NJ pols, and one evening WNEW-FM led off their 6:00 newscast with, “Today’s list of indfictments in New Jersey includes four state senators, five assemblymen, seven mayors, and ten county freeholders.” Corruption is in the political air (or maybe the water) in NJ, just like in Chicago and Louisiana.
OGLiberal
@mai naem mobile: Christie can appoint whoever he wants. He appointed his attorney general to the Senate after Lautenberg died but that’s because he knew it was a clear placeholder appointment – nobody in either party was going to beat Booker. Again, Pallone and Holt would be fine choices but not as strong as Booker so Christie may look beyond his circle for somebody who might actually stand a change in a general. Dick Codey is pretty popular but he’s 68, already did a turn as governor, and don’t think he has much interest outside of NJ. Just worried that Steve Sweeney will use his muscle to get some sleazeball machine pol to challenge the seemingly clean and qualified Pallone and Holt. (that is, if they even decide to make a go of it)
Germy Shoemangler
@Mike J: The judge in Ferguson, Missouri, who is accused of fixing traffic tickets for himself and colleagues while inflicting a punishing regime of fines and fees on the city’s residents, also owes more than $170,000 in unpaid taxes.
Ronald J Brockmeyer, whose court allegedly jailed impoverished defendants unable to pay fines of a few hundred dollars, has a string of outstanding debts to the US government dating back to 2007, according to tax filings obtained by the Guardian from authorities in Missouri.
Brockmeyer, 70, was this week singled out by Department of Justice investigators as being a driving force behind Ferguson’s strategy of using its municipal court to aggressively generate revenues. The policy has been blamed for a breakdown in relations between the city’s overwhelmingly white authorities and residents, two-thirds of whom are African American.
Investigators found Brockmeyer had boasted of creating a range of new court fees, “many of which are widely considered abusive and may be unlawful”. A city councilman opposing the judge’s reappointment was warned “switching judges would/could lead to loss of revenue”.
Germy Shoemangler
@Don K: My two radio stations of that era: WNEW-FM and WFMU.
WBAI was fun, as well.
mai naem mobile
I don’t know why people are shocked about Ferguson. This American Life.had a piece on some Florida town a while back. I can’t remember if it was near Tampa or Miami. Cities are under pressure to come up with money to pay for expenses and the GOP has done such a great.job.on the No New Taxes and Ill Cut Your Taxes crap that pols dare not come up with any new taxes. Our proposed budget in AZ cuts education quite a bit including community colleges. We have school districts proposing 4 day schools.and a “fee based” 5th day to cut expenses. One district is already going with this next year. The governor is a multi millionaire who sends his kids to private school so he doesn’t care.
beth
@Germy Shoemangler: Mine too. Somewhere in my closet I’ve still got some of the WFMU t-shirts they gave away every year during their fund raiser.
For goodness sakes, now I’m seeing accusations that Obama is targeting Menendez because he criticized his Iran nuclear talks. Do these people really think Obama is so bitter that he’d put another Republican in the Senate over a slight like that?
feebog
Before all the chickens are counted, sorted by size and weight and then led to slaughter, I’d like to know a little more about the specifics of this case. For instance, no mention in the article about what kind of “gifts” Menendez received from the good doctor. I see a lot of quid and very little quo so far. Not to say that I’d be sorry to see Menendez go; his bullshit stance on Cuba is quite enough for me to wish him a fond farewell.
Germy Shoemangler
@beth: I remember FMU had a great print magazine. LCD. Some great, weird articles, reviews, cartoons… I still have some.
I was listening to WBAI when the staff locked themselves in the studio to prevent the station closing down.
OGLiberal
@gene108: Menendez is a Cuban hard ass from a working class Union City family. He will not go easily or quietly…it’s not in the genetic makeup of Hudson County pols. (that’s not to say that I want him to stay on if he actually did do something shady/illegal…the state has a bad enough reputation as it is – luckily for Dems the Republicans here are just as corrupt so a pox on both houses and all that….at least the Dems here try to do stuff to help folks)
askew
I think we should use this opportunity to add some diversity to our old white men’s club and reward the only Dem with the ovaries to run against Christie in 2013, Barbara Buono.
Baud
@askew:
Agree 100%.
WaterGirl
@Mike J: oh, but he says it actually helps everybody because he knows both sides. These guys buy their own bullshit. Amazing.
SiubhanDuinne
@Germy Shoemangler: I absolutely agree. It’s just a huge pain to navigate now, and I especially hate all those link/promos to other CPP columns in bold showing up periodically in unrelated pieces — visually, they seem like subheads for the current article, but because they are just clickbait for other articles, they end up being a huge distraction. Also, following comments is harder now.
Onions, lawn.
Svensker
He was a young guy running for local office in the Hoboken area when we lived there in the 80s — and a total Machine scum bag. There is virtually nothing you could accuse of him, corruption-wise, that would surprise me. Just a scuz.
NJ is full of Dems. Be very unlikely for him to be replaced by a Repuke.
Don K
@Mike J:
Ya think? Yikes! NJ is full of pols with multiple jobs. I hate that in MI judges often consider themselves to be part of the prosecution team, but to have a judge who’s actually a prosecutor …
Germy Shoemangler
@SiubhanDuinne: Those are exactly the problems I’m having with the new style. Used to be, I’d read his column then scroll down to some smart/funny reader comments. Now the clickbait is all over the main article, there’s weird distracting stuff on the left side.
Web designers are constantly under pressure to improve! improve! improve! and lots of times they just fuck up a good thing.
John Revolta
@Svensker: Yo! 2nd and Bloomfield, 1986-96. When an onion on yer belt really meant somethin’, amirite?
Fillippo’s Pizza closed down recently…………………….:(
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Germy Shoemangler: AdBlock Plus.
With a little work, it can be used to hide the clickbait inside the article and anything else you find distracting.
David Koch
Nucky Thompson
Scott Peterson
BGinCHI:
Springsteen should get off his lazy ass and run. He hasn’t had a decent record since Darkness on the Edge of Town.
One of the stupidest things I’ve read on the internets today. And I read that Dinesh D’Souza tweet.
Breezeblock
@beth: Hah, I just re-found my FMU t-shirt from the early 80s. And Holy God, Ol’ Pal Irwin is a freaking Birther.
Mnemosyne (tablet)
@Mike J:
It may get swept under the rug in the press, but my understanding is that the report is the first step in the DOJ getting a consent decree against the department that would require them to reform. AFAICT, the Obama administration wants to pursue this, hard.
burnspbesq
@Don K:
IIRC, that scandal was mostly about Hudson County (which has been corrupt and Democratic since shortly before the Declaration of Independence was signed) and bribes by contractors to get projects approved. The need to pay that particular brand of mordidawas so well known that I heard stories that contractors included it as a line item in the budgets they submitted to banks to get construction loans.
burnspbesq
@Germy Shoemangler:
Is that a diss on WLIR, or did you just forget?
burnspbesq
The biggest possible FU that Christie could deliver would be to appoint that miserable piece of shit Scott Garrett.
Davis X. Machina
@Don K: That’s just sheer quantity. For quality, you’ve got to give it up for Suffolk County, Massachusetts, (Boston, plus Chelsea) where something like three sheriffs in a row all wound up in their own slammer, over the contract to replace the infamous Charles Street facility with a new one.
Davis X. Machina
@beth: Sheer projection. The Bush White House was eager enough to use the DOJ as a bludgeon on local pols to fire federal attorneys who wouldn’t play ball.
They’re assuming the Obama White House, would, nay, must, play the game the same way.
Jado
@TR:
I think the questions was which Dems COULD win. The machine in this state is very particular about who does what, so he might not get it if they can resurrect Frank Lautenberg, or get a Norcross nephew to run (if they even allow a South Jersey dem into the ring, which is doubtful)
Republicans are crazy, which disqualifies them from getting my vote, but it would be nice if every once in a while and actual progressive Dem could win an NJ race