After Bob Menendez's Conviction
The New Jersey Democrat has filed to run for re-election as an independent
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez was convicted Tuesday of peddling his office’s power in exchange for gold bars, cash and a convertible, a likely death blow to the longtime New Jersey lawmaker’s political career.
My colleagues James Fanelli and Corinne Ramey wrote about the verdict, which touched off increasing calls for the Democratic lawmaker to resign. He said he would appeal his conviction, adding outside the courthouse: “I have never violated my public oath … I have never been anything but a patriot of my country.”
Menendez has filed the required petitions to run as an independent in November, but so far there aren’t any signs of a vigorous campaign. I went last month to the heart of the senator’s political base in Hudson County and found he still has some support. (Click here to read my entire dispatch, with photos by Corrie Aune.)
Menendez, who has been in office since 2006, and his wife personally asked patrons at Meson Español for signatures to help him get a spot on the November ballot as an independent candidate, according to people familiar with the matter.
The scramble illustrated just how far the once powerful committee chairman has fallen since he was hit with corruption charges in September, and just how isolated he is in his effort to cling to power. Some political operatives have speculated Menendez’s candidacy might offer a bargaining chip as he raises money for his legal defense and faces calls for expulsion from the Senate. They also worry that his effort could hurt the party’s chances to hold an otherwise safe seat.
Menendez mounted his independent campaign after declining to run in this month’s state Democratic primary. Rep. Andy Kim (D., N.J.) cruised to victory in that contest, and this fall will face Republican Curtis Bashaw, a hotel developer from southern New Jersey.
This was Menendez’s second federal corruption trial: A jury in 2017 deadlocked on charges that he engaged in a yearslong bribery scheme involving nearly $1 million in contributions from a Florida eye doctor. Prosecutors dropped the case in 2018.
Menendez went on to win another term that year, and it is easy to understand why if you walk down Bergenline Avenue, a bustling thoroughfare connecting West New York to his hometown of Union City. On a recent afternoon, some voters there remembered the last case and said Menendez was a hardworking senator who has delivered for the predominantly Hispanic community.
More than a dozen men sat playing dominoes in Jose Martí Park. When asked about Menendez, one reached for his phone and found a selfie with the senator. Waiters in restaurants in the area said he was an amiable regular who ordered bacalao or lechón and drank mineral water.
Alberto Gayol came to the U.S. from Cuba in 1965 and opened a jewelry store in Union City in 1983. He remembers the day when there was a fire at the building next to his shop. As Gayol watched the flames, he recalled, Bob Menendez, then the mayor, tapped him on the shoulder. “If you need anything, just ask,” Gayol recalled Menendez saying.
An April poll by Fairleigh Dickinson University tested a three-way race, with Menendez winning 6% of the vote, Kim 44% and Bashaw 38%—suggesting most Democrats have moved on from him.
Other operatives said, at best, he could be a spoiler. But not a non-factor.
“The Democratic machine went out of its way to win a primary for his son. That tells you a lot,” said Jeff Tittel, an environmental activist who has been involved in the state’s politics for decades. “He’s done a lot of favors for people, so they owe him. He also knows where all the bodies are buried.”
THE QUESTION: Who did Menendez succeed when he first became a U.S. senator?
Know the answer? Drop me a line at jimmy.vielkind@gmail.com. Or just write with thoughts, feedback or to say hi.
THE LAST ANSWER: Mos Eisley Spaceport is a “wretched hive of scum and villainy.”