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2018 General Election Elected 53 — 44
This should have been easy.
Under different circumstances, Bob Menendez http://www.menendezfornj.com/would be in a position like Kirsten Gillibrand in New York, Sheldon Whitehouse in Rhode Island, or Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts. He would be gearing up for a 2018 campaign that was close to a sure thing. Instead, Menendez has a wealthy Republican pharmaceutical executive looking at him as if he is vulnerable.
……Bob Menendez is vulnerable. Federal prosecutors have just dropped plans for a second corruption trial after the first one ended with a hung jury. Dropping the second corruption trial does not guarantee that Bob Menendez will have an easy time being reelected. Some people claim there is fire where there is smoke.
……We know there was no fire in one instance. In 2012, he and a friend were accused of having contact with teenage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. The girls eventually admitted they had been paid to make the accusation, an accusation that was trumpeted by Republican operatives.
……There are instances of smoke. In 2010, he wrote to the Federal Reserve Chairman asking that a purchase of a bank be approved. A majority of the bank’s board of trustees were campaign contributors. Bob Menendez exceeded convention. He should have called for “consideration” of the bank purchase. Looks like smoke. ……In 2012, he stopped the appointment of a judge who, critics claimed, had a relationship with a federal prosecutor investigating possible improprieties in Bob Menendez 2006 election. The appointment was made and the prosecutor dropped the case. Smoke or fire?
……Also in 2012, the arrest of an unpaid intern who had been convicted of a sex offense for overstaying his visa was delayed until after the November election. Would that be an ember?
…The recently dismissed case is the big one. Was he bribed by his friend to seek assistance from the Dominican Republic? A hung jury could not decide. In reviewing the possibility of a retrial, the judge decided in favor of smoke, no fire. Dismissing several charges for the second trial, he changed the metaphor and said “there was no there there.”
……Bob Menendez is back. He originally entered politics fighting corruption in Union, New Jersey. Mentored by Mayor William Musto, Bob Menendez attempted to reform the school board in opposition to his mentor, ran against Musto unsuccessfully, then eventually succeeded him. Was his relationship with Musto, which he maintained even while opposing him, corrupt, careful, or just personal?
……Bob Menendez is back. He has returned to his position as ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Bob Menendez has a deep interest in foreign policy. If we were confronting a Communist Soviet Union, Bob Menendezwould be a “Scoop” Jackson Democrat. He supports military intervention — in Kosovo, against terrorists, in Afghanistan, in Iraq. He opposed the Iran treaty.
……Bob Menendez is back. His other large interest is immigration. Child of immigrants, first in his family to go to college, Bob Menendez lives the American story of opportunity for immigrants. When he calls for reform of the immigration system, he describes the reform he wants as the great civil rights issue of our time. He is an advocate of the DREAM Act. He urges generosity in consideration of immigrants in difficult circumstances and has supported a time limit for undocumented aliens before they could seek citizenship.
……On the same foreign policy wave length of many Republicans, he is clearly not on the same immigration wave length. Bob Menendez http://www.menendezfornj.com/ has been a supporter of progressive issues:
- High quality, affordable health care for all
- Good jobs through rebuilding the infrastructure and retraining workers for the jobs that are available
- Moderating climate change through renewable energy and reducing the effects of climate change with a focus on the Jersey shore
- Education including early education for all
Bob Menendez http://www.menendezfornj.com/ is a Democrat we can and should support. We need to defend every Democratic Senator successfully. If we can, we will flip enough Republicans to elect a Democratic Senate
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