Tag: New Jersey

The Menendez Saga

The Democratic senator for New Jersey has never been likeable to me…..he is a big business Dem that came to the Congress on the Clinton coattails.

Over the years he has had his problems with corruption and once again he has been caught with his fingers in the cookie jar.

Rep. Andy Kim of New Jersey announced on Saturday that he will run against Sen. Robert Menendez in the state’s Democratic primary for Senate next year, saying he feels compelled to run against the three-term senator after he and his wife were indicted on sweeping corruption charges. Kim’s surprise announcement comes as a growing number of Democrats are calling for Menendez to step down. Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman became the first Democratic senator to do so, and several members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation, along with the state’s Democratic governor, have said he should resign, per the AP.

This is not something I expected to do, but I believe New Jersey deserves better,” Kim said. Fetterman, meanwhile, said his Senate colleague is “entitled to the presumption of innocence under our system, but he is not entitled to continue to wield influence over national policy.” Menendez and wife Nadine were indicted on Friday for using his position to aid the authoritarian government of Egypt and also to pressure federal prosecutors to drop a case against a friend. The three-count indictment lists a series of bribes they were paid by three New Jersey businessmen in exchange for the corrupt acts—gold bars, a luxury car, and cash.

It is the second indictment on bribery charges for Menendez—and the second time he has had to relinquish his post as the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations panel. He regained the leadership spot in 2018 after the case ended with a deadlocked jury. Menendez was defiant after Friday’s indictment, saying in a statement Friday evening that “I am not going anywhere.” Authorities who searched Menendez’s home last year found more than $100,000 worth of gold bars, as well as over $480,000 in cash—much of it hidden in closets, clothing, and a safe, prosecutors say. The indictment includes photos of cash stuffed in envelopes in jackets bearing Menendez’s name and of a luxury car that prosecutors say was given to the couple as a bribe from the businessmen.

There calls for Menendez to resign….but mostly from younger Congress people….some of the older and entrenched members think he should stay put.

Add Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to the list of politicians who think Sen. Bob Menendez needs to resign due to his indictment on corruption charges. The Democratic representative said the charges against Menendez, including allegations that he accepted bribes including a Mercedes-Benz, are “very serious,” the Guardian reports. “Consistency matters. It shouldn’t matter if it’s a Republican or a Democrat,” she said, adding that the allegations “involve the nature of not just his but all of our seats in Congress.” Meanwhile, while Sen. John Fetterman and several Democrats in Menendez’s home state of New Jersey say their fellow Dem should step down, NBC News reports other Democrat senators have not been so quick to join that chorus:

  • Chris Murphy: “No senators should be trading on their position in order to enrich themselves,” he said Sunday on MSNBC. “It is hard for me to believe that Sen. Menendez can be effective in his job given these allegations, but I think I want to get back and talk to my colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee before I recommend a path forward for Sen. Menendez.”
  • Mark Kelly: “I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said on CBS Sunday, noting that Menendez stepping down as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee is “a serious step.” Kelly continued, “I think Sen. Menendez is going to have to think long and hard about the cloud that’s going to hang over his service in the United State Senate. He’s got to figure out whether he can adequately serve the people of New Jersey.”
  • Dick Durbin: “In terms of resignation, that’s a decision to be made by Sen. Menendez and the people of New Jersey,” he said on CNN Sunday. “The person who is accused is entitled to the presumption of innocence, and it’s the responsibility of the government to prove that case. I have said that about Donald Trump. I will say the same thing about Bob Menendez.”

Personally he should resign with a hint of corruption and let the Congress get on with business it really does not need another diversion at this time.

I say if guilty get the slug out of government and tighten the noose around other forms of corruption as well….a good place to start would be SCOTUS.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Enough With Christie!

Finally, the professor will actual comment on the Chris Christie debacle!  He has been avoiding it like the plague…..but there comes a time when the avoidance must cease…..today is that day…..joy, joy!

I heard recently a major news anchor say that the whole country is disgusted with the actions in New Jersey, Bridge-gate if you like.

I say bollocks!  There is NO one in Peoria that gives a crap what happens in New York/New Jersey and people in LA have their own sets of problems…..so hyping the story by saying that the whole country is disgusted seems a bit disingenuous.

If you are one of those that could care less….let’s review what we ‘know’…….a traffic study was done in close proximity to the GW Bridge that closed off access to the city of Ft. Lee, NJ….the mayor did not endorse Christie………now there are emails that appear to be some sort of retribution against the Dem mayor of the city….those that are involved are many close Christie advisers and appointees…..but Christie has not been implicated by any yet with the exception of the media.  An investigation has been set up and subpoenas issued…..and the investigation continues…..

That is a very simple explanation of what is happening so far….if you want a more detailed one then I suggest that you clean off your Goggle finger and go to work….

Christie the Bully

Before I go any further I want to state that I Am Not Defending Christie!  Personally, I think is an egotistical prick, a typical maniacal politician that wants everything his way and will do whatever he must to get his way…..a typical politician.

Now to the reason that I am posting this……..knowing how politics works I think the investigation will find, that is according to what we know now, that the people involved in this political retribution did it without informing the governor….why?  Plausible Deniability!

These people did what they thought would help their friend and boss and did not tell him to protect him from recriminations.  They did what they thought would be in the best interests of the admin and will go down covering Christie’s butt.  So it is plausible that his people did this without his knowledge….loyalty is a funny thing……people will act impetuously to try and make things ‘right’…..for lack of a better word….and those acts are not always on the up and up.

Is Christie guilt free?  Probably not, but he has the buffer zone to survive the ‘scandal’…….all this depends on whether or not another shoe falls…but for now I do not see this as a problem for him in the 2016 election….the only problem he has for now, is the media is like a Pitt Bull with a human leg bone….just will not let it go.

PS:  After I wrote this draft for future post….that damn ‘other shoe’ dropped!  Now he, Christie,  is in some lukewarm water, not hot yet, over the possibility that he withheld some Sandy recovery money from a city in New Jersey for political reasons…..someone is lying….either the mayor or the governor……is it possible I was a bit premature?

And now runner Carl Lewis is throwing accusations at Christie…….

Add Carl Lewis to the list of people piling on Chris Christie. The Olympic legend today revived his allegations that Christie’s administration abruptly ditched a plan to name him New Jersey’s “youth fitness ambassador” as soon as Lewis announced that he’d be running for state Senate as a Democrat, the Star-Ledger reports. “I felt like he was trying to intimidate me, absolutely,” he says, alleging that Christie directly told him that “if you run, we’re going to have to cancel the program.” Lewis first made the allegationsback in 2011. Christie’s administration has always denied them. “A lot of people said, ‘He didn’t do that, he didn’t say that,'” Lewis tells the paper. “Now you’re calling to ask about it because it’s a lot more plausible.” Christie’s administration ultimately got Lewis kicked off the ballot for not meeting state residency requirements. “It’s interesting, everyone calling him a bully. I don’t really see him as a bully,” Lewis says. “I see it more as someone who’s insecure … and has got power.”

Could all these shenanigans really have some substance behind it?

Let me have your thoughts.