Posted on 09/29/2006 5:09:50 PM PDT by neverdem
Senate Democrats said they won't try to replace Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, despite new accusations of corruption that surfaced yesterday in the Democratic incumbent's already tough re-election race.
"We expect week after week they're going to throw these allegations around," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat and chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Asked whether he is sure that Democrats will not replace Mr. Menendez, Mr. Schumer replied with an emphatic "yes." He cited new polls that show Mr. Menendez either slightly ahead of or tied with his Republican challenger, Tom Kean Jr.
A Menendez fundraiser and confidant was heard on a newly released tape pressuring a government contractor to hire a person as "a favor" to Mr. Menendez, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported yesterday.
In the 20-minute taped telephone call, the Inquirer reported, lawyer Donald Scarinci tells contractor and former FBI informant Oscar Sandoval that agreeing to the hire would afford him "protection" and that failing to do so could result in "the law of the jungle."
Mr. Sandoval, who taped the conversation in 1999, said the clear implication was that he should the hire the person Mr. Menendez wanted or risk losing $1 million in government contracts, the Inquirer reported.
Earlier this month, the Newark Star-Ledger reported that federal investigators are looking into a rental deal between Mr. Menendez and a nonprofit agency that received millions in federal funding while he was a House member.
Recent polls show that the New Jersey Senate race is very close. An Eagleton-Rutgers poll conducted Sept. 24 to 26 called the race a "virtual tie." Among 404 likely voters, Mr. Menendez was at 45 percent and Mr. Kean was at 44 percent, the poll found. A Quinnipiac University poll of likely...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I get the impression that Schumer has some say in the matter.
Schumer D-NY, in NJ? Please clarify, thanks. :)
They may still yet try to have him replaced on election day. They may put in Bill Clinton or someone at the last minute, of course this will be approved by their 'Supreme' Court.
If only the Republicans in MT would edge out Sen Burns.
Chuckie is Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Democrats never let a little thing like corruption stop them, or even slow them down. Schumer stated that they expect week after week of allegations thrown around.
He should know the democrats do most of the throwing.
As a NJ'ian, "Boss Norcross" calls the shots.
These accusations surfaced yesterday? Apparently the alphabet networks are too busy covering the Jeanine Piro(R) mess, soon to be followed with the Foley (R) resignation, to bother telling us of more corruption from a dem in NJ.
I am sure that Menendez will do Tony Soprano proud! He really belongs in NJ. Can the voters there be that stupid?
"Can the voters there be that stupid?"
Yes. Remember that Torricelli and McGreevey had to resign from office AFTER they had been elected by the voters of New Jersey.
I suspect that Menendez will win (through fraud and the support of the many Bush-hating liberals), he will grow more arrogant in Washington, and will undertake crimes so severe that he will eventually suffer a similar fate.
Menendez is bad news - the only thing he has going for him is that he is anti-Castro. However, he is another one who supports abortion on demand, etc. I am sick of these corrupt NJ politicos!
Good for you. And when a candidate is announced, they should stop burying their defeatist heads in the sand waiting for the next election but instead do whatever it takes to support the nominee. Brings to mind Lazio's people trekking upstate to deliver signs that the local GOP reps should have been doing.
I am surprised Upchuckie did not say that he should be elected so that Corzine can appoint Bill Bradley when the time comes.
Menendez is a first class nitwit..hope he gets blown
out in this elecion...New Jersey is no place for any
one with an agenda like this guy...He is not a good
man..follow the money....He's got his mitts aound lots
of it..from New Jerseyites who can't afford it...Jale
McGreevey resigned while in office. Torricelli was technically still in office but was running for reelection when it all hit the fan. That was when they pulled the T for L switch at the last minute that was approved by the NJPRSC and we wound up with the dessicated but resurrected late Senator Lautenberg who was dutifully voted into the Senate orifice by the brain dead aments who dominate our PRNJ elections.
The gay American must have turned them down.
The democrats don't even try to hide it anymore. Schumer just came right out and said the issue isn't whether the candidate has become unacceptable because of a scandal (like they claimed for torricelli), it's all about whether the polls show their guy might still be able to win.
If the polls showed Menendez down 10, I guess the answer would be an emphatic "no".
On the other hand, I would love to be able to put a new republican name on the ballot in Texas and Florida....
You'd think the people of N.J. would get tired of these Democrat scandals. Torrecelli, McGreevey, Menendez, and that's just in the recent past.
Podhoretz spells it out better than most. Hopefully the PTB are not in a collective coma and pay heed.
Asked whether he is sure that Democrats will not replace Mr. Menendez, Mr. Schumer replied with an emphatic "yes." He cited new polls that show Mr. Menendez either slightly ahead of or tied with his Republican challenger, Tom Kean Jr.
"Now, if Mennendez was TRAILING in the polls , Schumer would NOT be saying the same thing," NJ Jersy's other (illegally-substituted-past-election-deadlines) Senator was heard to say.
We need this win to offset the Santorum loss and hold the Senate. But I urge GOP insiders...HOLD YOUR FIRE until the very last 10 days of the campaign, to release the most damaging dirt you've got. Inside of 2 weeks there is nothing the RATs can do.
When Torccelli dropped out in 2002, he was around 15 points behind and left the race in mid-September. This year, it's almost October and Menendez is only slightly behind. So it wasn't likely that he was going to drop out.
Could be that he will name aditional names that are thus far still hidden.
I suspect that the only reason they haven't gotten rid of Menendez is because he seems to be holding his own in their polls (as I recall, the Torch was sinking like a rock when they deep-sixed him). Apparently an anti-Bush message trumps a little garden variety corruption in the mind of New Jersey voters.
New Jersey and corruption have been synonymous for 100+ years!
Racial profiling is a discredited notion----and is banned for mainstream Americans----yet, it is the way Menendez expects to win public office. The Democratic voting base is said to hold a million illegal voters lying in wait to carry Menendez to victory----not counting the illegals to be trucked in to vote on election day.
Menendez is the standard-bearer for illegal immigrants and he will meet their demands for amnesty and for more and more government benefits. Menendez will saddle American taxpayers with the huge welfare bills as Menendez gets ready to ship the US Social Security system across the border.
Sen Menendez's every action demonstrates his complete and utter disdain for our laws, even as he took the oath of office to uphold them.
It is a mystery whether Menendez even considers himself a US citizen, having once been a foreign national.
Yes, Podhorertz nailed it in New YOrk. But I have to wonder about the Jersey voters: Frank Lausenberg again? Jon Corzine? Don't they have any values at all or are they just willing to give a pass to every corrupt crummy lib Democrat? McGreeveey? And then they vote for a replacement who is even worse than the previous one!
They will truck in homeless people from Philadelphia to vote for Menendez. Watch.
Also, pray that Santorum pulls it off. Very worried about Pennsylvania. They will gain nothing by dumping Rick.
That may be the case but I suspect it has more to do with the brain dead voters in this state who vote D reflexively
when they remember to vote and may pay some attention to issues around Armistice day, if at all.
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