Posted on 02/05/2013 12:17:04 PM PST by jazusamo
Frances Robles reports in the New York Times that an ex-aide to Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) stood to benefit from a Dominican port security deal, along with Menendez benefactor Salomon Melgen. From the Times:
Mr. Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, has pushed United States government officials to help enforce a contract that a company owned in part by one of his major donors, Dr. Salomon E. Melgen, has with the Dominican government, which has refused to honor it.
A top executive at Dr. Melgen's security company will be Pedro Pablo Permuy, a former national security adviser and senior legislative aide to Mr. Menendez, according to a cousin of Dr. Melgen. Mr. Permuy's ties to the senator go back at least 20 years.
But Menendez' office told the Times that this is all news to the Senator:
Tricia Enright, a spokeswoman for Mr. Menendez, said the senator had no knowledge of Mr. Permuy's involvement in Dr. Melgen's company until The New York Times raised a question on Monday.
This defies belief. Permuy was a senior staffer for Menendez, whose portfolio included the Dominican Republic. Melgen, who has deep roots and family in the Dominican Republic, is Menendez' top benefactor. All three are frequent visitors to the island, which has an inbred (and corrupt) political establishment where everyone knows each other.
The Times sheds some light on these relationships.
Mr. Permuy was deputy assistant secretary of defense for inter-American affairs during the Clinton administration. He worked for Mr. Menendez as a senior legislative aide from 1993 to 1995 and then as his national security adviser from 2001 to 2003.
In 2010, he and Dr. Melgen held a fund-raising dinner in Maryland for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Mr. Menendez was then leading. Dr. Melgen was an important fund-raiser for the senator in his committee efforts that year.
Senator Menendez could do himself a favor by making fewer assertions that are implausible on their face.
Another example is his claim that his failure to repay Melgen the $58,000 cost of two 2010 private jet trips to the Dominican Republic was "sloppy" or an "oversight." Menendez is one the least wealthy members of the U.S. Senate. His annual salary is $174,000.
If Menendez was planning to make Caribbean trips, would he really go on Melgen's private jet and pay through the nose an amount representing a big percentage of his net worth? It is obvious that he never intended to pay Melgen back.
Menendez' denial over the weekend that he accepted Melgen's hospitality in the way of hookers may be a flat-out lie, but at least it had the virtue of being plausible. It was also categorical, unlike the convoluted statements that came out of his office back in November in which he did not directly deny the allegations, but instead attacked the source.
Related:
VIDEO: NBC Nightly News Reports on Menendez-Melgen Port Security Dea l
Sen. Menendez Pushed 'Windfall' for Melgen in Dominican Port Security Deal
LOL! Good one.
Capitol Hill Spring break flight records suggest fourth unpaid Menendez flight
Flight records obtained by Breitbart News show Dem donor Dr. Salomon Melgen’s private jet was in New Jersey near Sen. Bob Menendez’s home on April 8, 2012--Easter Sunday last year. From there, it flew straight to the Dominican Republic.
Menendez and his staff have not answered when asked repeatedly whether the Senator was on that flight. They also have not provided any accounting as to where Menendez was on Easter Sunday, either. The flight records show Melgen’s plane was in the Dominican Republic on a frequent basis.
The jet was there late March until April 2, at which point Melgen’s plane flew from La Romana International airport in the Dominican Republic to West Palm Beach. The flight path records, compiled by FlightAware, show Melgen’s plane stayed in West Palm Beach for a few days after that. Melgen lives in the West Palm Beach area.
On April 6, 2012, Melgen’s plane left Palm Beach International airport for The Dominican Republic’s La Romana International Airport again. It stayed on the ground there for half an hour--after landing at around 6 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time. The plane took off and flew back to West Palm Beach that evening.
It is unclear why the plane flew to the Dominican Republic and back that night. After landing back in West Palm Beach at around 9:22 Eastern Daylight Time on the evening of April 6, 2012, it sat in its hangar for a day. Then, on the morning of April 8, 2012--Easter Sunday--at 8:56 a.m., the plane left Palm Beach International airport. At 11:30 a.m., it landed at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.
Teterboro is an airport meant for private jets and chartered flights, and is a 20-minute cab ride from Menendez’s New Jersey home. After landing at Teterboro at 11:30 a.m. EDT, the plane sat for about an hour and ten minutes--just enough time to wait for someone to reach the airport from about 20 minutes away. At 12:50 p.m., Melgen’s plane took off for Las Americas International Airport in the Dominican Republic.
Menendez’s public schedule--available on his Senate website--puts him in New Jersey the night before that flight, at an Easter Musical entitled God’s Masterpiece at Roselle Park Middle School in Roselle Park, New Jersey. Menendez does not appear to have had any public events until several days later. The Senate was not in session from March 31 until April 15.
It is during this timeframe that two Dominican Republic prostitutes alleged, in interviews with this reporter who broke the story for The Daily Caller before joining Breitbart News after the election, that they were under-paid to have sex with Menendez. The activity allegedly took place at Casa de Campo, a luxurious resort in the Dominican Republic around Easter-time in 2012. Casa de Campo is about an hour's drive from Las Americas airport. While Menendez denies soliciting prostitutes in the Dominican Republic--including during that alleged Easter Sunday incident--he and his staff have not yet offered any alternate explanation as to where the Senator was on Easter.
If Sen. Menendez was on that plane during Easter weekend--or any other time other than those three trips to which he and his staff have already admitted--he and his staff will have misled the American people. “Senator Menendez has traveled on Dr. Melgen’s plane on three occasions, all of which have been paid for and reported appropriately,” Menendez’s staff admitted last week.
When Menendez admitted to the other three flights, he paid Melgen’s company back for two of them--a total of $58,500. That amount--paid via a check from Menendez’s personal account--is between 8.6 and 18.5 percent of his entire net worth, and a little more than a third of his annual salary, a huge chunk of cash from the senator’s pocket.
Paul Brubaker, a Menendez spokesman based in New Jersey, told a local news reporter that the reason why the Senator paid for these trips “out of his own pocket” and not through his official office or campaign accounts was so they did not have to be reported to official authorities.
SOURCE http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/02/03/The-Mystery-Flight-of-Bob-Menendez
This corrupt SOB is sure big on the Dominican Republic, isn’t he? Probably wants amnesty, so they can all come here, turn the US into just another latino banana republic then he won’t have to go out of the country for his nefarious dealings!
I have little doubt you’re right and he’s definitely a corrupt SOB and has been for years.
I’d love to see him nailed on this corrupt port deal along with Melgen.
Excerpted/edited from the NYT: Mr. Menendez has pressured United States government officials to help enforce a Dominican Republic port security contract for a company "partly owned" by his crony and major donor, Dr. Salomon E. Melgen (now under scrutiny by the FBI, and HHS for Medicaid fraud).
Dr. Melgen tapped Pedro Pablo Permuy, Menendez's former national security adviser (w/ Dominican Republic oversight), and his senior legislative aide, to be a top executive for the port security comopany. Mr. Permuy's ties to the senator go back at least 20 years.
CLINTON CONNECTION Permuy was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Inter-American Affairs during the Clinton administration. Permuy worked for Mr. Menendez as a senior legislative aide from 1993-95 and then as his national security adviser from 2001-03.
In 2010. Permuy and Dr. Melgen held a fund-raising dinner in Maryland for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Mr. Menendez was then heading.
Good info, thanks for your post.
(a) The DR is an impoverished Caribbean nation notorious for corrupt governments and strong-arm dictators.
(b) Despite US politicans' fondness for the "amenities" at its numerous posh resorts (incuding the lavish Casa de Campo owned by the Fanjuls--sugar billionaires), and US celebrities relaxing at posh villas spending big bucks there, the DR has no safety net or state-sponsored job creation for its largely impoverished citizenry.
(c) The one million Dominican citizens currently living in the US send home about a billion dollars annually---which is considered by the corrupt do-nothing DR govt to be a major source of state revenue.
(d) A steady exodus leaves for US shores lured by the endless US gravy train---encouraged by the DR govt---and the prospect of millions more sent back home.
(e) Sen Menendez's business partners in the Dominican govt have cunnningly figured out the financial benefits to be derived from amnesty---establishing a permanent Dem majority of Third World "pressure groups" exchanging votes for foreign aid.
==============================================
IMPOVERISHED COUNTRIES W/ CITIZENS IN THE US: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico (stateside), Salvador, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela.
WHAT IS THE DOLLAR AMT OF REVENUE FOREIGN GOVTS ARE RECEIVING FROM THEIR LOYALISTS LIVING OFF US TAXPAYERS?
WHAT IS THE SCOPE OF FOREIGN FINANCIAL DEALS US politicians will exchange for yes votes on amnesty?
The National Association of Latino Electoral and Appointed Officials, La Raza, Voto Latino, The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, etc, (all pushing free-for-all amnesty) need to come clean WRT sub rosa deals they've made with foreign governments.
Lest we forget---Harry Reid is a b-i-g Dem honcho---the Senate's ever-visible Democratic majority leader---Obama's point man on Capitol Hill. So when Harry Reid loyally defends Menendez and stoutly avers that, "Menendez is my friend," Reid "forgets to mention one little detail:"
Menendez won 2012 reelection handily---with some 58% of the vote. How'd he do that? A good part of his reelection was due to the financial and campaign support he received from Majority PAC, a “super PAC” set up by former aides to Sen Harry Reid (D-Nevada).
As the Menendez campaign entered its final weeks, the Reid PAC poured a hefty $582,500 into NJ to support Mr. Menendez’s re-election. BY THE WAY One of the Reid PAC's biggest donors? Menendez Dominican pal and business partner---Dr. Salomon Melgen. Melgen's "company" donated $700,000 to the Reid PAC between June and October.
SOURCE http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/ny_profitable_nonprofits_35XvCBkO0zTMiqoWk9wvaI
(Cackle) Just more of those "annoying right-wing factoids" getting in the way of Menendez's Dominican dreams of offshore riches and non-stop sex-----not to forget Obama's "legacy dreams": a permanent Democrat majority via amnesty.
L-R / Pedro Pablo Permuy, Marie Elena Amatangelo,
Xavier Equihua November 3, 2011 / Kyle Samperton
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.