Flocking to take advantage of a scathing rebuke of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez by the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, a growing number of state Republicans are calling for Menendez to resign.
But the GOP is not alone.
In a year in which national Democrats hope to retake control of the U.S. Senate and prevent the GOP from turning the U.S. Supreme Court even further to the right, Lisa McCormick, a newspaper publisher who is running in the Democratic primary against Menendez, is also urging him to resign.
The ethics committee issued a stinging four-page public letter bashing Menendez over his gifts taken from Dr. Salomon Melgen, Menendez’s alleged co-conspirator in the 11-week corruption trial that resulted in a hung jury.
“This public reprimand came from people who know Bob Menendez and looked at the facts,” McCormick said. “Four of the six Ethics Committee members also work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where Menendez is the ranking member. If he did not bring disgrace and dishonor on himself and our nation, this letter would not bear the signatures of every Democratic Ethics Committee member.”
GOP legislators from around New Jersey hope to capitalize on the ethics letter in order to possibly retake one of the two New Jersey U.S. Senate seats up for grabs this year.
But some Democrats are fighting back, such as 34th District Assemblywoman Britnee N. Timberlake. She blasted GOP legislators such as Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce and others who hope to bolster Republican Senate candidate Bob Hugin.
“It does not matter how many people Bob Hugin asks to carry his water, Senator Menendez isn’t going anywhere,” Timberlake said. “Senator Menendez is a champion for the people of New Jersey, and we need him in Washington fighting for us. Senator Menendez ensured seniors pay less for their prescriptions and health centers have the funding they need to treat everyone who comes through their doors. He has made access to higher education a priority and is working to make community college free for everyone. He knows that a better, more fair economy will mean more opportunities for all of us.”
Those that know Menendez best say he will never quit.
“He’s earned everything he has the hard way, and he’s not about to give it up,” said one North Hudson source.
Menendez announces his senior campaign team
As if to prove this point, Menendez announced the names of his senior campaign team this week.
“The stakes in this election are higher than ever as our values are under assault by President Trump and his enablers, including his New Jersey campaign finance chairman Bob Hugin,” said Menendez for Senate Campaign Chairman Michael Soliman. “Bob Hugin supported the Trump tax plan that cut taxes on millionaires like him but raised taxes on ordinary New Jerseyans, and in the Senate he would let Trump do whatever he wants. With the addition of top talent with deep New Jersey roots and a track record of winning campaigns, we’re going to make sure New Jersey has a Senator that will stand up for our values and fights to protect New Jerseyans from Trump’s agenda.”
The team includes several local names including Juan Melli, a former Hoboken communications director and Black Base Vote Director T. Missy Balmir from Jersey City.
Is DeGise the one?
A number of names are being tossed around as possible candidates to run against state Senator Brian Stack for chairmanship of the Hudson County Democratic Organization (HCDO). These include former councilman Chris Gadsden, former freeholder Jeff Dublin, former Assembly candidate, Kristan Hart and even former Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy.
Stack, along with Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla and West New York Mayor Felix Roque are seeking to unseat County Executive Tom DeGise.
While the DeGise primary does not take place until 2019, Hudson County Democratic committee people will be naming a new chair of the HCDO this June.
Stack was seen as a shoo-in for the post until he and Fulop confronted DeGise earlier this year. Now everybody is scrambling to get committee people to take a side.
Every vote counts. This is perhaps why the 58 committee seats in West New York went to court last week after people associated with Roque claimed committee nomination petitions were stolen. But the court ruled that the committee petitions that somehow wound up supporting DeGise can remain in the DeGise camp.
Hudson County Superior Court Judge Peter Bariso ruled against Roque and in favor of candidates for Democratic County Committee endorsed by the Hudson County Democratic Organization.
Not to disparage the Superior Court judge that made the ruling, but DeGise is building a whole new court complex which court officials may not want derailed should Stack replace DeGise next year.
But DeGise should not be overconfident when it comes to the West New York committee votes. Stack has huge influence in West New York even though the town is no longer in his legislative district. One source said half the committee people DeGise believes are on his side will actually follow Stack’s lead.
The problem is that Hart and Healy come with baggage that may not make them acceptable to all county committee people, who might have issues other than the just the conflict between Stack and DeGise.
Hart ran against incumbent assemblymembers Nicholas Chiaravalloti and Angela McKnight in a primary, and DeGise could lose both of them if he was to support Hart for the HCDO chair.
Healy, who lost to Fulop in 2013, is a strong DeGise supporter, but may not be up to the task of running the HCDO. He also may not carry the same political clout he once had. Fulop trounced Healy ally Bill Matsikoudis last November with nearly 80 percent of the vote.
The other names that are being thrown around as possible candidates for the HCDO chair have also lost their elections.
“Can’t they find anyone who won an election?” one source asked.
Al Sullivan may be reached at asullivan@hudsonreporter.com.
