Sopranos Lite? Casting Menendez in a Culture of Corruption

The day the newspaper story came out, Menendez issued a statement denying that he advocated breaking the law. “I vehemently deny any statement attributed or implied to me which would indicate that I am in favor of violence or of breaking the law,” his statement said, as reported in the next day’s Hudson Dispatch . He called the first story “a great mischaracterization of my position.”

The Dispatch reported Menendez’ denial, but never retracted the original story. The newspaper didn’t mention whether the original conversation was recorded, so that’s as far as we can go to sort this out.

Cocaine Trafficker Buddy?

The alleged lawbreaking theme continues with the second claim in the ad, that one of the guests at Menendez’ Senate swearing-in last January was “a convicted cocaine trafficker.” The reference is to Manny Diaz, an old friend and former law partner of Menendez. In 1997, Diaz was indicted with two other men on charges of conspiring in a plot to sell 40 kilograms of cocaine from Colombia . Diaz pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison. He called himself “a supporter” but “not a close friend” of Menendez and added that he and the senator “don’t socialize.” And yes, he was at the ceremony, according to newspaper accounts, Menendez’ office and Diaz.

Favors for Locked-Up Mobsters?

The third reason not to vote for Menendez, the ad tells us, is that he “used his office to do favors for imprisoned mobsters.” Menendez states that he did no more than he’s inclined to do for other imprisoned New Jerseyans. According to state newspapers, in 1998 Menendez wrote to federal prison officials asking whether Nicholas Parlavecchio, convicted in 1992 on racketeering and cocaine charges, could be moved to “a facility closer to his family.” A month later, Parlavecchio’s son Antonio, imprisoned for similar crimes, was allowed to transfer to the prison where his father hoped to go; the elder Parlavecchio made it there the following year. Menendez’ spokesman said the senator had no relationship with the family. However, he said, if the senator gets requests concerning where a sentence is to be served, rather than its length, “we are inclined to accommodate the family’s wishes.”

Social Security for Illegals?

As we have explained recently, nobody wants to “give your Social Security money to illegal aliens.” This fourth allegation against Menendez is false.

“Under Federal Criminal Investigation”?

In September, about two weeks after a New Jersey newspaper did a story on Menendez’ lease of a building he owns to a nonprofit agency, a federal grand jury in New Jersey subpoenaed the agency for records relating to the lease agreement, according to media accounts.

This single fact forms the basis of what’s become the mantra of Kean and his GOP allies, that Menendez is “under federal criminal investigation.” It’s the fifth charge in this ad. In a recent Kean radio spot the announcer repeats the phrase four times. In a debate on Oct. 7, Kean worked it into his very first response: “I mean, I’ve got an opponent who is under federal criminal investigation.” Menendez has denied it.

In fact, Kean’s statement may be true, but Kean can’t prove it based on what is publicly known.

Menendez and his family used to live in the three-story brick house in question, but in 1983 he began renting it for commercial use. He leased it to the North Hudson Community Action Corp. from 1994 until he sold the house in 2003. The rent was $3,100/month at first, then $3,400/month, and over the length of the lease Menendez took in more than $300,000.

According to Menendez, just before he signed this lease in 1994 he cleared it by phone with a lawyer on the staff of the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. The lawyer, who no longer works there, has recently come forward to say that she doesn’t remember the conversation, but it probably happened – and that if she were advising him now she’d tell him, as she apparently did then, that there was nothing improper about the lease arrangement. All we know about a federal investigation is that there does seem to be one, because a subpoena was issued. But there’s no way to be certain of what the grand jury and prosecutors are actually going after. We don’t know who or what the subject of this probe is, and federal rules prevent investigators from speaking to outsiders about it. Menendez has said that none of his personal or bank records have been subpoenaed.

It’s worth mentioning, since the subpoena was issued in the height of the campaign season, that the U.S. Attorney who is running this investigation, Christopher Christie, contributed to George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign, and has also contributed to Tom Kean Jr.

Tale of the Tape

Most of the National Republican Senatorial Committee ad called “Tape” consists of an actual audio recording. “Listen carefully to Bob Menendez’ top lieutenant pressuring a doctor in a Menendez kickback scheme,” the announcer says. The tape rolls, with a man’s voice saying he’s only involved because “Menendez asked me to do it.” He also says that the person to whom he’s speaking would gain “protection” if he plays along. Those two phrases are played and replayed in the ad, to reinforce the impression that Menendez is up to his eyeballs in questionable schemes.

The voice, according to newspaper accounts, is that of Donald Scarinci, a powerful North Jersey attorney, speaking to psychiatrist Oscar Sandoval. Scarinci is apparently trying to get Sandoval to hire a certain doctor in connection with government contracts Sandoval has, saying Menendez wanted him to do so.