New Jersey has become a battleground state, and it's no secret why. If Democrats have any shot at picking up a majority in the Senate, then they have to hold onto this vital blue state seat. Even if they do lose the Senate, winning New Jersey would make a nice consolation prize for the national GOP.
Ever since Jon Corzine announced his gubernatorial candidacy, Republicans in the Garden State have been salivating at the prospect of finally sending a Republican to the U.S. Senate. A New Jersey Republican hasn't seen the inside of the Senate since Clifford Case lost his primary race in 1978. This year, the GOP aims to end that long drought.
The unappealing job of being a ten-month incumbent running for re-election fell to Robert Menendez, the former congressman from New Jersey's 13th Congressional District. Menendez was undeterred by the prospect of a GOP candidate gunning for him with both barrels. He knew that it wouldn't be easy, but armed with a hefty war-chest, his hard-hitting rhetorical style, and an impressive bio, Bob Menendez hit the campaign trail to introduce New Jersey to its new senator.
The senator, though, had an Achilles heel: He had the misfortune of growing up and becoming involved in politics in New Jersey's infamous Hudson County. This is where machine politics was invented, when Frank Hague, mayor of Jersey City from 1917 to 1947, ruled his political empire with a club in one hand and cold, hard cash in the other. While most politicians dispute that anything close to a machine exists today, the list of Hudson County politicians who have been indicted for corruption charges is long. More than twenty Hudson County politicians have either pled guilty or been convicted of politically related charges since 2002.
Menendez knew he'd have to deal with this heritage. He'd come of age under the political tutelage of William Musto, local mayor and state legislator. The younger man made a hero of the charismatic Musto, and was personally hurt when faced with the decision that defined his political career -- to testify against his mentor in a federal corruption probe or to become Musto's complicit ally in a school board financial scandal. Menendez ultimately gave the testimony that was the linchpin in Musto's conviction. It was a decision that could have cost him dearly; after receiving many late night phone calls, the young Menendez chose to wear a bullet-proof vest and take the threats against his life seriously.
But immediately upon his appointment to the Senate, the New Jersey GOP stepped up their attacks on Menendez's ethics. The consensus candidate to challenge him was Thomas Kean, Jr., the son and namesake of one of New Jersey's most popular recent governors and the co-chairman of the 9/11 Commission. His attacks on Menendez led The New York Times and The Star-Ledger to conduct independent investigations of Menendez's role in the Musto prosecution. Both newspapers, though, found no documentation or personal recollections to support anything other than Menendez's own account of the incident. In June, The Times wrote: “The Kean accusations find no support in those records or from independent authorities of that era."
But now there are some indications that the ethics battle is spreading. After months of digging through records, the GOP's work may have finally started to pay off. The issue concerns a house owned by Menendez in Union City that he rented to the North Hudson Community Action Corp. It seems that the NHCAC received federal funds while paying rent to Mr. Menendez -- at what appears to be lower than market value.
For their part, the Menendez campaign claimed to be unfazed by the accusations coming from the Kean camp. Spokesperson Matt Miller pointed out that Menendez had asked permission from the House ethics committee before renting to the NHCAC and had even managed the property through a registered agent. Additionally, Menendez had sold the house several years ago. To Democrats in the Garden State, the issue seemed like a non-starter.
But that was before U.S. Attorney Chris Christie got involved. Last week, Christie subpoenaed financial records from the NHCAC and is expected to serve Senator Menendez with a similar subpoena in short order. On the surface, it looks perfectly reasonable -- but in New Jersey, politics is rarely what it looks to be on the surface.
True to form, Menendez did not mince his words on Friday when speaking to the State Democratic Convention, stating emphatically, “This is an inquiry into a lease that was executed 12 years ago for a building I sold three years ago. This lease was approved in advance by the House Ethics Committee. Suddenly 61 days before an election a prosecutor appointed by George Bush decides to take an interest, and not coincidentally, leaks to the press follow immediately. There are serious questions about the timing of this inquiry and I will not allow an orchestrated concerted effort to smear and personally destroy those who oppose this administration.”
In the 2000, Chris Christie served as general counsel to the New Jersey branch of Bush/Cheney campaign. Christie raised more than $100,000 for Bush, and thus qualified to be named a “Pioneer” by the campaign. After George W. Bush was sworn in as president, Chris Christie found himself in charge of the U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey. Christie declined invitations to join last year's gubernatorial race, and has chosen to remain a U.S. Attorney for the time being. Reports that he might have political aspirations, however, refuse to go away. It's often noted that the next New Jersey gubernatorial race will be in 2009 -- the year after Christie would finish his term as U.S. Attorney.
Christie has built a reputation as someone who is tough on political corruption -- he recently brought the runaway University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to heel. But the Menendez case doesn't appear to have any of the markings of those previous investigations. First, it is, at best, a cold case, since Menendez no longer even owns the property in question. Second, Menendez sought, and received, approval from the House ethics committee before he rented the house to NHCAC. Third, Menendez, by all accounts, never directly participated in the daily operations of NHCAC, nor the efforts to get federal funding for the organization, nor the rental negotiations with the agency.
Christie's announcement came just four days after Labor Day, the unofficial start of election season. At this point, it is unlikely that a full investigation can be completed before Election Day. As John Kerry found out in 2004, a Swift Boat doesn't need a court of law to cut down of a candidate's chances. While it's far too early to say just yet, the Swift Boat in New Jersey this year may be wearing the guise of a U.S. Attorney.
Thurman Hart is an adjunt Political Science Professor at Montclair State University, New Jersey City University and College of Staten Island.
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