Democrats are bailing out an indicted senator. More specifically, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is trying to help Sen. Bob Menendez break out in New Jersey.
The Senate Majority PAC, a Schumer-aligned campaign outfit, will drop $3 million to help Menendez, and that’s a problem because it was never supposed to be this way. Democrats should not be spending that much money this late in the year in the Garden State. The money will go to pay for ads like this:
But holding the seat in New Jersey should be an afterthought for Democrats. The blue state went overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton. And for over two decades, the state kept sending Menendez to the Senate where he became chairman of the influential Foreign Relations Committee. Those combined factors would have been enough to keep Menendez in office — until the senator got himself indicted.
Menendez used his office to run an ugly racket with a wealthy ophthalmologist and political fundraiser named Salomon Melgen. The senator provided visas for the foreign girlfriends of the donor. The donor provided the senator rounds of golf at exclusive clubs, flights on private jets, and hotels in Paris. These good times were not destined to last, however.
The Department of Justice indicted both Menendez and Melgen, charging them with bribery, fraud, and lying to federal investigators. For his part, Melgen was sentenced to 17 years in prison. Menendez avoided hard time thanks to a hung grand jury last November.
Now, Republican challenger Bob Hugin, has been relitigating those charges. Just recently, the Republican accused the Democrat of using Melgen’s private jet to arrange rendezvous with underage girls in the Dominican Republic. He points to charges leveled by the Obama Department of Justice, and he just dropped this ad:
It is brutal, and it appears to be working. Like I wrote in August, New Jersey has quietly become the dark horse race this cycle. Three weeks out, Menendez’s lead has narrowed to seven points. Significant but uncomfortable in a state like New Jersey, that margin is enough to make Schumer nervous.
Now, Democrats are dropping big money to keep a creep like Menendez in Congress. Democrats should be using that money to help senators with cleaner noses keep their seats. But instead of spending $3 million in Indiana or West Virginia, they are posting bail for Menendez in New Jersey.
