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Revision as of 02:19, 27 October 2006 by Algebra (talk | contribs) (Revert to revision 83972768 dated 2006-10-27 02:18:42 by Chairlunchdinner using popups)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)| Robert Menendez | |
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| Junior Senator, New Jersey | |
| In office 2006–present | |
| Preceded by | Jon Corzine |
| Succeeded by | Incumbent (2007) |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Divorced |
Robert "Bob" Menendez (born January 1, 1954) is a Democratic junior Senator from New Jersey. In January 2006, he was appointed by Jon Corzine to fill the seat made vacant by Corzine's resignation from the Senate to serve as Governor of New Jersey. Before his appointment to the Senate, he represented the state's 13th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives from 1993-2006. He currently resides in Hoboken.
Personal life
Menendez was born in New York City to Cuban parents. Fleeing Cuba in 1953 due to their dislike of the Batista government, his parents came to New York. His father was a carpenter and his mother was a seamstress. He grew up in Union City, New Jersey, where he graduated from Union Hill High School.
After graduating with a B.A. from Saint Peter's College, he attended Rutgers School of Law in Newark, from which he obtained his law degree. He was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1980 and became a lawyer in private practice.
He married Jane Jacobsen, a teacher for the Union City Board of Education, and the couple had two children: Alicia, a graduate of Harvard University, and Robert, a student at the University of North Carolina. Menendez and Jacobsen have since divorced.
Early political career
In 1973, at age 19, while attending Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, he launched a successful petition drive against his mentor, then-Union City Mayor William Musto, to reform the local school board. He was elected to the Union City Board of Education in 1974, and would later testify against Musto in a court case that resulted in a prison sentence for Musto.
Menendez was elected mayor of Union City in 1986 and served as mayor until 1992. While mayor, he simultaneously served in the New Jersey Legislature, a common practice for New Jersey politicians. He was in the General Assembly from 1987 until 1991 and in the New Jersey Senate from 1991 to 1993.
United States House of Representatives
In 1992, 14th District Congressman Frank Guarini retired after seven terms. Menendez won the Democratic nomination for the Jersey City-based district, which was renumbered the 13th after New Jersey lost a district in the 1990 Census, and was easily elected that November. The district was already heavily Democratic, but had been redrawn with a Hispanic majority after the 1990 census. He was reelected six times with no significant Republican opposition.
In 1996, Menendez was briefly a candidate in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Bill Bradley, but he backed out and the seat was won by Democrat Robert Torricelli.
In 2003, Menendez was elected chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, ranking him third in the Democratic hierarchy in the house, behind House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland. He was elected to chair the Credentials Committee of the 2004 Democratic National Convention and was a speaker on the first day of the convention. During the 107th Congress, he was chair of the Democratic Task Force on Education and the Democratic Task Force on Homeland Security.
Although he is often portrayed as the political boss of Hudson County, he strongly dislikes this appellation, particularly because, according to an anonymous close source quoted in the December 11, 2005 Union City Reporter, "there is no boss of Hudson County". Menendez is also seen as one leader in a fractured political establishment tenuously united by agreements that permitted the county to generate a significant vote for Corzine in the 2005 gubernatorial race.
Menendez received a "B" on the progressive Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues.
United States Senate
While several other names had been mentioned, Menendez was the early favorite among pundits for Governor-elect Corzine's replacement to fill the vacancy that would be created when Corzine resigned from the Senate. Corzine's decision to appoint Menendez got the support from several Latino groups, including the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
Menendez is the first minority to represent New Jersey in the Senate, and only the sixth Hispanic to serve in that body. He joins Republican Mel Martinez of Florida (also of Cuban descent) and Democrat Ken Salazar of Colorado (of Mexican descent) as the only three Hispanics currently in the Senate. He is on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Budget and Energy and Natural Resources committees.
In February of 2006, Menendez co-sponsored legislation with New York Senator Hillary Clinton to make it illegal for foreign governments to buy U.S. port operations. The legislation was a direct response to Dubai Ports World's efforts to purchase Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) of the United Kingdom, which operates six major U. S. ports. Menendez said, "Our ports are the front lines of the war on terrorism. They are both vulnerable targets for attack and venues for smuggling and human trafficking. We wouldn't turn the Border Patrol or the Customs Service over to a foreign government, and we can't afford to turn our ports over to one either."
On September 28, 2006 Menendez voted for the Military Commissions Act.
Recent allegations of past ethics violations
On August 27, 2006, two Republican state lawmakers filed an ethics complaint against Menendez, alleging he broke conflict-of-interest rules when he rented property out to a nonprofit agency which receives federal funds. Menendez helped the organization win designation as a federally qualified health care center in 1998. That designation allowed the agency to receive additional federal grants. Menendez allies note that the organization in question, the North Hudson Community Action Corp., which provides social services and health care to the poor and was founded in 1960, had received federal funding for years before Menendez was in Congress, and receives its funding based on mathematical formulas. Menendez maintains that he rented the property out below market-value because "he was supportive of its work". The total rent collected over nine years was over $300,000.
Another controversy has hit Menendez, forcing him to cut all ties with a close advisor after a tape recording surfaced from 1999 with the advisor's voice boasting about urging a contractor to hire someone as a favor to Menendez .
2006 Senate race
Main article: New Jersey United States Senate election, 2006Menendez is running to retain his seat in the Senate. In the general election in November 2006, he will face Republican Thomas Kean, Jr., current minority whip in the New Jersey Senate, and son of former state governor Thomas Kean.
References
- Filling in the gaps in Menendez's biography Star-Ledger July 30, 2006
- Robert Menendez, a Politician Even at 20 The New York Times, December 10, 2005
- Menendez on the move: Corzine appoints replacement in Senate, Union City Reporter, December 11, 2005
- Menendez, Clinton seek to stop UAE port deal, The Record (Bergen County), February 18, 2006
- U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 109th Congress - 2nd Session United States Senate
- Feds probe Menendez rental deal: Senator took in at least $300,000 from nonprofit in Union City, Star-Ledger, September 8, 2006
- GOP calls Menendez rent profits unethical, The Record (Bergen County), August 26, 2006
- Agency was paying rent to its champion: Menendez denies Kean's charge that role of landlord poses conflict, Star-Ledger, August 25, 2006
External links
- Senate website
- Campaign website
- New Jersey's New Senator
- Republican site on Bob Menendez's political background
- United States Congress. "Bob Menendez (id: M000639)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Voting record maintained by the Washington Post
- "Menendez on the Move" by Al Sullivan, Union City Reporter, December 11, 2005.
| Preceded byJim Saxton (13th District) Frank Guarini (of the 14th District, which then became the 13th District) |
United States Representative for the 13th Congressional District of New Jersey 1993–2006 |
Succeeded byVacant |
| Preceded byMartin Frost | House Democratic Caucus Chair 2003–2006 |
Succeeded byJim Clyburn |
| Preceded byKen Salazar | United States order of precedence as of 2006 |
Succeeded byRuth Ann Minner |
| New Jersey's current delegation to the United States Congress | |
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| Representatives (ordered by district) |
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| Current United States senators | ||
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| President: ▌ Kamala Harris (D) ‧ President pro tempore: ▌ Chuck Grassley (R) | ||
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- 1954 births
- Living people
- Cuban-American politicians
- Members of the New Jersey General Assembly
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey
- New Jersey lawyers
- New Jersey State Senators
- People from Hudson County, New Jersey
- People from New York City
- Roman Catholic politicians
- Rutgers University alumni
- United States Senators from New Jersey