A few words on Bob Menendez

This is not a tough one for me.

Senator Bob Menendez is that rare creature: a Cuban who is a Democrat. As such, one would expect me, a fellow Cuban, to be on his side concerning his indictment for corruption.

However, I am not. And that is because I'm a Democrat.

So far, only two of his Senate Democratic colleagues have called for him to resign: John Fetterman and Sherrod Brown. I will say this now: That is disgusting. The same people who called for Al Franken's head are now quite reticent to do the same for Mr. Menendez. The calls for Mr. Franken to resign were appropriate. That the same calls aren't being made for Mr. Menendez is not a good look for the Democratic caucus. If Mr. Franken's indiscretions were cause for widespread condemnation, what is the reason for Senate Democrats maintaining such judicious circumspection around Mr. Menendez? The party is hardly in danger of losing the seat were he to resign. 

Instead, Mr. Menendez is doubling down and vowing not only not to resign, but to run for re-election next year. (He won't win the primary. The knives are out for him in the Garden State.) He would have not felt so emboldened if Senate Democratic leadership made it plain that his tenure was at an end. Instead, as of now, he will run to retain his seat, where his corruption will be front-and-center, sullying the person who eventually replaces him on the ticket.

And as a Cuban? His bringing out the ethnic card to cast calumny on his prosecution is too precious by half. He is not being singled out because of his heritage; he is being singled out because, well, he has fucking gold bars in his possession which he received as a bribe. Mr. Menendez is the epitome of the corrupt New Jersey pol, the kind which graced the covers of the Daily News and the Post in days of yore. He is not a champion for New Jersey's Latins; he's just another New Jersey politician on the take who got caught.

The fact that he is the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee makes it doubly imperative that he resign. His position is untenable. Stepping down while he is fighting the charges is not enough. He can't be on the committee at all, and he can no longer serve in the Senate with the security clearances which that entails. His time is done. It should have been done in 2018, when he avoided the first charges against him. He stinks to high heaven, and has no place in the Senate or the party.

I'm not one to inveigh against Majority leader Chuck Schumer. But this situation calls not for senatorial comity, but for cold-eyed ruthlessness. The elections next year are going to be vicious; having a man like Bob Menendez hanging around will make keeping the Senate and expanding the majority even more difficult. New Jersey isn't competitive, unless someone like Mr. Menendez is still in the conversation. Mr. Schumer needs to make it clear that his time is done, and he needs to leave and deal with his legal imbroglio.

The United States is not Cuba in 1957. Bob Menendez isn't owed anything. He must go.

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