MENENDEZ HYPOCRISY CONTINUES
Menendez Would Serve 97 Months Under His Own Legislation

MOUNTAINSIDE, NJ — Senator Bob Menendez, who has failed to amend his Financial Disclosure Reports to reflect the illegal gifts he took, has hypocritically introduced legislation to punish unethical actions by public officials and voted for legislation to curtail this exact type of unethical behavior.

“Corrupt Bob Menendez sponsored the Restoring Trust in Public Service Act, which establishes mandatory minimum sentences for public officials who illegally accept gifts. Under his own legislation, Menendez would have to serve at least 97 months in jail for illegally accepting over $1 million in gifts from Melgen—gifts that the bipartisan Senate Ethics Committee has ordered him to repay in full fair market value,” said  Hugin Communications Director Megan Piwowar.

“This level of hypocrisy flies in the face of Senator Menendez’s well-documented history of unethical actions, including violating federal law, violating Senate Ethics Rules, and abusing his office to help a donor. After voting for the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, a law passed in response to an ethics scandal involving free flights on private jets, Menendez accepted numerous free flights on Dr. Melgen’s private jet,” said Piwowar.

Menendez introduced the RESTORING TRUST IN PUBLIC SERVICE ACT, which would have established mandatory minimum sentences based on the amount of gifts unjustly received by a public official. Under his own legislation, Menendez would have had to serve 97 months for illegally accepting over $1 million in gifts from Dr. Salomon Melgen. Additionally, legislation supported by Menendez included the HONEST LEADERSHIP AND OPEN GOVERNMENT ACT OF 2007. Menendez’s colleagues on the Senate Ethics Committee stated in a BIPARTISAN LETTER that his “repeated acceptance of private plane flights from Dr. Melgen is particularly troubling given that it coincided with the passage and implementation of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007, a law passed in response to an ethics scandal and aimed at severely curtailing public officials’ acceptance of free travel on private planes,” a law Menendez supported.

“New Jersey deserves better—a Senator we can be proud of—which is why Bob Hugin is committed to personally raising the ethical standards in Congress and to restoring honesty and integrity to government,” said Piwowar.

Bob Hugin, a Marine Corps Veteran and business leader who has created thousands of New Jersey jobs, is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate to challenge incumbent Democrat Senator Bob Menendez.

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