Free Republic

The New York Times has called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to remove New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez from his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Under the editorial headline “Mr. Menendez’s Ethics Problem,” the newspaper said Menendez “was never a distinguished choice for chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the position he ascended to this month by virtue of seniority.” “Concerns about that quality gap have sharply escalated amid new disclosures about Mr. Menendez’s use of his position to advance the financial interests of a friend and big donor,” the Times wrote. “Instead of trying...

Put on your shocked faces: Since my bipartisan call last week for Democratic women to join the Ladies Against Senator Sleaze-Bob movement, not a single Democratic woman in Washington has signed up. Here's the thing. The brewing scandal involving N.J. Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez, the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is not just a "sex scandal." It's a crony corruption scandal of sordid, soap operatic proportions. Maybe if Menendez were a contestant on "The Bachelor," he'd finally command more widespread female attention. For their part, the Democratic women on Capitol Hill seem as uninterested in the alleged...

Contrary to his website and resume, big-name institutions including Harvard, Yale and the University of Missouri have claimed they have no record of professional or educational history with Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, MD, who is under two separate federal investigations for Medicare fraud and a political scandal involving a Democratic senator, according to a report by the Washington Free Beacon. Dr. Melgen's biography (pdf LINK) on his website claims he graduated from Harvard, was the chief resident of ophthalmology at the University of Missouri, and held a Yale internship, but all three denied any record to support his credentials, according...

Yesterday, NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm questioned Senator Robert Menendez' veracity after his office claimed that he did not know that his ex-aide Pedro Pablo Permuy (in photo) was involved with ICCSI, a company partly owned by his mega-donor Salomon Melgen. Menendez sought to pressure administration officials to support a contract for port security in the Dominican Republic that would have provided a windfall for Melgen. In a Miami Herald story today , Marc Caputo reports: Sen. Bob Menendez's ties to a former Miami aide who could benefit from a controversial overseas port contract, which the Democrat pushed for, extend to...

snip... Wait, there’s more. While Melgen shelled out millions to Menendez and the Democratic party over the years, he is a serial tax evader. The jet-setting doc incurred liens of $1.3 million before 2002, $6.2 million in 2011, and a still-outstanding $11.1 million lien between 2006 and 2009. And the FBI and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — not a part of the “right-wing blogosphere” the last time I checked — are now sifting through boxes of documents they carted away during last week’s raid of Melgen’s offices as part of a Medicare-fraud investigation. snip...

A controversial donor with ties to prominent Democrats who is under investigation by the FBI may not have the qualifications he claims. The resume of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida-based ophthalmologist and controversial Democratic donor, boasts medical education and experience at Harvard University, Yale University, and the University of Missouri. But none of those schools says it can find any record of Melgen, who claims to be a Harvard alumnus, the former chief resident of the University of Missouri’s ophthalmology department, and a former Yale intern. Questions concerning Melgen’s background are also coming to light. According to his biography, posted...

Frances Robles reports in the New York Times that an ex-aide to Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) stood to benefit from a Dominican port security deal, along with Menendez benefactor Salomon Melgen. From the Times: Mr. Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, has pushed United States government officials to help enforce a contract that a company owned in part by one of his major donors, Dr. Salomon E. Melgen, has with the Dominican government, which has refused to honor it. A top executive at Dr. Melgen's security company will be Pedro Pablo Permuy, a former national security adviser and senior legislative aide...

In case you missed it, embattled, pervy Senator Bob Menendez (Letch- NJ) is still denying it all as 'anonymous' smears-from-nowhere, but evidence of Roberto's little sex-addiction problem is piling up high, and quick: besides all the poor Dominican teen chicks he used as a sex toilet (then stiffed on the bill), yesterday pics started to slip out of a Russian 'mystery woman' who has been deeply involved with Menendez and his happy-huntin' buddy, major Democratic donor (and party-jet owner) Salomon Melgen: Svitlana Buchyk, aka 'Svetlana' and 'Sveta', a very attractive blonde who says she 'works as a model' in NY...

A new connection has emerged between Los Angeles Mayor Anthonio Villaraigosa and the eye doctor at the center of controversy surrounding Sen. Bob Menendez (D., NJ). The Washington Free Beacon found Villaraigosa pictured alongside both Menendez and controversial donor Salomon Melgen at a gala honoring the Democratic mayor. The National Association of Latino Electoral and Appointed Officials (NALEO) honored Villaraigosa last February in Washington D.C. A photographer from the doctor’s company, VOXXI, captured photos of Melgen with several prominent Democrats, including Villaraigosa. Melgen is the chairman of the board of VOXXI.

FBI agents late Tuesday night raided the West Palm Beach business of an eye doctor suspected of providing free trips and even underage Dominican Republic prostitutes to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. — who has denied what he calls the “fallacious allegations.” Agents gathered at the medical-office complex of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a contributor to Menendez and other prominent politicians, to start hauling away potential evidence in several vans. The investigation is believed to be focusing on Melgen’s finances and the allegations about Menendez’s trips and contact with prostitutes. A spokesman for Menendez could not be reached for comment, nor...