Posted on 09/28/2006 8:42:04 AM PDT by Dems_R_Losers
New Jersey Democratic chairman Joe Cryan this morning pledged "absolute" support for U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez's campaign, which late yesterday severed ties with a top campaign fund-raiser who was overheard in a taped telephone conversation repeatedly asking a Hudson County vendor to make a hire as "a favor" to Menendez.
"I can absolutely unequivocally assure you we are working harder to get him elected," said Cryan in a telephone interview from a dentist's chair. "This is nothing we didn't expect. We're going to win this thing."
Menendez is in a close race with Republican state Sen. Tom Kean, who has made ethics a key issue in the campaign.
The Inquirer in a story this morning detailed a taped 20-minute conversation that Donald Scarinci, a longtime friend and confidant of Menendez, had in 1999 with North Jersey psychiatrist Oscar Sandova, who held contracts with the county at the time.
In the previously unreleased tape, Scarinci tells Sandoval that hiring Dr. Vincente Ruiz would afford him "protection" - which Sandoval took as a threat to his county work.
Menendez spokesman Matt Miller yesterday said "Scarinci does not speak for Bob Menendez," and that the senator - a congressman at the time - had no knowledge of the conversation. Miller said, if true, the conversation showed "an unacceptable lapse in judgment," and Scarinci will no longer have a role in the campaign.
Scarinci said he could not discuss his dealings with Sandoval because the psychiatrist's country contracts are the subject of litigation. He also said "none of my dealings with Dr. Sandoval were either directed or requested by Bob Menendez."
Cryan's comments in support of Menendez suggests the party is looking to close ranks around the senator, as it did earlier this month when reports that the U.S. Attorney subpoenaed records of a non-profit that rented office space from Menendez surfaced.
Republicans are making the most out of this latest disclosure and plan to hold a telephone conference with reporters later today discussing what would happen if Democrats substituted Menendez on the ballot.
In the 2002 U.S. Senate race, former U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli was replaced by former U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg as Torricelli's poll numbers sunk during a federal investigation of his campaign's fund-raising activities. Torricelli was not charged in that case.
The nation owes a world of debt to the consistent corruption of the Hudson County Democratic Machine for doing its part in helping protect the nation and bring Mr. Kean to the Senate.
Menendez's pal can say whatever he wants. He's just doing the job all the Rats do in New Jersey.
Remember thsi NJ we are taling about. I will hold my nose and vote for the RINO Kean, but the despicable Menendez will probably win.
I did like the comment by the rat chm that the phone tap is 'nothing they didn't expect', of course rats in NJ expect corruption, LOL!
When are they gonna try the Torricelli 54 man roster swap?
This one is really bad. They have this Scaranci guy on tape threatening an FBI informant and telling him that he had better hire a doctor that Bob Menendez wanted to be hired, "or else." Scaranci is one of the most powerful lawyers in New Jersey and was campaign chairman for Menendez' last House race. He is not some minor wheel, nor is he just a fundraiser for Menedez. They came up together in the Hudson County Democrat machine and have been joined at the hop for years. No way Menendez can wiggle out of this one.
I read on NRO that the Dems are planning to switch candidates on October 15. The new candidate will be a former Democrat govenor.
It is sooooo funny, that is exactly what everyone is expecting to happen, which is why it will be exceptionally hard for the Dems to pull it off. I think the voters will really hammer them if they do. The Dem machine muscled everyone else out of this race for Menendez, now they are stuck with him. And Tom Kean Jr. is a much bigger name to NJ voters than Doug Forrester was, and Forrester almost beat Lautenberg. I think this race is OVAH.
"Stuck on You!" was a good Rock and Roll song.
Ok, there's the next piece in the plan. Christie now KNOWS they won't bring in the gay American. Now he just has to time his indictment of bagman bobbie right and bang!
So which dried up corpse will replace Menendez after he drops out?
They'd ask Lautenberg to step in and run for the seat, but unfortunately the Constitution prevent Lautenberg from holding two Senate seats simultaneously. Oh well!
Scarinci & Hollenbeck owns the New Jersey Democrat party. Straight out, Donald Scarinici can call the state legislature and demand one poor schlub senator clean his bathroom with a toothbrush, and the Democrats would line up around the block to get a chance to have the honor of the task.
That being said, no NJ media will touch this, Scarinci has ties to every media operation in the state.
Just cut 'im in half! He's be no more dead than he is now!
And I always thought Jon Corzine and George Norcross owned the NJ Democratic Party. Silly me.
McGreevey or Codey?
Flim-flam Florio?
If they pull a switch, and it's a former governor, perhaps it will be Brendan Byrne, the father of the NJ income tax.
I think that he still has a pulse (barely). He should easily attract support from the Alzheimer community. Everyone remembers with admiration Byrne's promise not to consider an income tax; and yet he was able to produce a proposal for one shortly after taking office. Chutzpah like that is rare, and is the envy and the model for aspiring members of his party. Such skills are perfect for a Rat in the U. S. Senate.
Then NJ will have in the Seante Lautenburg and Byrne: simultaneously two brain-rotted, superannuated zombies.
No kidding... a candidate for US Senate is being credibly accused of influence peddling, and it's "nothing we didn't expect"? The ethics bar must really be set really, really, low for NJ 'rats.
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