Posted on 02/01/2013 6:01:36 PM PST by randita
Menendez drained more than 1/3 of bank accounts in January to pay for past Dominican Republic travel
Posted By David Martosko On 4:21 AM 02/01/2013 @ 4:21 AM
A check that Democratic New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez wrote to his longtime campaign donor Dr. Salomon Melgen on Jan. 4 to cover private jet travel to the Dominican Republic represented more than one-third of his cash-on-hand — and perhaps as much as 90 percent — according to an analysis of his most recent U.S. Senate financial disclosure report.
Dan O’Brien, Menendez’s chief of staff, told WNBC-TV4 in New York on Tuesday that the senator reimbursed Melgen $58,500 for two trips they took together to the island nation in 2010.
Menendez signed a disclosure statement on May 9, 2012 indicating that he had between $66,003 and $165,000 in three different bank and credit union accounts. His only other asset is a rental property worth between $250,001 and $500,000.
Financial disclosure forms filed by members of the House and Senate typically describe asset values in ranges, not precise numbers.
Menendez earns a $174,000 annual salary as a U.S. senator. Factoring in federal and New Jersey state income taxes, plus Social Security and Medicare withholding, the $58,500 check represents more than 51 percent of his expected take-home pay of about $113,000 during 2013.
His sudden reimbursement of Melgen came more than two years after the travel in question, and barely two months after The Daily Caller first reported the allegations of two prostitutes who said they were paid to have sex with him in the Dominican Republic.
Menendez has forcefully denied the prostitution-related allegations, which have expanded to include the accusation that he had sex with at least one underage girl at a sex party in one of Melgen’s Dominican homes.
The senator’s willingness to part with such a large amount of his personal funds also underscores the seriousness of charges he might otherwise have faced from the Senate Ethics committee.
Ethics rules require some combination of advance permission and after-the-fact reporting whenever senators accept significant job-related perks or gifts from friends, including free travel. But since Menendez elected to pay for the trips himself, he’s not obligated to report the transactions officially, and any investigative trail into other similar trips will likely run cold.
Meanwhile, federal investigators raided Melgen’s flagship eye clinic in south Florida Tuesday night in an operation that an FBI source told TheDC was related to Menendez in some way. (RELATED: Dominican prostitute wrote that Menendez “likes the youngest and newest girls”)
Melgen also owes the federal government more than $11 million in back taxes, and the Miami Herald has reported that he may be under investigation for Medicare fraud. Follow David on Twitter
“Don’t you hate it when this happens? I mean, who of us hasn’t forgotten to reimburse travel companions $60,000 for two years after the travel took place?”
Correct. It happens all the time with me. Doesn’t everyone here do the same thing??
How can anyone not want to be a congresscritter?
It’s a helluva job with infinite perks during and after your “career” and anytime that you want a pay increase you just vote for one.
And of course, there is the great adventure of lawful insider trading.
Effing corrupt bastard should be run out on a rail!
Oh, I know what you mean. Just about every year my buddy spent the equivalent of half my family's income on South American whoring trips for me without thinking about it.
I didn't realize how much those trips cost until the FBI started nosing around in my business and I actually had to pay for them.
The food stamps help my kids a lot, though, thanks to obama inviting us on this year. It's nice not to see them rummaging in the neighbor's garbage can for snacks anymore.
You folks interested in coming with me on my next trip? I'm thinking Thailand this time, baby!.
I had a guy going to pay for it for me, but that's on hold. I gotta pay this time. Yeah, it's going to cost a lot, maybe 70% of our income. I told the kids already and they are OK with going to the local community college instead of the big time schools. Their perfect SAT scores will get them a break on tuition. That big saving will probably let me hit Thailand for the next few years if I like it.
Mrs. RWA is working two jobs to help me out.
Congress is like an elected version of the Mafia.
If it looks like you’re going to get caught, pay people off, deny everything, and let the lawyers take over.
Disgusting.
Our Founding Fathers must be so disappointed.
These are only the bank accounts that he (and the MSM) want us to know about.
The Cayman Island and Swiss accounts full of kickbacks and money skimmed from campaign contributions are his private business.
Business as usual:
There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.
Mark Twain quote made over 100 years ago.
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