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by Mark J. Bonamo, New Jersey Monitor July 17, 2024
by Mark J. Bonamo, New Jersey Monitor July 17, 2024
Residents of Union City struggled to beat the 100-degree heat on Tuesday afternoon. And across the Hudson River in a Manhattan courtroom, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, the city’s former mayor, failed to beat the rap.
On the day Menendez was convicted on all 16 charges in his federal corruption trial, residents of this densely populated Hudson County town made it clear: He got what he deserved.
Jose Ovalles is a bodega worker who was walking down Bergenline Avenue in front of Cuban restaurant El Artesano soon after the jury in Menendez’s case announced its guilty verdict. Ovalles said the senator has lost the trust of his constituents.
“ around here don’t believe in him no more. And why not? Because of what he did,” he said. “There was all this love for him, and now it’s gone.”
The claims at the center of the Menendez case involved “shocking levels of corruption,” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told reporters Tuesday. Prosecutors said Menendez, a Democrat, accepted gold bars, cash, and other items as bribes from three men and, in return, did favors for Egypt and Qatar and interfered in two criminal cases to help friends and associates.
The two men he was tried alongside, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, were also convicted on all counts.
Menendez’s road to becoming a convicted felon deviates far from his promising start. The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez was elected to Union City’s school board at the age of 20 and soon became an aide to the city’s then-mayor, William Musto. Musto was a father figure and mentor to Menendez until Menendez testified for prosecutors at Musto’s 1982 racketeering trial.
After Musto was convicted and sent to prison, Menendez rose. He became Union City’s mayor in 1986 and was later elected to the state Assembly and state Senate. Voters sent him to D.C. in 1992 to represent parts of Hudson County in the House, and in 2006, he became a U.S. senator.
Even as his stature grew and he moved to other parts of the state, Menendez remained a commanding presence in Union City. But on Tuesday, residents here seemed to be shaking the senator off like a bad habit.
“Menendez kept saying, ‘They’re coming after me because I’m Latino.’ No, it was him,” said Kimberly Perez, 17, a Union City student. “He shouldn’t have done what he was doing in the first place. He better pay for what he did, and in return, maybe he’ll start doing the right thing and get forgiveness.”
Outside La Rica deli and grocery store at the corner of 45th Street and Hudson Avenue, just a block away from the apartment building where Menendez grew up, other residents were less charitable.
“You put these in power to help you, right? To help do stuff for the state of New Jersey, right? Well, they might do some, but then they do other stuff,” said Omar Roberts, 58, a housekeeper originally from Venezuela. “We have problems with corruption in South America, too. In terms of America’s image to the world, a guy like Menendez got so high up, but then he got caught. That’s a fact, and it’s better for everybody that he got caught.”
Outside of City Hall, the scene of many of Menendez’s previous triumphs, Deandre Lamar, 49, a tile worker and union member, said the verdict did not surprise him.
“It’s Jersey , for sure. It always seems weird how have all these connections and how much things go down,” Lamar said. “A senator is supposed to serve the , and you’re taking bribes? This is not right. So, Menendez got away with it for a long time. Until he didn’t.”
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Mark J. Bonamo has worked as an editor and staff writer for NorthJersey.com, NJ.com and PolitickerNJ, and he has contributed to many other publications. He was also the editor of the news site TAPinto Newark. Bonamo has written extensively issues affecting New Jerseyans and has received numerous awards for his work. In 2015, the Washington Post named him one of the best state political reporters in the country. Recently he began working as a contributing writer for the New York Times. He is also the co-host of The Jersey Angle podcast.
New Jersey Monitor provides fair and tough reporting on the issues affecting New Jersey, from political corruption to education to criminal and social justice. We strive to hold powerful accountable and explain how their actions affect New Jerseyans from Montague to Cape May.
