Law professor Jonathan Turley is now rolling his eyes over the corruption charges involving Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ). It’s not that the allegations are a joke, he’s not talking about that—but the reactions will be nauseatingly hypocritical. What else is new?
You could almost say you can’t make this up, except you can. Turley noted that Menendez broke the “goldilocks rule” shamelessly while also being the face of why so many people hate Washington. One of the biggest gripes most voters have with this town is the many faces of Congress trying to find the right balance of tolerable corruption.
Turley circled back to the defense of a federal judge, Thomas Porteous, who was impeached on allegations dissimilar to those facing Menendez. In the Senate trial, the law professor noted that they were peculiar since the jury is “composed of people you could strike for cause in a real court.” Menendez was on that jury and might have received gifts when he was gunning to remove Judge Porteous. Turley then highlighted the warning Gov. Gavin Newsom gave regarding a crackdown on influence peddling (via The Hill):
...Judge Thomas Porteous faced allegations of accepting gifts like free lunches. Menendez sat in judgment of Porteous, but he wasn’t just another face in the Senate crowd — he stood out. It was like arguing a piracy case with Captain Jack Sparrow sitting on the jury.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) September 23, 2023
The question is whether this level of corruption is now enough for Democrats. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) recently suggested a type of Goldilocks rule for corruption. He warned that people in Washington had better be careful if they want to crack down on the Biden family’s influence-peddling.
“If that’s the new criteria, there are a lot of folks in a lot of industries — not just in politics — where people have family members and relationships and they’re trying to parlay and get a little influence and benefit in that respect. That’s hardly unique.”
It would appear that the question is not corruption, but when a little corruption is “just right.”
If these allegations against Menendez are proven, then he violated Washington’s Goldilocks rule. It would mean that Menendez pursued gifts with a reckless abandon, endangering others whose corruption was more circumspect.
Consider the timeline: It would mean that during the Porteous trial, Menendez was allegedly accepting gifts while condemning and removing from office of a judge accused of receiving gifts.
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Where corrupt figures often refer to getting their beaks wet, Menendez allegedly took a headlong plunge into this pool of corruption. This city has not seen such low-grade alleged bribery since former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) was found with $90,000 wrapped like a po boy in his freezer.
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So get ready for politicians to suddenly declare themselves “shocked, shocked” by the allegations against Menendez…In the end, the problem is not Menendez. It is the array of other politicians who enabled him while dismissing his reputation for corruption.
And yet, these will be the same people, as Turley noted, who made Bob one of the most powerful Democrats on the Hill. If people wonder why Trump and his acolytes won’t fade, it’s partially because of this ethos embedded among those in the political class.
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