Senator Robert Menendez at Ridgewood REORG
Menendez and Melgen: An inside look at how the money and access flowed
Star-Ledger Staff By Star-Ledger Staff
on February 10, 2013 at 12:05 AM, updated February 10, 2013 at 2:16 AM
Enlarge Star-Ledger Wire Services Robert Menendez pumps his fist and jumps in the air as he arrives on stage at the East Brunswick Hilton as Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) is re-elected to his seat on the US Senate. With him are his children Rob, 21, and Alicia, 23 (right). 2006 ANDREW
By Ted Sherman and Matt Friedman/Star-Ledger Staff
Last fall, despite predictions of a sweeping victory on Election Day, Sen. Robert Menendez continued to campaign hard, taking nothing for granted.
But county Democratic leaders made no secret of the need for cash, and lots of it, to fund a meaningful get-out-the-vote effort if Menendez wanted to boost turnout in some of the state’s critical voting districts.
The money soon appeared. In the weeks leading up to the election, four big checks totaling $103,500 were sent to Democratic county committees in Passaic, Union, Essex and Camden, all through a donor in Florida whom nobody had ever heard of before — a West Palm Beach eye doctor named Salomon Melgen.
Charlotte DeFilippo, the Union County Democratic chairwoman, said Melgen’s money helped Democrats up and down the ticket, but that it was especially meant for Menendez. “I said to him, ‘We need additional funds,’ ” she said, recalling her conversation with the senator. “He said he’d see what he could do, and I received a check.”
