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New York NY, Judge Sidney H. Stein, of the Southern District of New York slated to oversee the bribery trial involving U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, has rejected the defense’s plea to postpone the commencement of jury selection from May to July, as reported by the Associated Press on Thursday.
Continue reading Sen. Menendez Denied Request to Delay His Criminal Trial
By ROLANDO ARMANDO ALUM
GUEST COLUMNIST
I agree with The Jersey Journal editorial that U.S. Sen. Bob Menéndez, D-NJ, need not resign while the accusations against him are clarified through the formal legal system (“Menendez indictment taints his image, but he should not resign;” (Tuesday, 4/07/15).
The people of this great Garden State of ours elected him, not the few elitist editorialists in other newspapers who are ridiculously jumping into a suspicious grandstanding frenzy by farcically calling for the resignation of the current highest-ranking and most senior elected Hispanic in the United States. Incidentally, he was also the first Hispanic elected to the New Jersey Senate, as well as to the U.S. House of Representatives and finally to the U.S. Senate. Ironically, these appear to be the same media outlets who have routinely given the benefit of the doubt to other indicted politicians who are not Hispanic.
Moreover, as Jersey Journal columnist Augie Torres has humorously suggested (Sat. 04/04/15), the official indictment reads like a Hollywood script, and I would add, to be read with Nino Rota’s “THE GODFATHER” classic theme playing in the background.
Of note, the 100 senators constitute the most exclusive U.S. club, 90 of whom I understand are multi-millionaires; but our senior New Jersey senator is among the 10 poorest, given that he has dedicated his adult life to public service.
Granted that I may not agree with a number of Menéndez’s domestic policy stances; yet, his courageous leadership in foreign policy is widely admired. Notwithstanding some below-the-belt xenophobic, ethnocentric and even racist comments posted online in response to Journal editorials, Bob must be pleased with the additional support that he is receiving from Jewish circles nationwide on account of his strong position vis-á-vis Israel.
https://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/04/opinion_calls_for_highest_ranking_hispanic_us_sena.html