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'Robert "Bob" Menendez' (born January 1, 1954) is a Democratic Senator from New Jersey. In January 2006, he was appointed by Jon Corzine to fill the seat made vacant by Corzine's resignation from the Senate to serve as Governor of New Jersey; Menendez subsequently won the seat in the November 7 general election later that year. Before his appointment to the Senate, he represented New Jersey's 13th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1993 to 2006. He currently resides in Hoboken. He is the first Hispanic to represent New Jersey in the U.S. Senate.

Contents

Personal life

Early political career

United States House of Representatives

United States Senate

2006 election allegations of past ethics violations

2006 Senate race

Electoral History

Footnotes

External links

Personal life

Menendez was born in New York City to Cuban parents Evangelina and Mario Menendez.^[1] Fleeing Cuba in 1953 due to their dislike of the Batista government, his parents came to New York^[2]. His father was a carpenter and his mother was a seamstress^[3]. He grew up in Union City, New Jersey, where he graduated from Union Hill High School.
After graduating with a B.A. from Saint Peter's College, he attended Rutgers School of Law-Newark in Newark, from which he obtained his Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree.^[4] He was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1980 and became a lawyer in private practice.
He married Jane Jacobsen, a teacher for the Union City Board of Education, and the couple had two children: Alicia, a graduate of Harvard University, and Robert, a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Menendez and Jacobsen have since divorced.

Early political career

In 1973, at age 19, while attending Saint Peter's College in Jersey City, he launched a successful petition drive against his mentor, then-Union City Mayor William Musto, to reform the local school board. He was elected to the Union City Board of Education in 1974, and would later testify against Musto in a court case that resulted in a prison sentence for Musto.
Menendez was elected mayor of Union City in 1986 and served as mayor until 1992. While mayor, he simultaneously served in the New Jersey Legislature, a common practice for New Jersey politicians. He was in the General Assembly from 1987 until 1991 and in the New Jersey Senate from 1991 to 1993.

United States House of Representatives

In 1992, 14th District Congressman Frank Guarini retired after seven terms. Menendez won the Democratic nomination for the Jersey City-based district, which was renumbered the 13th after New Jersey lost a district in the 1990 Census, and was easily elected that November. The district was already heavily Democratic, but had been redrawn with a Hispanic majority after the 1990 census. He was reelected six times with no significant Republican opposition.
In 1996, Menendez was briefly a candidate in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat held by the retiring Bill Bradley, but he backed out and the seat was won by Democrat Robert Torricelli.
In 2003, Menendez was elected chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, ranking him third in the Democratic hierarchy in the house, behind House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland. He was elected to chair the Credentials Committee of the 2004 Democratic National Convention and was a speaker on the first day of the convention. During the 107th Congress, he was chair of the Democratic Task Force on Education and the Democratic Task Force on Homeland Security.
Although he is often portrayed as the political boss of Hudson County, he strongly dislikes this appellation, particularly because, according to an anonymous close source quoted in the December 11, 2005 ''Union City Reporter'', "there is no boss of Hudson County".^[5] Menendez is also seen as one leader in a fractured political establishment tenuously united by agreements that permitted the county to generate a significant vote for Corzine in the 2005 gubernatorial race.

United States Senate

While several other names had been mentioned, Menendez was the early favorite among pundits for Governor-elect Corzine's replacement to fill the vacancy that would be created when Corzine resigned from the Senate. Corzine's decision to appoint Menendez got the support of several Latino groups, including the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
Menendez is the first minority to represent New Jersey in the Senate, and only the sixth Hispanic to serve in that body. He joins Republican Mel Martinez of Florida (also of Cuban descent) and Democrat Ken Salazar of Colorado (of Mexican descent) as the only three Hispanics currently in the Senate. He is on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Budget and Energy and Natural Resources committees.
In February of 2006, Menendez cosponsored legislation with New York Senator Hillary Clinton to make it illegal for foreign governments to buy U.S. port operations. The legislation was a direct response to Dubai Ports World's efforts to purchase Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) of the United Kingdom, which operates six major U. S. ports. Menendez said, "Our ports are the front lines of the war on terrorism. They are both vulnerable targets for attack and venues for smuggling and human trafficking. We wouldn't turn the Border Patrol or the Customs Service over to a foreign government, and we can't afford to turn our ports over to one either."^[6]
On September 28, 2006 Menendez voted for the Military Commissions Act.^[7]

2006 election allegations of past ethics violations

On August 27, 2006, two Republican state lawmakers filed an ethics complaint against Menendez, alleging he broke conflict-of-interest rules when he rented property out to a nonprofit agency that receives federal funds. Menendez helped the organization win designation as a federally qualified health care center in 1998. That designation allowed the agency to receive additional federal grants.^[8] Menendez allies note that the organization in question, the North Hudson Community Action Corp., which provides social services and health care to the poor and was founded in 1960, had received federal funding for years before Menendez was in Congress, and receives its funding based on mathematical formulas.^[9] Menendez maintains that he rented the property out below market-value because "he was supportive of its work".^[10] The total rent collected over nine years was over $300,000.

2006 Senate race

Main articles: New Jersey United States Senate election, 2006

Menendez successfully ran to retain his seat in the Senate. In the general election in November 2006, he defeated Republican Thomas Kean, Jr., current minority whip in the New Jersey Senate and son of former state governor Thomas Kean.
The race had been considered one of the best hopes for a Republican to pick up a Democratic seat. With 99% of the precincts reporting, Menendez stood at 1,156,237 votes or 53% to Kean's 971,757 or 45%. However, Menendez's margin of victory, albeit comfortable, was the smallest for a Democratic incumbent in 2006, which may be related to the fact that Menendez had served less than one year in the Senate at the time of his reelection.
Menendez was endorsed by the following major newspapers covering New Jersey politics: ''The New York Times''^[11], ''The Philadelphia Inquirer''^[12], ''The Star-Ledger''^[13], and ''The Record''^[14].

Electoral History

Footnotes

1. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~battle/senators/menendez.htm
2. Filling in the gaps in Menendez's biography ''The Star-Ledger'' July 30, 2006
3. Robert Menendez, a Politician Even at 20 ''The New York Times'', December 10, 2005
4. Biography of Senator Bob Menendez, accessed January 8, 2007
5. Menendez on the move: Corzine appoints replacement in Senate, ''Union City Reporter'', December 11, 2005
6. Menendez, Clinton seek to stop UAE port deal, ''The Record'', February 18, 2006
7. U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 109th Congress — 2nd Session ''United States Senate''
8. Feds probe Menendez rental deal: Senator took in at least 0,000 from nonprofit in Union City, ''The Star-Ledger'', September 8, 2006
9. GOP calls Menendez rent profits unethical, ''The Record'', August 26, 2006
10. Agency was paying rent to its champion: Menendez denies Kean's charge that role of landlord poses conflict, ''The Star-Ledger'', August 25, 2006
11. “New Jersey’s Senate Race,” ''The New York Times'', October 30, 2006
12. “Robert Menendez for U.S. Senate,” ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', October 15, 2006
13. “Robert Menendez for U.S. Senate,” ''The Star-Ledger'' October 29, 2006
14. “Bland or blemished — Editorial,” ''The Record'', October 29, 2006

External links

★ United States Senator Robert Menendez 'official Senate site'

★

★ Federal Election Commission — Robert Menendez campaign finance reports and data

★ New York Times — Robert Menendez News collected news and commentary

★ On the Issues — Robert Menendez issue positions and quotes

★ OpenSecrets.org — Robert Menendez campaign contributions

★ Project Vote Smart — Senator Robert Menendez (NJ) profile

★ SourceWatch Congresspedia — Bob Menendez profile
'Articles'

★ Menendez on the Move by Al Sullivan, Union City Reporter, December 11, 2005.

★ New Jersey's New Senator New York Times, December 9, 2005.

'Current Committee Assignments'

Committee	Position
Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs
Budget
Energy and Natural Resources
Foreign Relations	Subcommittee Chairman