H*******g 发帖数: 6997 | | a**e 发帖数: 8800 | 2 驴子还是象?
【在 H*******g 的大作中提到】![](/moin_static193/solenoid/img/up.png) : 哈哈哈
| l****z 发帖数: 29846 | | l****z 发帖数: 29846 | 4 What we know (and what we don’t) about Bob Menendez, Salomon Melgen and the
Dominican Republic
By Chris Cillizza , Updated: February 5, 2013
The allegations regarding Sen. Bob Menendez and his ties to a West Palm
Beach eye doctor named Salomen Melgen are piling up.
In an attempt to defuse those allegations, the New Jersey Democrat is
meeting them head on, huddling with reporters Monday to explain why he took
so long to reimburse Melgen for two flights on the doctor’s plane in 2010
and to outright dismiss some of the more salacious reports. (That’s a
marked change from his silence last week in the face of the allegations.)
It’s a complicated story with lots of moving parts. Given that, it’s worth
going through what we know and what we don’t about Menendez, Melgen and
their time spent in the DR together.
WHAT WE KNOW
* Melgen’s office in Florida was raided by the FBI last week. According to
the Miami Herald, “FBI agents were joined by an inspector from the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, indicating the search-and-seizure
raid has ties to a possible Medicare fraud inquiry.” Melgen also owes the
Internal Revenue Service more than $11 million in back taxes. Melgen’s
attorney has said he and his client haven’t been informed why the doctor’s
office was raided.
* Menendez flew on Melgen’s plane and stayed at Melgen’s home in the
Dominican Republic several times in 2010. In early January of this year,
Menendez reimbursed Melgen $58,500 from his personal account for two flights
in 2010. (A third flight by Menendez on Melgen’s plane was paid for
through the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Menendez chaired
at the time.) Menendez has chalked up the time between the flights and the
reimbursement as an oversight; “I was in a big travel schedule in 2010,”
he said Monday. “I was the chair of the DSCC plus my own campaign getting
ready for an election cycle.” The Senate Ethics Committee is reportedly
reviewing those allegations.
* Melgen was a major donor to Menendez and the DSCC during Menendez’s time
as chairman of the organization. Melgen also donated $700,000 to the
Majority PAC, a Democratic super PAC that aimed to help elect (and re-elect)
Democrats to the Senate, in 2012. That group spent almost $600,000 on
Menendez’s race, which he won last fall by almost 20 points.
* Melgen and Menendez have known each other for the better part of the last
two decades. According to the New York Times, “they spent holidays
together, often in the Dominican Republic, where Dr. Melgen has a home in
Casa de Campo, a gated oceanfront resort where houses cost as much as $20
million and which has been home to some of the country’s richest residents,
like Oscar de la Renta.” Menendez has described Melgen as a “friend and
political supporter.”
* Menendez is forcefully denying a report from the Daily Caller, a
conservative website, that he engaged in sex with prostitutes while in the
DR. “Nobody can find them,” he said of the alleged prostitutes Monday. “
No one ever met them. No one ever talked to them.” One of the women who
supposedly slept with Menendez said Monday that she had never even met the
New Jersey Senator.
WHAT WE DON’T KNOW
* Does the FBI raid on Melgen’s office have anything to do with Menendez?
The Miami Herald report suggests Medicare fraud, which, obviously would
leave the Senator in the clear.
* Why did it take Menendez more than two years to pay back Melgen for the
two flights to the Dominican Republic? Is “being busy” a good enough
reason? And, does the timing of Menendez’s payment — less than a month
before the raid on Melgen’s office — raise suspicions? Relatedly, does the
Senate Ethics Committee go beyond simply reviewing the allegations and open
a full investigation?
* Do any of Menendez’s Senate colleagues — particularly those in
leadership — turn on him? Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) gave
Menendez a nice vote of confidence on Sunday, saying that the New Jersey
Senator ”did nothing wrong.” Menendez’s homestate colleague Frank
Lautenberg has been less charitable but there has been no rush by other
Democratic Senators to distance themselves from him. Any significant break
in those ranks would be very problematic for Menendez.
* Does a very close look by the likes of the Washington Post, Miami Herald
and New York Times turn up anything else incriminating or even questionable
when it comes to the relationship between Menendez and Melgen? The piece of
string that seems most likely to be harmful to Menendez is a port security
contract in the Dominican that he pushed which would benefit Melgen.
HIstory suggests that this story will go one of two ways. Either the deep
dig into Menendez by several major news organizations will turn up new
information that forces him to explain himself at greater length and fuel
the story or it won’t. The next several weeks — as news organizations
flood the zone looking for new leads — will be critical for Menendez.
If in a month’s time, there’s nothing new to report, he may well look back
at this week as a big but ultimately inconsequential bump on his political
road. If more comes out, however, Menendez could be in a fight for his
political career. | k**o 发帖数: 15334 | 5 NJ政客怎么tm都有问题。前前州长McGreevy同性恋,滥用职权。
前州长Corzine的公司丢失了客户20多亿美元,说找不到了,然后公司破产。 | a**e 发帖数: 8800 | 6 有没有个具体的统计,里剥肉和红脖的政客那个有问题的比例大?
不能相信媒体,媒体对里剥肉的问题基本上能视而不见就视而不见。
【在 k**o 的大作中提到】![](/moin_static193/solenoid/img/up.png) : NJ政客怎么tm都有问题。前前州长McGreevy同性恋,滥用职权。 : 前州长Corzine的公司丢失了客户20多亿美元,说找不到了,然后公司破产。
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