As a native of the Garden State, I can tell you that New Jersey is a cesspool of political corruption that is outpaced in only a few states, like Louisiana. If a politician has fought his or herself to the top of the food chain in either party (but especially the Democratic Party), they have by definition compromised themselves many times over. HBO’s The Sopranos depicted the mob’s relationship with the state Senate fairly accurately. That was north Jersey and the ports. Then there is south Jersey and Atlantic City. One reason a lot of progressives welcomed Goldman Sachs CEO Jon Corzine as governor and senator was because we knew he didn’t have to commit any felonies (in any official capacity, anyway) to get the nominations. New Jersey politics is that bad.

If Louisiana could shrug off David Vitter’s diaper-wearing visits to prostitutes, Bob Menendez probably has little to worry about, even if the worst allegations are true. The problem is that the only clean politicians the Democrats have created in New Jersey in my lifetime have entered politics at the highest levels rather than working their way up. Frank Lautenberg used his private fortune to win a U.S. Senate seat in 1982. Bill Bradley used his fame to do the same in 1978. They were (and are) politicians that we can be proud of who didn’t shame New Jersey. But they are about the only ones. Even Corzine, who followed that model, turned out to be a scoundrel.

As for Sen. Menendez, he’s always been suspect to me. I know what it takes to get where he is, and it ain’t pretty.

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