It's time. NJ's Sen. Bob Menendez, indicted a third time, must resign | Mike Kelly

Bob Menendez, New Jersey’s senior U.S. senator, needs to resign.

It’s time.

The latest set of federal charges against Menendez, a three-term Democrat and former head of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, again raises the inevitable questions about his ethics. In this new superseding indictment, however, the questions are even more serious.

What started out last September as a federal indictment filled with stunning evidence that alleged that Menendez sold his services for cash, gold bars and a Mercedes-Benz, has now taken a creepy turn into foreign intrigue.

In October, federal prosecutors in New York expanded their basic bribery and extortion case into one involving Menendez reportedly acting as a political and financial go-between for a New Jersey businessman and Egyptian officials. The words, "spy" and "traitor," were not part of the indictment. But any reasonable reader had to wonder what sort of U.S. senator would engage in such actions.

Federal investigators even say Menendez reportedly passed on sensitive information to the Egyptians that could place vulnerable staffers at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo at risk. In other words, Menendez was charged with trading his own country’s interests for money.

Now the case has grown even more ominous. In another expansion of the original indictment, federal authorities announced on Tuesday that they are also charging Menendez with a scheme to help yet another New Jersey businessman by securing investments from officials of the Middle East nation of Qatar.

All of these charges are still unproven. Menendez’s federal trial, along with that of his wife, Nadine, and three businessmen, is scheduled to start in early May. But this legal crisis, while difficult for Menendez personally, spotlights a serious political question for New Jersey.

Simply put: Where is our state’s senior senator?

Answer: Menendez has been a ghost for the nearly two years since word leaked out that federal prosecutors were targeting him. It’s time for New Jersey to have a full-time senator.

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Bob Menendez has disappeared before

The latest political disappearing act echoes Menendez’s behavior for more than two years — from 2015-2017 — as he battled other federal charges that he took too many gifts from a Florida-based physician.

Like the latest charges, those in the 2015 indictment were framed with eye-popping details that surely raised concerns about Menendez’s judgment. During a trip to Paris, for instance, Menendez demanded that his doctor pal arrange for a special soaking tub in his hotel suite.

Back then, Menendez rarely appeared in public. And when he poked his head above ground, his staff tried to dissuade journalists from button-holing him with questions about his ethics.

In his federal trial in Newark in 2017, Menendez was not found guilty. But he wasn't acquitted, either. The jury announced it was divided and could not reach a unanimous verdict. The judge declared a mistrial and federal prosecutors opted not to ask for another trial.

Menendez, while angry with his detractors and sounding like a tinhorn dictator in promising that he “won’t forget” those “digging my political grave so they could jump into my seat,” nonetheless seemed rejuvenated as a politician. He appeared in public more often. Indeed, it was his leadership that pushed President Joe Biden in 2021 to order the FBI to declassify its files linking Saudi officials to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Before his first indictment, Menendez took risky and notable stands against President Barack Obama's naive outreach to Iran and Cuba. To his credit, Menendez chided his fellow Democrat, Obama. That sort of principled leadership is now lost amid Menendez's current legal entanglements.

Now, back in the ethical hot seat, Menendez is mute and invisible — again.

Why did Menendez seemingly risk his career?

I take no delight in calling for him to resign. I’ve followed – and mostly admired — Menendez for parts of nearly four decades. I was drawn to him for his expansive intellect, his ability to speak about a variety of complicated issues and for his innate passion for the underdog. He was a Hudson County kid — the son of Cuban immigrants — who worked hard and became a key figure in Washington. Even before he reached the Senate, he had the look of a rising star.

Sadly, however, Menendez appears to have traded in his gifted political career for silly gifts that federal prosecutors say are little more than old-fashioned bribes.

As I read again the federal indictment and its narrative of alleged gift-taking, I couldn't help thinking of that penultimate moment in the play, “A Man for All Seasons.” The play’s protagonist, Thomas More, realizing he is about to be executed by King Henry VIII, turns to his back-stabbing former colleague, Richard Rich, who was rewarded for his false testimony by being named attorney general of Wales.

“For Wales?” More asks incredulously. “Why Richard, it profit a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. But for Wales?”

New Jersey voters should now ask a similar question of Menendez: You sold your Senate seat for gold bars and a Mercedes? For Qatar? For Egypt?

Sadly, Menendez never learned to say no to the sleazy trail of money and gifts that have become the pathetic foundation of New Jersey politics. In one of the great ironies of this latest indictment, Menendez does not deny that he accepted the gifts cited by federal prosecutors. He just says his actions are misunderstood and that he was targeted because he is a Latino.

Translation: Menendez thinks he was able to thread the legal needle and take cash, gold and a luxury car merely as part of his job. Those federal prosecutors chasing Menendez have it all wrong. Or as one of Menendez’s attorneys, Adam Fee, said in a completely ridiculous statement on Tuesday: “What they have instead is a string of baseless assumptions and bizarre conjectures based on routine, lawful contacts between a senator and his constituents or foreign officials.”

Fee went on to describe the case against Menendez as a “persecution, not a prosecution” that “exposes the lengths to which these hostile prosecutors will go to poison the public before a trial even begins.”

“At all times, Senator Menendez acted entirely appropriately with respect to Qatar, Egypt, and the many other countries he routinely interacts with,” Fee added. “Those interactions were always based on his professional judgment as to the best interests of the United States because he is, and always has been, a patriot.”

Best interests of the United States and a patriot — gifted with gold bars?

Memo to readers: You’re allowed to pause here and laugh.

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Can Menendez ever operate with credibility again?

On a serious note, a much deeper question is worth considering when weighing Menendez’s future as a senator. Given the evidence against him — and Menendez’s own admission of taking gifts — how can this man ever speak credibly about anything serious again?

Menendez, sadly, will always be remembered as the politician with his hand out. He let his wallet guide his judgment, not his conscience — or his brain. He now joins former Sen. Bob Torricelli, as another talented New Jersey politician who tripped on his own excess.

When Menendez was first indicted in September, this columnist did not think he should resign. Yes, a rising (and surprising) chorus of Democrats, including New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Sen. Cory Booker, called on Menendez to quit. But my view was to let Menendez have his day in court. Better yet: Let the voters decide. After all, Menendez’s term ends next January. If he decides to run again, he has to face Democratic primary voters this June – a month after his trial is scheduled to start.

In addition, I did not trust Murphy’s judgment to appoint a competent successor. As we now have come to see, Murphy wants his poorly qualified but well-financed wife, Tammy Murphy, a former Republican, to step into Menendez’s job.

But amid this latest set of federal charges against Menendez, the legal and political landscape has changed.

America’s looming border crisis, not to mention the debate over the wars in Ukraine and on the Gaza Strip, call for a senator who can work full time and not have any questions raised about his judgment. Nearly half of the Democrats in the Senate — and most Republicans — don’t even want Menendez to keep his seat. Many also say he should be banned from classified intelligence briefings that senators regularly attend.

That’s just a fraction of the challenges that Menendez faces in trying to be regarded as an effective elected representative.

Amid the looming migrant crisis and the busing of asylum seekers from Texas to New Jersey, how can Menendez’s once vibrant and intelligent voice on immigration be respected? Why should anyone bother to even listen to him?

Finally, there is the question of availability.

What New Jersey has now is a phantom senator — a guy with few public appearances on his schedule. During his trial, how can he be counted on to show up for votes in the deeply divided Senate with its narrow Democratic majority?  Back home, how can he meet with constituents or field calls from local officials asking for help?

And what if the nation faces a major crisis that requires the attention of all elected officials?

Sadly, Menendez needs to leave.

It’s time.

Mike Kelly is an award-winning columnist for NorthJersey.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, as well as the author of three critically acclaimed nonfiction books and a podcast and documentary film producer. To get unlimited access to his insightful thoughts on how we live life in the Northeast, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: kellym@northjersey.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ Sen. Bob Menendez must resign amid indictments: Mike Kelly