Corzine Is Said to Have Picked a Replacement
By DAVID W. CHEN
Published: December 8, 2005
TRENTON, Dec. 7 - Governor-elect Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey has selected Representative Robert Menendez as his replacement in the United States Senate, ending months of speculation and aggressive campaigning by several congressmen seeking the job, according to a close ally of the congressman and other Democrats.
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Mike Derer/Associated Press
Robert Menendez is said to be
Jon S. Corzine's Senate replacement.
Mr. Menendez, a Cuban-American from Hudson County who is as familiar with the bruising nature of local politics as he is with the intricacies of public policy, would be New Jersey's first Latino senator and one of three Latinos in the Senate.
Representative Steven R. Rothman of Bergen County, an ally of the congressman who had advocated his appointment for nearly a year, said on Wednesday that Democrats with direct knowledge had told him that Mr. Corzine had chosen Mr. Menendez. He called the decision "the culmination of years of hard work on Bob's behalf and those who have supported him."
Two other knowledgeable Democrats, speaking on the condition of anonymity so as not to overshadow Mr. Corzine and Mr. Menendez, said on Wednesday that they had been told by Corzine aides that the selection of the seven-term congressman was complete, and that a formal announcement would come in the next day or two.
Top aides to Mr. Corzine and Mr. Menendez declined to comment.
The selection marks the first major decision made by Mr. Corzine, a Democrat, since he handily won the race for governor last month. Mr. Menendez is a prodigious fund-raiser who shares many of Mr. Corzine's liberal values and was long considered the front-runner for the job.
Mr. Menendez will serve the year that remains in Mr. Corzine's term, and is widely expected to run for a full-six year term.
Mr. Corzine must now move to unify his party as it prepares to defend the seat next November. His task will be to make sure that Mr. Menendez's path is clear in the June primary so he can run in November, presumably against Thomas H. Kean Jr., a Republican state senator and the son and namesake of one New Jersey's most popular governors. Several of the other congressmen who sought the appointment, most prominently Representative Robert E. Andrews of Camden County, have said they may run for the nomination, a prospect that would divide the Democratic Party and end up costing millions of dollars.
Mr. Menendez, 51, the son of Cuban immigrants, grew up in a tenement in Union City. He is the third-highest-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives and has long dreamed of serving in the Senate.
He is also the de facto leader of Hudson County's powerful Democratic Party, and has a reputation for exercising substantial influence in local political and governmental decisions.
With Mr. Kean holding a slight edge over Mr. Menendez in recent polls, Democrats had become increasingly fretful in the last week or two about Mr. Corzine's decision. Some Democrats even warned that Mr. Corzine was beginning to look indecisive, though he had said from the outset that he would need a few weeks to make up his mind. Others wondered whether Mr. Menendez had political baggage that would complicate his selection.
To fill the vacuum, many Democrats and some Republicans had been floating all sorts of names, in what was tantamount to a game of Rotisserie League politics.
Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey was the dream choice, but he took himself out of the running the day before Thanksgiving. A former Newark city councilman, Cory Booker, was mentioned, too, but he said he wanted to focus on running for mayor. In recent days, the name of former Senator Bill Bradley had even surfaced as an 11th-hour surprise, but people who know him said he was not interested.
For his part, Mr. Corzine repeatedly promised to look exhaustively for the best-qualified candidate, from anywhere in the state. But in the end, he chose someone who lives just a few blocks away from him in Hoboken.
Mr. Menendez, a graduate of St. Peter's College and Rutgers Law School, took on the entire Union City establishment as a young lawyer in 1981 when he realized that his mentor, the beloved but corrupt mayor William V. Musto, was misusing school funds. After Mr. Musto was indicted on corruption charges, Mr. Menendez testified against him, and wore a bulletproof vest for a time after receiving death threats.
After serving as a legislator in Trenton for four years, he was elected to Congress in 1992. He now sits on the Transportation and International Relations Committees, has secured millions of dollars for New Jersey's ports, tunnels and roads, and has helped overhaul the nation's intelligence services.
He is the only Cuban-American Democrat in Congress, and has usually crossed party lines to vote with Republicans on hard-line Cuba policy. He is divorced, with two grown children.
Mr. Menendez also has developed a reputation as a tough and ambitious political operator with no shortage of enemies. One issue that keeps coming up is the relationship he had with Kay LiCausi, his former state director, who left his staff in 2002 and quickly began making hundreds of thousands of dollars as a consultant, lobbyist and fund-raiser working for clients who included several of Mr. Menendez's friends. Neither has commented on reports that they were romatically involved while she worked for him and when she began her lobbying career.
"Whatever rumors that people came up with were very thoroughly examined by the press," Mr. Rothman said, "and each time some more outrageous allegations than the next came up, it was found to be untrue. So I feel comfortable that Bob will present himself as a person who will be seen by the people of New Jersey for who he is - an extremely decent, honorable, hard-working effective federal legislator who has paid all the dues imaginable in a lifetime of public service."
Josh Benson, Jeffrey Gettleman and Richard Lezin Jones contributed reporting for this article.
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