The head of the New Jersey GOP said he’s pushing Senate Republicans to keep recently convicted Bob Menendez in office through November – so it becomes a campaign issue for Democrats.
Garden State Republican Party Chairman Bob Hugin said keeping the disgraced Democrat in the Senate could give a boost to Curtis Bashaw, the GOP candidate looking to replace Menendez.
Voting to expel Menendez would be a favor to Democrats, Hugin argued on 770 WABC Radio.
“Any Republican senator who votes to expel him will never get another nickel from me,” said Hugin, a retired multi-millionaire pharmaceutical executive who ran against Menendez in 2018.
“We want him in the Senate as long as possible.If they don’t expel him, they [the Democrats] have to live with this crook with the gold bars and hundred dollars stuffed in his pockets all through the campaign,” he said Sunday on the “Cats Roundtable.”
He also said he doesn’t want to give New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy an opportunity to name an interim senator before the election — and possibly give Democratic candidate, Rep. Andy Kim, an inside track in the November race to replace Menendez.
“We don’t want to give Murphy to give anyone else an advantage to be an incumbent and run as a sitting senator,” Hugin said.
Menendez was found guilty last week of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes in exchange for using his powerful post to enrich and protect three businessmen and the Egyptian and Qatari governments.
In Manhattan federal court, the three-term Democrat was found guilty on each of the 16 counts he faced.
A dozen Democratic senators have expressed interest in moving to expel Menendez if he doesn’t step aside, including fellow Garden State Sen. Cory Booker.
A two-thirds vote is needed in the Senate for expulsion, which can’t happen without Republican support.
Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer declined comment.
But one Senate Democratic insider said, “Menendez is likely to resign. Murphy has a replacement ready to go.”
Two former Garden State Republican governors, Chris Christie and Tom Kean, urged Murphy to name a temporary replacement — someone who will not be on the ballot in November — to fill Menendez’s seat if he steps down or is expelled.
They both named interim senators who did not run for election under identical circumstances, so as to avoid being accused of trying to give their party’s candidate a partisan advantage.
“We urge Governor Murphy to follow the New Jersey tradition of letting the voters decide. The voters should have a free choice in November, unencumbered by any political influence from the governor’s office,” Christie and Kean said in the joint statement.
A New Jersey Democratic Party source said Murphy is taking their recommendation seriously.
The Post previously reported that Democratic nominee Kim, Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, labor leader Patricia Campos-Medina and First Lady Tammy Murphy — who ran for Mendendez’s seat but dropped out of the Senate Democratic primary — are among those under consideration to fill the vacancy.
