JimofPennsylvan
Platinum Member
- Jun 6, 2007
- 862
- 503
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This recently filed criminal case brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against Senator Robert Menendez is a travesty of Justice, an abuse of prosecutorial power and a wasteful use of America's limited criminal justice system resources. None of the governments allegations are that Senator Menendez did anything for this so called briber, Dr. Melgen, that a reasonable person would not expect a U.S. Senator to do as a legitimate service for any U.S. citizen. The government's allegations are that the Senator advocated for the Doctor about a Medicare fee problem the Doctor had with the government's Medicare agency; dozens if not hundreds of members of Congress over the years have advocated for Medicare providers to resolve billing problems with the Medicare Agency. The government alleges the Senator advocated to get visas for a couple of girlfriends of the Doctor, Senators advocate for visas for people all the time, the U.S. State Department probably has ten-thousand plus letters from members of Congress asking for visas for people. The government alleges that the Senator advocated to some U.S. government office that they would not give the government of the Dominican Republic airport screening equipment because that government already entered into an agreement to purchase such equipment from a business Dr. Melgen had an ownership interest in. How many members of Congress from agricultural states over the years have lobbied the respective government agency to not give foreign aid organizations money directly so they can buy food locally thus helping local economies but rather lobby that agency to steer the money to U.S. agricultural sellers thus creating revenue for U.S. businesses or done other like requests to benefit U.S. businesses.
All the counts on the indictment are basically bribery counts that Senator Menendez sold his office there is no counts the Senator committed fraud in disclosure agreements or committed IRS violations where he should have paid taxes on the things he received (for if the DOJ did that their would be a flood of cases they would have to bring against members of Congress). These are petty illegitimate bribery charges where the government is stretching to allege a crime. The payoffs the government is alleging Senator Menendez received are plane trips, dinners, a daily fee for a golf course, contributions to a defense fund and campaign contributions seeing this case has to make every member of Congress even members having character equivalent to Abraham Lincoln or George Washington paranoid as hell if this is the standard for bribery in America the American people should be prepared to see a lot more bribery cases brought against members of Congress and if I was an American that had a lot of wealthy friends who did things like take you out to dinner or treat you to a round of golf I wouldn't run for Congress because you would be in grave risk of facing criminal charges arising from these friendships.
I hope Congress from this case adds provisions to U.S. bribery and Honest Services Fraud laws that protects elected officials from such charges where they are doing legitimate advocacy services for U.S. citizens and the payoff is deemed to be common things good friends would give one another that does not include such things as money, securities, large sized personal property (eg car, boat) or real property. It is very disheartening that America's political commentators and media professionals don't come out and say this case is garbage, it doesn't have substance, it seems like in part it is being done because the facts are provocative there is sexual undertones and it portrays a wealthy lifestyle these two men charged don't engender a lot of sympathy for their activities! It is really a shame for the American people, especially in light of the fact that this case is going to drag on for months and the American public are going to here time and again a bunch of the sordid details, that more leaders in America aren't proclaiming the Federal government has to stop this garbage activity and focus on things to improve the American people's lives which we desperately need!
All the counts on the indictment are basically bribery counts that Senator Menendez sold his office there is no counts the Senator committed fraud in disclosure agreements or committed IRS violations where he should have paid taxes on the things he received (for if the DOJ did that their would be a flood of cases they would have to bring against members of Congress). These are petty illegitimate bribery charges where the government is stretching to allege a crime. The payoffs the government is alleging Senator Menendez received are plane trips, dinners, a daily fee for a golf course, contributions to a defense fund and campaign contributions seeing this case has to make every member of Congress even members having character equivalent to Abraham Lincoln or George Washington paranoid as hell if this is the standard for bribery in America the American people should be prepared to see a lot more bribery cases brought against members of Congress and if I was an American that had a lot of wealthy friends who did things like take you out to dinner or treat you to a round of golf I wouldn't run for Congress because you would be in grave risk of facing criminal charges arising from these friendships.
I hope Congress from this case adds provisions to U.S. bribery and Honest Services Fraud laws that protects elected officials from such charges where they are doing legitimate advocacy services for U.S. citizens and the payoff is deemed to be common things good friends would give one another that does not include such things as money, securities, large sized personal property (eg car, boat) or real property. It is very disheartening that America's political commentators and media professionals don't come out and say this case is garbage, it doesn't have substance, it seems like in part it is being done because the facts are provocative there is sexual undertones and it portrays a wealthy lifestyle these two men charged don't engender a lot of sympathy for their activities! It is really a shame for the American people, especially in light of the fact that this case is going to drag on for months and the American public are going to here time and again a bunch of the sordid details, that more leaders in America aren't proclaiming the Federal government has to stop this garbage activity and focus on things to improve the American people's lives which we desperately need!
