This time, here in NJ. Robert Menendez, the Senator appointed by Gov. Corzine to fill his own seat, is being attacked by Republican opponent Tom Kean, Jr. (yes, the scion of Thomas Kean of the 9/11 Commission). They are planning on making a Swift Boat-like movie purporting to detail the sordid background of Mr. Menendez, especially over actions in 1978 during a corruption scandal. Here's the telling bits (from nytimes.com, emphasis added):
Mr. Kean's most serious charge is that Mr. Menendez was "part of a massive illegal kickback scheme" as a Union City official in 1978, and not the courageous truth teller depicted in his résumé. Mr. Kean charges that Mr. Menendez cooperated with prosecutors to keep himself out of jail.
Mr. Kean's charges are not, however, supported by the public record and were repudiated by independent authorities including the four assistant United States attorneys who prosecuted Union City officials of that era for racketeering and corruption. There is no truth, those former officials say, to the Kean campaign's charge that Mr. Menendez made a deal to keep himself out of prison.
The prosecutors said the actions of Mr. Menendez, as the secretary of the Union City Board of Education from 1978 to 1982, were "gutsy" and "courageous." They said he was never in legal jeopardy. During a four-month trial in 1981 and 1982, the corrupt contractor at the center of the scheme testified that Mr. Menendez created headaches for the plotters when he balked at processing fraudulent paperwork needed for a kickback scheme.
Mr. Leonardo did not directly dispute that information, published Sunday in The New York Times and The Star-Ledger of Newark, but described it as a "set of views" and said other people held different views.
Mr. Leonardo is Mr. Kean's chief campaign consultant. This sounds so much like the call for "balance" we heard in the Intelligent Design and Global Warming debates: people with their own agenda independent of the actual facts in play feel entitled to a sounding board for their own distortions.
This makes me puke.
Quote:
Mr. Kean's most serious charge is that Mr. Menendez was "part of a massive illegal kickback scheme" as a Union City official in 1978, and not the courageous truth teller depicted in his résumé. Mr. Kean charges that Mr. Menendez cooperated with prosecutors to keep himself out of jail.
Mr. Kean's charges are not, however, supported by the public record and were repudiated by independent authorities including the four assistant United States attorneys who prosecuted Union City officials of that era for racketeering and corruption. There is no truth, those former officials say, to the Kean campaign's charge that Mr. Menendez made a deal to keep himself out of prison.
The prosecutors said the actions of Mr. Menendez, as the secretary of the Union City Board of Education from 1978 to 1982, were "gutsy" and "courageous." They said he was never in legal jeopardy. During a four-month trial in 1981 and 1982, the corrupt contractor at the center of the scheme testified that Mr. Menendez created headaches for the plotters when he balked at processing fraudulent paperwork needed for a kickback scheme.
Mr. Leonardo did not directly dispute that information, published Sunday in The New York Times and The Star-Ledger of Newark, but described it as a "set of views" and said other people held different views.
Mr. Leonardo is Mr. Kean's chief campaign consultant. This sounds so much like the call for "balance" we heard in the Intelligent Design and Global Warming debates: people with their own agenda independent of the actual facts in play feel entitled to a sounding board for their own distortions.
This makes me puke.