Phillip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
More than 80 percent of potential New Jersey voters said in a new poll that Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez should resign if he is convicted at his federal corruption trial, though some top Princeton Democrats said Monday that such an outcome has its political consequences.
Mayor Liz Lempert and Council President Jenny Crumiller pointed to the stakes in Washington D.C. should republican Gov. Chris Christie get to replace Menendez, 63, who has more than a year to go on his term. Republicans control 52 Senate seats, Democrats have 46 and two independents align with Democrats.
“Here’s the problem is that when you have a Senate [where] every vote counts and you have a republican governor, I think he represents a position that the voters of New Jersey elected and that that voice could be lost,” Mayor Lempert said at her press conference when asked if she thought Menendez should resign if he’s convicted. “I’d be more comfortable if he would be replaced by another Democrat, because I think that’s who the voters chose. And so I think if there were to be a replacement, it should be another Democrat.”
Crumiller offered that she agreed with Mayor Lempert’s position. She said “so much rests on the swing votes in the Senate right now,” in pointing to the fight to repeal the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as Obamacare, as an example.
She said that “if you really believe that the Democrats are on the right side of justice and fairness and all the things that democrats stand for, it’s hard to say ‘No, he should resign and get replaced by a republican.’”
Their comments came the same day as the release of a Suffolk University/USA Today Network Poll of 500 “likely” New Jersey voters that found 84 percent of them said Menendez should go if he is convicted.
““I was surprised at the margin,” David Paleologos, director of the university’s Political Research Center, said by phone Monday.
He said that within the poll, 77 percent of Democrats said Menendez should resign if found guilty of bribery charges.
Menendez’s trial in Newark federal court began this month, with the Justice Department alleging he took bribes in the form of vacations and other gifts from a co-defendant, Florida-based eye doctor Salomon Melgen, in return for official action he took.
Later in her press conference, Mayor Lempert said “all else being equal, of course he should resign if he’s convicted.”
“But this is the thing,” she said, “I feel like that decision to resign is going to have implications for millions of American citizens.”
Menendez is up for re-election next year.
