Senator Robert Menendez, second from right, arrived at federal court on Thursday in Newark. Credit John Minchillo/Associated Press
Central to the Menendez case is the elaborate infrastructure of technically independent “super PACs” and political nonprofit groups that — for practical if not legal purposes — are closely bound to each party’s congressional leadership and are nurtured by lobbyists, donors, and other special interests seeking to influence the government.
The Indictment of Senator Robert Menendez
Mr. Menendez was charged with eight counts of bribery, which carry up to 15 years in prison on each charge.
Of the $751,000 in campaign contributions that prosecutors say Dr. Melgen made in exchange for Mr. Menendez’s help pressuring government officials, a relatively small amount went directly to the senator or to official Democratic Party organizations.
Instead, in 2012, Dr. Melgen gave two checks from his consulting company totaling $600,000 to a super PAC now called Senate Majority PAC, founded by current and former advisers to Senator Harry Reid of Nevada with the goal of preserving the Democrats’ hold on the Senate. (One co-founder is a former Reid aide who now works at the lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates, clients of which have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the group.) Unlike federal candidates and parties, super PACs and other legally independent entities can accept unlimited contributions from any source.
The constitutional reason, as Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the Supreme Court’s opinion in Citizens United, is that independent expenditures “do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.” But federal lawyers do not seem to agree.
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