XPost: nj.politics, alt.politics.democrats.senate, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, alt.society.liberalism   
   From: nospam@ix.netcom.com   
      
   TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez on Tuesday became   
   one of just a handful of U.S. senators to be convicted of a crime while in   
   office — and the first ever found guilty of being an agent of a foreign   
   government — raising questions about whether he will be able to serve out   
   the remainder of his term.   
      
   Within minutes of the jury’s verdict, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer   
   had called for Menendez’s resignation, while New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy   
   urged the Senate to expel Menendez if he refuses to leave.   
      
   Menendez, 70, did not comment on his political plans in brief remarks   
   after the jury found him guilty of accepting bribes of gold and cash from   
   three New Jersey businessmen and acting as a foreign agent for the   
   Egyptian government. He maintained his innocence, saying: “I have every   
   faith that the law and the facts did not sustain that decision, and that   
   we will be successful upon appeal.”   
      
   Menendez’s term ends in January and he’s said he’s running for a fourth   
   term as an independent. The judge set his sentencing date for Oct. 29 — a   
   week before the November election.   
      
   Expulsion   
   The Constitution gives Congress the power to punish its members and   
   requires a two-thirds majority to expel a lawmaker. Democrats have a   
   tenuous hold on the majority thanks to independent members caucusing with   
   them. Whether they might decide to pursue expulsion isn’t clear.   
      
   “There is no requirement or rule requiring expulsion votes or hearings if   
   a member is convicted of a crime,” according to Josh Howard, assistant   
   historian at the Senate Historical Office. “It would be up to the Majority   
   Leader and/or Senate Select Committee on Ethics to determine next steps,   
   if there are any.”   
      
   What is certain is that expulsion hasn’t happened in more than 160 years.   
   The last such vote was in 1862, according to the Senate, and by far most   
   of the 15 senators who were expelled were booted for supporting the   
   Confederacy.   
      
   Resignation   
   Other senators throughout history who faced possible expulsion opted   
   instead to resign.   
      
   Prior to his conviction, Menendez had already bucked pressure from leading   
   Democrats in his state as well as Senate colleagues to resign.   
      
   The last senator convicted of a crime while in office, Ted Stevens of   
   Alaska, also refused to quit and was ousted in an election, only to have   
   his conviction wiped out by an appeals court over alleged prosecutorial   
   misconduct.   
      
   The last senator to resign was Harrison Williams Jr., also a New Jersey   
   Democrat who was convicted of bribery. He resigned in 1982 before the   
   Senate could vote on whether to expel him.   
      
   What if there’s a vacancy?   
   New Jersey law allows the governor to appoint a senator to fill the   
   vacancy, though it’s not required.   
      
   Murphy said after the verdict that in the event of a vacancy: “I will   
   exercise my duty to make a temporary appointment to ensure the people of   
   New Jersey have the representation they deserve.”   
      
   He did not say who that would be. The Democratic Party has already   
   nominated Rep. Andy Kim as its candidate in November.   
      
   Would Murphy tap Kim so he could potentially gain some seniority ahead of   
   a possible victory in deeply Democratic New Jersey? Or might Murphy   
   appoint his wife, first lady Tammy Murphy, who had launched a campaign for   
   Menendez’s seat but dropped out after it became clear she faced a   
   contentious battle against Kim?   
      
   Choosing his wife could be a political “non-starter,” said Micah   
   Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at   
   Rider University.   
      
   Curtis Bashaw, the Republican candidate for the seat, already linked   
   Tuesday’s corruption verdict to “the Democratic machine.” And Murphy said   
   shortly after the Menendez indictment was unsealed last year and before   
   her short-lived Senate candidacy that he didn’t see a scenario where he   
   would appoint her to the seat.   
      
   What if there’s no vacancy?   
   The state Democratic Party abandoned Menendez after the indictment was   
   unsealed last September, and he opted not to run in the primary as a   
   Democrat. Republicans haven’t won a Senate seat in more than five decades   
   in New Jersey, and Democrats have expressed confidence in Kim.   
      
   Still, it’s unclear how Menendez’s candidacy could affect the race if he   
   stays in it.   
      
   He could still run for reelection and hold onto his seat, even if he’s   
   facing or serving prison time, according to the National Constitution   
   Center, a private nonprofit that focuses on constitutional education.   
      
   https://apnews.com/article/bob-menendez-expulsion-senate-new-jersey-   
   07cb98812c0c4f1cc7af0bc32af65806   
      
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