Some to give back aid from Daibes, Menendez

Politicians plan gifts to charities after charges

By: Ashley Balcerzak
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey

..... A handful of New Jersey politicians say they will return campaign checks given to them by senator Bob Menendez, D-N.J. and one of the men indicted alongside him Friday [09/22/2023] on federal bribery and corruption charges.
..... Menendez, who denies all the allegations, is accused of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from Edgewater developer Fred Daibes, halal meat certifier Wael Hana and former insurance agent Jose Uribe. In exchange, prosecutors argue, Menendez wielded hos power to aid the Egyptian government and influence state and federal criminal investigations. During a raid of the home of Mememdez and his wife, Nadine - who was also indicted - investigators reported finding hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash hidden in clothing, a safe and closets and $100,000 worth of gold bars.
..... Menendez - who stepped down as chairman of the Senate Relations Committee after the indictment was unsealed - doled out tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to fellow Democrats through leadership PAC, New Millennium PAC.
..... Daibes has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to candidates and parties from both sides of the aisle on the state and federal levels over the past three decades.
..... NorthJersey.com contacted close to two dozen recipients of campaign cash.
..... Representative Milie Sherrill, D-Monclair, plans to donate the $2,500 she received from Daibes in 2018 and $5,000 from Menendez in 2022 to "New Jersey charities that serve families experiencing homelessness," according to chief of staff Alex Ball. "In public service, nothing is more important than the public's trust." The campaign intends to donate the funds to Family Promise of Essex and Family Promise of Morris.
..... Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, who is running for governor of New Jersey and received a check from Daibes in September 2015, said through spokesperson Phil Swibinski that he "has never met Fred Daibes and he will be donating the $1,000 contribution to St. Lucy's Homeless Shelter in Jersey City."
..... Essex county commissioner Brendon Gill said he planned to donate the $2,500 he received from Daibes in June 2017 to the Montclair Fund for Educational Excellence, specifically its program aimed at helping newly arrived refugees.
..... Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco received a $1,500 check from Daiibes in July 2018 and donated it the same year to the Center for Hope and Safety, a Rochelle Park nonprofit that aims to help domestic violence victims, said deputy chief of staff Derek Sands. Tedesco received an additional $2,300 from Daibes between 2014 and 2017, but the "contributions had already been spent," Sands said.
..... Tedesco made ht donation after Daibes was indicted on multiple counts in 2018 for an alleged conspiracy to circumvent lending limits set by Marine's Bank, which Daibes founded in 2001. He pleaded guilty to a single count of the original 14-count indictment.
..... Prosecutors allege in their new indictment that Menendez recommended a nominee for U.S. attorney for New Jersey whom he thought he could influence to disrupt the federal criminal prosecution of Daibes over the bank fraud charges.
..... Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes received $2,500 in June 2018 from Daibes - four months before he was indicted - as well as $2,600 in June 2021 from Wael Hana, who operated is EG halal Certified, the sole entity entity the Egyptian government authorized to certify meat entering the country as permissible under Islamic law. Prosecutors allege Menendez pressured a USDA official to protect Hana's business monopoly, and that Menendez, through his wife and Hana, passed on sensitive information to Egyptian officials.
..... "I plan to speak to my financial adviser ... since they are former elections where contributions were made, there's no legal mechanism for me to return the fund, (so) I will look to see if I can do something commensurate with a charity," Wildes said. "There are so many charities that are always asking, and I will make sure that it's something that is appropriate."
..... Mark Greenbaum, a campaign spokesperson for Representative Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, said "with the federal charges brought last week, [09/22/2023] the campaign will not accept donations fro the senator."
..... Pascrell received $17,227 from Daibes between 2012 and 2022, and 47,500 from Menendez's leadership PAC between 202 and 2022.
..... In the 2021-2022 election cycle, Menemdez's leadership PAC gave 410,000 each to Representative Rob Menendez, his son; Representative Josh Gottheimer; and Representative Donald Jayne Jr., as well as $5,000 each to Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman, Donald Norcross, Frank Pallone and Pascrell.
..... Sherrill, Pascrell, Gottheimer, Norcross and Pallone are among those calling for Menendez to resign. Gottheimer, Norcross and Pallone did not respond to request for comment.
..... Payne and Watson Coleman called the charges "very serious" but stopped short of saying he should step down, and Menendez's son defended his father, saying he has "unwavering confidence" in him.
..... Governor Phil Murphy - who also called for Menendez to resign -received two checks totaling $5,300 in 2016 and 2017 from Daibes.
..... Mahen Gunaratna, speaking in his unofficial capacity, said "there's no money to return or donate to charity." the sole Murphy campaign account open is form the 2018 primary, with a balance of $10.83. The 2017 general and 2021 primary and general election campaigns closed in the past few years and transfered the remaining balances to the state.
..... The Bergen County Democratic Organization received more than $100,000 from Daibes in the past two decades, the most recent begin a $5,000 check written in February 2018.
..... The Bergen County Republican Organization collected $40,000 from Daibes between 1998 and 2014.
..... U.S. Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, was the first senator to call on Menendez to resign. He said he would return $5,00 he revived from Menendez.
..... "We are in process of returning the money," Fetterman spokesman Joe Calvello told The Messenger, "in envelops stuffed with $100 bills."

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