African American Politics

Should Menendez Quit?

The senator for New Jersey’s indictment on corruption charges raised a sometimes tricky question: When should a politician resign?

Under what circumstances should an elected politician resign?

The indictment of Senator Robert Menendez on corruption charges last week has raised that question again, and it can be a tricky one. It also led to passionate debate after allegations against Bill Clinton, Donald Trump and Ralph Northam (none of whom resigned) as well as Al Franken, Andrew Cuomo and Richard Nixon (all of whom did).

Yesterday, a flood of other senators called on Menendez to step down, as my colleague Annie Karni explains. Some of the first calls for resignation came from Democratic senators running for re-election next year in swing states, and Senator Cory Booker — Menendez’s fellow New Jersey Democrat — joined the group, too. Booker said that the indictment contained “shocking allegations of corruption and specific, disturbing details of wrongdoing.”

Menendez has rejected those calls and asked people “to allow all the facts to be presented.”

In today’s newsletter, I’ll try to make the best case on each side of the debate.

At the crux of the argument that Menendez should resign is the idea that the standards for a U.S. senator should be higher than merely not having a criminal conviction. Serving as a senator is a privilege, not a right, and Menendez has offered no good explanation for his actions — even if they are not criminal.

The federal indictment tells a jarring story. During a search of Menendez’s home and safe deposit box, investigators found more than $650,000 in cash and gold bars, some of it hidden in clothing or closets. On envelopes containing money were the fingerprints of Fred Daibes, a real-estate developer and Menendez fund-raiser.

Prosecutors say that Daibes was a go-between who gave money to Menendez and his wife, Nadine, in exchange for Menendez’s intervention to protect the monopoly of a New Jersey company that certified meat. Investigators say Menendez also pressured a future federal prosecutor not to pursue charges against another of his fund-raisers.

The closest to a rationale that Menendez has offered is that his parents grew up in Cuba, where, he said, their money was confiscated (although he didn’t explain the precise connection to his own piles of cash). He has also said that the prosecutors are trying to criminalize ordinary politics. He has not said whether he considers cash gifts in exchange for senatorial influence to be ordinary politics.

Many other politicians believe that he has damaged the credibility of the Senate and of the Democratic Party. By remaining in office without offering a reasonable explanation of his behavior, he has contributed to cynicism about politics, his critics say, and he is unable to do his job effectively. (“His refusal to resign is a problem for Democrats both substantively and politically,” writes Michelle Goldberg of Times Opinion.)

The one Democrat who benefits from Menendez’s remaining in the Senate, the critics say, is Menendez.

Six years ago, another member of the U.S. senate faced calls to resign from office. That senator was Franken, the Minnesota Democrat and former comedian whom several women had accused of touching them in inappropriate ways. After weeks of criticism, Franken did resign.

He has since said he regrets having done so. Some other Democrats also regret the rush to judge him. In hindsight, they believe that Franken at least deserved a chance to contest the accusations in an ethics hearing. (Jane Mayer of The New Yorker has written a helpful article about the case.)

The Franken case offers a reminder that the American political system does have ways to adjudicate accusations against elected politicians. Most important, members of Congress do not have lifetime tenure. Ultimately, voters can decide whether a politician’s behavior is disqualifying.

As it happens, Menendez’s current Senate term — his third — expires in about 15 months. Another New Jersey Democrat, Representative Andy Kim, has already announced a primary challenge, and more may follow. Voters can make a judgment soon.

This is not the first time that Menendez has been indicted in a corruption case. Federal prosecutors also charged him in 2015, but the jury deadlocked and prosecutors declined to retry him. Later that year, New Jersey’s voters re-elected him. Menendez understandably mentioned that history during his fiery public remarks this week.

In effect, he seemed to be saying: What’s the rush? Don’t I deserve another opportunity to persuade people the prosecutors have overreached?

When politicians resign under pressure, it is often because they understand that they could otherwise be impeached and removed from office. That was true of Cuomo, Nixon and Eliot Spitzer.

When politicians are unlikely to be removed, they rarely quit, and Menendez faces little risk of removal. Only the Senate can expel one of its members. It has not done so since the Civil War.

Yes, there are exceptions — politicians who quit voluntarily. Franken was one. Spiro Agnew, Nixon’s first vice president, was another; he resigned in 1973 as part of a plea deal with prosecutors. But Agnew highlights the larger principle: Politicians don’t tend to quit unless they think that doing so benefits them.

Maybe Menendez’s situation will become so uncomfortable that he changes his mind and steps down. Or maybe New Jersey’s voters will again decide his political fate.

In Michigan.Pete Marovich for The New York Times

  • Biden joined striking autoworkers on a picket line in Michigan. “Stick with it,” he said through a bullhorn, before fist-bumping and shaking hands with marchers.

  • He appears to be the first sitting U.S. president to join striking workers, historians said.

  • “We know the president will do right by the working class,” Shawn Fain, the union’s leader, said.

  • Biden said workers should be able to bargain for the 40 percent raise they’ve demanded. Here’s what else the union wants.

  • Trump will also speak to autoworkers in Detroit. As a businessman, he both circumvented and appeased unions.

  • Hollywood writers can return to work. Their union’s leaders decided to end their strike as members prepare to vote on a new contract.

  • Las Vegas hospitality workers voted to authorize a strike against major resorts on the Strip.

  • The U.S. sued Amazon, accusing it of abusing its monopoly to keep prices high.

  • The suit has been years in the making: Lina Khan, the head of the F.T.C., first set out arguments against Amazon when she was a law student.

  • Google is pushing to limit transparency at its separate monopoly trial. Last week, much of the testimony was given behind closed doors.

  • Under a new E.U. law, social media companies could be fined for failing to fight disinformation on their platforms.

  • Reddit will pay users for popular posts, the BBC reports.

A family in Armenia after fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh. An explosion killed the children’s father.Nanna Heitmann for The New York Times

  • J.P. Morgan Chase agreed to pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of enabling Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation.

  • Columbia University is the largest private landowner in New York City. It pays almost no property taxes.

In Washington.Ian Allen for The New York Times

Barbed-wire fences cover the American West. Virtual fences could restore pristine landscapes, Michelle Nijhuis writes.

See also

Here’s a column by Jamelle Bouie on Clarence Thomas.

Taylor SwiftDavid Eulitt/Getty Images

New era: Travis Kelce was a star. Taylor Swift put him in another orbit.

Fall classic: Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte, which recently turned 20, has endured by refusing to be cool.

Sacred ground: These women are trying to save America’s Black cemeteries.

Lives Lived: Barbara Mullen often said she never thought of herself as beautiful. But in the 1950s, she was at the vanguard of the fashion industry’s shift toward tall, slender models. She died at 96.

W.N.B.A.: The New York Liberty beat the Connecticut Sun. Breanna Stewart is the league’s M.V.P.

N.F.L.: Colin Kaepernick, a former quarterback, lobbied the Jets’ general manager to let him lead the team’s practice squad.

A Hall of Famer: Brooks Robinson, who played 23 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, was best known for his unparalleled defense. He died at 86.

via Kehinde Wiley and Galerie Templon

Africa’s leaders: Much of Kehinde Wiley’s art depicts regular people, but his most famous work is a picture of power — Barack Obama, seated amid a wall of flowers. Wiley’s latest exhibition, in Paris, returns to that realm with portraits of 11 current and former African presidents. Many of their poses evoke paintings of royalty and aristocrats from centuries ago, giving them a historical gravitas that was long limited to Europeans.

  • The Smithsonian acquired an unpublished manuscript by Phillis Wheatley, an enslaved woman and the first American of African descent to publish a book.

Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Cyd Raftus McDowell.

Create a spiced tuna sauce for this Somali staple.

Drink coffee, but don’t overdo it.

Add a flash to your camera.

Shuffle around the house in slippers that will last.

Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were caboodle and codable.

And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections.

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David

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