In Bob Menendez’s hometown, little love for now-convicted senator

Residents of Union City struggled to beat the 100-degree heat on Tuesday afternoon. And across the Hudson River in a Manhattan courtroom, U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, the city’s former mayor, failed to beat the rap.

On the day Menendez was convicted on all 16 charges in his federal corruption trial, residents of this densely populated Hudson County town made it clear: He got what he deserved.

Jose Ovalles is a bodega worker who was walking down Bergenline Avenue in front of Cuban restaurant El Artesano soon after the jury in Menendez’s case announced its guilty verdict. Ovalles said the senator has lost the trust of his constituents.

“People around here don’t believe in him no more. And why not? Because of what he did,” he said. “There was all this love for him, and now it’s gone.”

The claims at the center of the Menendez case involved “shocking levels of corruption,” Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told reporters Tuesday. Prosecutors said Menendez, a Democrat, accepted gold bars, cash, and other items as bribes from three businessmen and, in return, did favors for Egypt and Qatar and interfered in two criminal cases to help friends and associates.

The two men he was tried alongside, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, were also convicted on all counts.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) speaks to the media as he exits Manhattan federal court on July 16, 2024 in New York City following his conviction on all counts in his corruption trial. (Photo by Adam Gray/Getty Images)

Menendez’s road to becoming a convicted felon deviates far from his promising start. The son of Cuban immigrants, Menendez was elected to Union City’s school board at the age of 20 and soon became an aide to the city’s then-mayor, William Musto. Musto was a father figure and mentor to Menendez until Menendez testified for prosecutors at Musto’s 1982 racketeering trial.

After Musto was convicted and sent to prison, Menendez rose. He became Union City’s mayor in 1986 and was later elected to the state Assembly and state Senate. Voters sent him to D.C. in 1992 to represent parts of Hudson County in the House, and in 2006, he became a U.S. senator.

Even as his stature grew and he moved to other parts of the state, Menendez remained a commanding presence in Union City. But on Tuesday, residents here seemed to be shaking the senator off like a bad habit.

“Menendez kept saying, ‘They’re coming after me because I’m Latino.’ No, it was him,” said Kimberly Perez, 17, a Union City student. “He shouldn’t have done what he was doing in the first place. He better pay for what he did, and in return, maybe he’ll start doing the right thing and get forgiveness.”

Outside La Rica deli and grocery store at the corner of 45th Street and Hudson Avenue, just a block away from the apartment building where Menendez grew up, other residents were less charitable.

“You put these people in power to help you, right? To help do stuff for the state of New Jersey, right? Well, they might do some, but then they do other stuff,” said Omar Roberts, 58, a housekeeper originally from Venezuela. “We have problems with corruption in South America, too. In terms of America’s image to the world, a guy like Menendez got so high up, but then he got caught. That’s a fact, and it’s better for everybody that he got caught.”

Outside of City Hall, the scene of many of Menendez’s previous triumphs, Deandre Lamar, 49, a tile worker and union member, said the verdict did not surprise him.

“It’s Jersey politics, for sure. It always seems weird how people have all these connections and how much things go down,” Lamar said. “A senator is supposed to serve the people, and you’re taking bribes? This is not right. So, Menendez got away with it for a long time. Until he didn’t.”