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Politics : How Quickly Can Obama Totally Destroy the US? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: joseffy who wrote (1336)	2/5/2013 1:36:43 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 16547

Menendez acknowledged to reporters that he flew on Melgen's private plane and failed, initially, to properly pay for trips. He told reporters he reimbursed some $58,500 from his personal funds after it "came to my attention." "I was in a big travel schedule in 2010 as the chairman of the DSCC" — the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — "plus my own campaign getting ready for the election cycle," Menendez said. "In the process of all of that it unfortunately fell through the cracks and our processes did not catch it." Menendez's office last week acknowledged that the senator had reimbursed Melgen on Jan. 4. His office said Menendez's reimbursement was for the full cost of two flights on Melgen's plane to the Dominican Republic in 2010. Menendez took a third flight — in May 2010 — on Melgen's plane for a DSCC fundraiser. The trip was reported to the Federal Election Commission as a $5,400 expenditure by the DSCC for the use of Melgen's plane. It is unclear whether the FBI raid of Melgen's office was related to Menendez. Melgen is a native of the Dominican Republic but has lived in the U.S. since 1980. Menendez is of Cuban-American descent. Some New Jersey Republicans filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee last fall after the Daily Caller's report that Menendez had flown on Melgen's private plane to the Dominican Republic to engage with prostitutes. In response, Menendez's staffers searched records for trips by the senator and found the two additional trips that hadn't been reimbursed. Menendez's office has said Melgen has been a friend and political supporter of the senator for many years. Last year, Melgen's practice gave $700,000 to Majority PAC, a super political action committee set up to fund Democratic candidates for Senate. Aided by Melgen's donation, the super PAC became the largest outside political committee contributing to Menendez's re-election, spending more than $582,000 on the senator's behalf, according to an analysis of federal election records.