N.J. Senator Accused Of Kickbacks

[shemp]

For those of you who think I only hammer Republicans, here's one:

Taped Phone Calls Could Damage Menendez's Campaign

(AP) A childhood friend and close political adviser of Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez allegedly used the senator's name to pressure a psychiatrist to hire a doctor for local government work, according to a transcript of the telephone call, part of which is mentioned in federal court documents.

The doctor Menendez allegedly wanted hired believed some of the money from the government contract would be kicked back to Menendez, who was a congressman at the time, according to court documents.

The transcript of the 1999 conversation, obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, depicts an expletive- and chuckle-laden chat between Donald Scarinci, Menendez's friend and adviser, and Oscar Sandoval, a psychiatrist who taped the exchange as part of his work as an FBI informant in a criminal investigation of several northern New Jersey politicians.

In the conversation, Scarinci asks Sandoval to rehire a doctor, Dr. Vicente Ruiz, whom he fired the year before. At the time of the conversation, Sandoval had contracts with the Hudson County Jail and a county hospital.

 

[BPSCG]

For those of you who think I only hammer Republicans, here's one:

Yeah, well, as they say here in the south, even the blind pig finds the trough now and then...