Menendez Will Get Right to Business; First the Oath As Senator, Then a Party Caucus

By HERB JACKSON, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT

Rep. Robert Menendez will be sworn in today as Jon Corzine’s replacement in the U.S. Senate, then go almost directly into a party caucus where Senate Democrats will discuss lobbying reform and Samuel Alito’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

Menendez is jumping right into the deep end, but it epitomizes what lies ahead as he tries to establish himself as Corzine’s successor in Washington while also running his first statewide campaign for a full term in the Senate.

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-Long Branch, is still weighing whether to challenge Menendez for the Democratic nomination, but many Democrats believe this fall’s fight will be between Menendez and state Sen. Thomas H. Kean Jr., a Union County Republican.

"I am both pragmatic and optimistic," Menendez, D-Hoboken, said in an interview last week. "I know I have 10 months before people decide whether I’ll have the privilege of having six years. I’ve always believed good policy and good performance make for good politics, so during those 10 months I’m going to do what I can to show both good performance and good policy on the job."

When it comes to policy, New Jersey residents should not expect a dramatic change with Menendez in the Senate. While some liberal interest groups scored Menendez slightly lower than Corzine, who was one of the Senate’s most liberal members, the two had similar voting records on many major issues.

Menendez and Corzine both opposed authorizing the war in Iraq, the Medicare prescription drug plan, most Republican budgets and tax cut bills, and banning what antiabortion advocates call partial- birth abortions. They supported the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that banned "soft money" in federal campaigns, and efforts to impose new regulations on how many workers could be eligible for overtime pay.

One issue on which they split was a bill approved last year that tightened bankruptcy rules. Corzine opposed the measure, saying it favored large banks and credit card companies over individuals.

But Menendez said the law struck a balance between providing protection for those who truly fall on hard times while preventing people from gaming the system.

"Personal responsibility is very important to me," Menendez explained. "Maxing out on credit cards and then filing for bankruptcy, I do not think that’s responsible. It costs the rest of us consumers through higher interest rates."

In the Senate, Menendez will serve, as Corzine did, on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. He also will serve on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and on the Budget Committee.

Menendez said his priorities are an outgrowth of his life experience: The son of Cuban immigrants, he was elected to the Union City school board while a college student and worked his way up the Hudson County political ladder.

"I’m a big advocate for education. It got me involved in public life," Menendez said. "Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act is incredibly important. I want to make sure every New Jerseyan gets a chance to have a college education and can afford it."

Menendez has spent three years as the third-ranking Democrat in the House, and that experience in leadership taught him how to bring together people with different views.

"Being able to bring the best out of everybody and to listen to everybody and find common ground ultimately leads to success, but it is a lot harder than I conceived it would be," he said.

Menendez’s office in the Senate’s Hart Office Building is the same one Corzine occupied, and Menendez’s staff was setting up shop Tuesday.

Menendez announced that his chief of staff in his House office for the past year, Ivan Zapien, will serve in that role in his Senate office. Karissa Willhite, the current deputy executive director of the House Democratic Caucus and a Menendez aide since 1999, will be deputy chief of staff for policy.

Menendez was to be sworn in this morning by Vice President Dick Cheney, who under the Constitution serves as Senate president. But Cheney will not be back from a trip to the Middle East in time, and the oath will be administered instead by Sen. Ted Stevens, R- Alaska, the president pro-tempore.

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(SIDEBAR)

Changing of the guard?

Rep. Robert Menendez will be sworn in today for the remainder of the U.S. Senate term vacated by Governor Corzine on Tuesday, but voters should not expect a major change in representation. While comparisons between House and Senate voting records are not always easy because the two houses will pass separate measures that are then combined into larger bills, here’s a list of some measures that came up in both houses and how the two voted.

Issue Menendez vote Corzine vote Outcome

2001 Tax cuts worth $1.35 trillion over 10 years No No Approved

2002 Campaign finance reform banning "soft money" Yes Yes Approved

2001-02 Permit oil drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge No No Defeated

2002 Authorize military force in Iraq No No Approved

2002 Allow Dept. of Homeland Security not to recognize unions No No Blocked in Senate

2003 Tax cuts worth $350 billion over 10 years No No Approved

2003 Medicare prescription drug plan No No Approved

2003 Ban "partial-birth" abortions No No Approved*

2003 $87 billion appropriation for Iraq war No Yes Approved

2004 Bar funds to implement new federal overtime rules Yes Yes Approved

2004 Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage Did not vote No Blocked in Senate

2004 Create federal crime of injuring fetus Did not vote No Approved

2005 Set tougher requirements for bankruptcy protection Yes No Approved

*Abortion ban blocked in court, appeals continue.

Sources: Almanac of American Politics, Library of Congress

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E-mail: jackson@northjersey.com