Kean Raps Menendez's Privately Funded Travel As Inappropriate

Press Release

By Tom Hester Jr., Associated Press

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Kean Jr. on Wednesday demanded Democratic U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez stop taking privately funded trips and reimburse the groups that paid for them.

Kean's comments came after The Record of Bergen County reported this week that Menendez took 15 privately funded trips worth $40,695 from 2000 to last year, including several to warm weather spots during winter months. Kean questioned whether the trips were junkets and vacations.

"We need real leaders down in Washington, D.C., who are going to respect the integrity of their office, and that's why I'm calling on Bob Menendez to stop the privately funded travel," Kean said during a news conference at Trenton Mercer Airport. "The people of New Jersey deserve better."

Kean, a state senator from Westfield and former state assemblyman, said he has never accepted a privately funded trip.

Menendez's staff scoffed at the comments and showed no sign they would accede to Kean's demand.

"More dishonest attacks from a candidate who cannot tell the truth," Menendez spokesman Matthew Miller said.

Menendez's staff noted he voted on March 8 to ban all such privately funded travel, but that majority Republicans killed the bill through a 55-44 party line vote.

Menendez was vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus from 1999 to 2002 and chairman from 2003 to 2005. He became a U.S. senator in January when Jon S. Corzine vacated the seat to become governor and appointed Menendez to fill it.

Menendez took trips to Florida, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Texas, California and Hawaii. The travel was paid by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, AFL-CIO, U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce and telecommunications, airport, railroad and bank trade groups.

Menendez's staff said his role as a top-ranking House Democrat and status as the nation's highest-ranking elected Hispanic contributed to his number of trips and insisted the trips were legitimate, noting many Hispanic groups are based in warm weather locales.

"His entire allegation is dishonest," Miller said of Kean's comments.

A recent study found members of Congress took 23,000 trips worth $50 million from 2000 to 2005.

"This is not about party affiliation," Kean said. "This about sending a message to Washington, D.C., that we need to fix the system."

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