How an Egyptian meat merchant accidentally brought democracy to New Jersey
How an Egyptian meat merchant accidentally brought democracy to New Jersey
The alleged bribery of Senator Bob Menendez has set off a bizarre chain of events that led to serious election reforms.
People like to jokingly ask foreign countries to invade America and bring democracy. Over the past few months, Egyptian and Qatari actors have accidentally done that, with an alleged political interference scheme so egregious that it brought down a powerful senator and led New Jersey to adopt election reforms.
I’ve been writing about this strange chain of events for Reason.
If you remember my coverage from late 2023, the FBI accused Senator Bob Menendez (D–N.J.) of taking gold bars and other bribes through an Egyptian meat company in exchange for favors to Egypt’s military and intelligence services. Prosecutors later added more charges related to Menendez’s alleged favors to a Qatari-linked real estate developer.
Menendez had stayed in power for so long in part because of the notoriously corrupt internal politics of New Jersey’s Democratic Party. Under a system known as the “county line,” party bosses could put their favorite candidates in the first column of primary ballots, scatter other candidates around the page, and tell loyalists to “vote Column A, all the way.”
Senator Corey Booker (D–N.J.) actually used that slogan to shout down pro-Palestine protesters, gloating that Democratic leadership was on his side.
The race to replace Menendez was supposed to go the same way, with party leaders giving their Column A endorsement to Tammy Murphy, the governor’s wife. Since New Jersey polls safely Democratic state, it was guaranteed to be a smooth transition of power. Or at least it would have been, if everything went according to plan
But Congressman Andy Kim (D–N.J.) was also eyeing that Senate seat. He had a public platform, a base of support within the party, and the opportunity of a lifetime. Kim could also ride on a wave of resentment against the county line system in general and Murphy’s candidacy in general.
In February, three Democratic candidates including Kim filed a lawsuit asking the court to abolish Column A in the New Jersey primaries. They were piggybacking on an earlier legal and political campaign called Abolish the Line, spearheaded by the Working Families Party, a left-wing third party.
New Jersey’s own attorney general tacitly sided with the lawsuit, stating that the county line system was unconstitutional and the state government would not defend it in court.
Democratic Party leadership had a last-minute ploy. Murphy dropped out of the race, and county bosses endorsed Kim, handing him the Column A position. The county bosses then went to court and implied that Kim’s case was moot, since he benefited from the very system he was suing to abolish.
Kim, to his credit, stayed on the case. And he won. Courts ruled that the county line system was unconstitutional and the New Jersey Democratic Party had to abolish it. (Republican Party dissidents are planning to launch their own case asking for the same.) County bosses have vowed to fight back, complaining about the case in cartoonishly anti-democratic terms.
Somerset County Democratic Committee chairwoman Peg Schaffer, for example, complained that it will “cost us more money” to tell voters what to do. “Instead of saying to people 'vote column 1' we're going to have to send them a color-coded card saying where everybody is on the ballot,” she said.
Hudson County Democratic Organization chairman Anthony Vainieri Jr. argued that voters were “still getting used to” voting machines, so it would be unfair “to force such a drastic change” by making the elderly use normal, unbiased ballots. Menendez’s son, also a congressman, is fighting to keep his seat in Hudson County primaries.
Another county party, the Middlesex County Democrats, has hired senior Obama administration official Neal Katyal to represent them. Katyal was previously the center of controversy when he helped corporations accused of child slavery beat a lawsuit by survivors.
By the way, Menendez himself has not exited the stage. Although he will not be a candidate in the Democratic primary, he has threatened to run as an independent. Republicans are excited about the idea, because Menendez could draw away enough Democratic votes to give Republicans a chance in New Jersey for the first time in decades.
If he stays out of jail, that is. His lawyers have continued to fight the corruption charges, which Menendez says are a plot against him. The trial was originally set for May 6, but Menendez’s wife Nadine Arslanian has asked for it to be delayed for medical reasons.
In American jury trials, lawyers from both sides work together to pick an acceptable jury. The U.S. government’s proposed questionnaire for potential jurors starts with boilerplate legal questions. But then it takes a very interesting foreign policy turn.
It’s even more true for the questions that Menendez’s lawyers proposed:
New Jersey’s political trial of the century will hinge on…halal meat. Stay tuned.