Victor Herlinsky, a member of the State Ethics Commission, has asked the judge sentencing Bob Menendez to consider Menendez’s good deeds. (Courtesy of Sen. Menendez’s office)
Should someone who supports one of New Jersey’s most corrupt politicians sit on the state’s ethics commission?
That’s the question I’m asking myself after seeing that Victor Herlinsky, an attorney and one of the six commissioners on the State Ethics Commission, wrote a letter to a federal judge seeking leniency for ex-Sen. Bob Menendez, who was found guilty by a jury in July of taking bribes and acting as a foreign agent.
The opening lines of Herlinsky’s letter are striking.
“I sincerely wish that I didn’t have to write this letter. I would have much rather been writing a letter to support Bob Menendez’s re-election this November. I have been proud to support his efforts as the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to protect oppressed peoples throughout the world, particularly in Ukraine. His voice will be sorely missed as a champion for people victimized by autocrats. Alas, I am writing Your Honor as you contemplate the sentence to impose on now ex-Senator Bob Menendez for actions atypical of the Bob Menendez I know,” the letter begins.
Atypical? I guess it’s different for Menendez’s friends — Herlinsky’s letter says the two golfed together — but for me and many people I know, the revelations from Menendez’s 10-week trial confirmed what we already knew about him: that he was more than willing to perform official acts in exchange for gifts.
The rest of the letter offers some general praise of Menendez, saying he fulfilled his promise to be a “great public servant and a voice for the downtrodden;” that he was at the forefront of condemning injustice “whenever and wherever he found it;” and that he fought tirelessly for more resources for Ukraine.
“I am letting Your Honor know of all the good that Senator Menendez has done so you will be able to balance that against the actions you heard at trial. In light of all the good that Senator Menendez has done, I do not believe he deserves a lengthy jail sentence. I ask that you look at the totality of his life and give Bob a sentence that will allow him to live a useful and fulfilling life in service to his community. I want to thank Your Honor for your thoughtfulness during the trial and consideration of this letter,” the letter ends.
Antoinette Miles, state director of the New Jersey Working Families Party, told me she was stunned by Herlinsky’s letter (which was written in August but made public last week).
“Certainly, if I was in this position, being on the state ethics commission, I would be thinking of the optics. I would also be thinking, not just what my duty to my friend is, but what my duty to the public is,” she said.
The State Ethics Commission is a little-noticed public body that, among other things, reviews when executive branch employees violate the state ethics code and authorizes punishment for them.
When Murphy appointed Herlinsky and others to it in 2021, Murphy said the commission “has one of the most important functions in our state, serving as a safeguard for the integrity of our government.” It does not meet often and can move glacially. The most high-profile action it has taken recently was to fine Lizette Delgado-Polanco, a former CEO of the Schools Development Authority, $3,500 for hiring or attempting to hire friends and family at the agency. Delgado-Polanco resigned back in April 2019.
A September 2024 State Ethics Commission newsletter offered a little article about Herlinsky, calling him an expert in “government investigations” and saying he “continues to apply a consistently thoughtful and practical approach to the matters that come before the Commission.”
I asked the chair and vice chair of the commission — Stephanie A. Brown and Patricia C. Morgan, both lawyers — whether they have any qualms about one of their colleagues writing a letter in support of Menendez. They didn’t answer, and neither did the commission’s executive director, Christina Fullam. A request for comment from Murphy’s office was also ignored.
But Herlinsky did respond. He told me his letter was merely an effort to alert the judge who will sentence Menendez about the good deeds the former senator has done. He noted that he did not ask the judge not to sentence Menendez to prison, only that he does not believe the former senator deserves a lengthy prison sentence.
“It’s not inconsistent for somebody on the ethics commission to want to get the information to a judge so he could make a balanced decision and administer justice. I think it’s almost required, whether I’m on the ethics commission or not,” he said.
I don’t know about required. Menendez had more than a hundred friends and family members write letters to the judge seeking leniency, and all of them offer some details of the good things Menendez has done in his life. It’s doubtful Menendez’s fate would be decided by one more of these letters.
I’m sure, as Menendez’s friend, Herlinsky felt like he had to jump in to defend him (hard to relate; I don’t have any friends with the power to perform favors in exchange for gold bars). But is it too much to ask that New Jersey have an ethics board with commissioners who don’t file letters of support for someone whose cartoonish corruption has made him and our state a national punchline?
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