New Jersey's Five Worst Senators

Having lived in New Jersey for the first 51 years of my life, I have seen a lot of U.S. Senators come and go… and now that I have lived in Florida for 13 years, I can also provide an outsider’s perspective as well.

So, without further ado, here is my list of the Five Worst Senators to ever represent the Garden State, in descending order.

#5. Frank Lautenberg. Lautenberg was known for three things: writing the law that banned smoking on commercial airplanes, pushing for the legal drinking age to be raised from 18 to 21, and remaining in office well past his expiration date.

When Lautenberg first ran for the senate in 1982, his Republican opponent was Rep. Millicent Fenwick, a popular and pipe-smoking congresswoman from Bernardsville. At the time, Fenwick was 72 and Lautenberg hinted at her advanced age by calling her “eccentric” and “erratic.” Ironically, when he died in office in 2013 at age 89, Lautenberg was the oldest member of the senate and its last World War II veteran.

In his last campaign in 2008, Lautenberg showed signs of dementia and his handlers limited his public appearances, similar to “Geritol Joe” Biden today. His declining mental acuity was confirmed to me at the time by a Democratic friend who had the “inside scoop” on Lautenberg’s condition.

#4. Cory Booker. One of the first things I learned after relocating to Florida in 2011 is that men down here don’t wear suits. It is simply too hot in the summertime and the atmosphere is far more casual. And so, I donated most of my suits to Goodwill and the remaining two hang limp and empty in my closet.

There is no better way to describe Sen. Cory Booker than as a limp and empty suit. After serving two terms as mayor of Newark with mixed results – the murder and crime rates went down before going back up – Booker formed an exploratory committee to run for the U.S. Senate in case Frank Lautenberg decided to retire. When Lautenberg died in office, Booker won a special election to replace him.

Since then, the highlights of Booker’s senate tenure include his vocal support of Sen. Bob Menendez during his first corruption trial and his testifying against a fellow senator, Jeff Sessions, when he was nominated to be Attorney General. Booker deserves credit for helping to craft the First Step Act, a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill, and criticism for supporting the legalization of marijuana at the federal level.

Booker, also known mockingly as “Spartacus”, ran a lackluster campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020 before becoming one of the first candidates to drop out of the race.

#3. Harrison “Pete” Williams. All you need to know about Harrison Williams is that he began his senate tenure before I was born and left office after I had graduated from college. He also served four years in the U.S. House of Representatives before winning a senate seat.

However, if you Google Williams’ name today, I am betting that the first reference will be his 1981 conviction for taking bribes in the FBI’s sting operation called Abscam. The Senate Ethics Committee recommended that he be expelled for his “ethically repugnant” behavior, but Williams beat them to the punch by resigning in 1982 before a vote could be taken.

Sentenced to three years in federal prison, Williams served two years as Inmate #06089-050 before being released to a halfway house. He was also fined $50,000.

#2. Robert “Bob” Torricelli. “The Torch” served 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected to the senate in 1996. The target of a federal criminal investigation, Torricelli’s hopes for re-election were dashed when he was formally admonished by the senate for accepting illegal gifts from a campaign donor. Torricelli dropped out of the race on September 20, 2002, making way for former Sen. Frank Lautenberg to run and win as a last-minute replacement.

In 1999, Lautenberg accused Torricelli of encouraging incumbent Republican Gov. Christine Todd Whitman to run against him. The Torch responded by telling Lautenberg in a closed-door meeting with other Democratic senators, "You're a #@%* piece of *&%$, and I'm going to cut your %#*& off!"

All class, that Bob Torricelli.

#1. Robert “Bob” Menendez. What more can you say about arguably the sleeziest Garden State politician to ever hold a federal office? Menendez climbed the political ladder from school board to mayor to state assembly to state senate to the U.S. House of Representatives to the U.S. Senate over the course of a 50-year political career.

In 2015, Menendez was indicted on federal corruption charges including bribery and fraud, but the jury was somehow unable to reach a verdict. However, the Senate Select Committee on Ethics “severely admonished” him in 2018 for accepting undisclosed gifts from a campaign donor. Undaunted, Menendez ran for re-election that same year and won (what were New Jersey voters thinking?)

Apparently, Menendez didn’t learn his lessons the first time because he was indicted in September and October 2023 – and then again in January and March 2024 – on federal corruption charges. Accused of acting as an agent for the governments of Egypt and Qatar, Menendez stepped down as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but refused to vacate his senate seat despite calls for his resignation from 30 of his senate colleagues and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy.

A raid of Menendez’s house found $480,000 in cash stuffed into jackets in his closet and more than $100,000 in gold bars. He was also accused of accepting bribes including a luxury car and jewelry for his wife Nadine, who was listed as his co-defendant. Denying any guilt, Menendez chose instead to play the race card, citing his Latino heritage at a hastily called press conference where he also spoke in Spanish in a vain and unsuccessful attempt to portray himself as a victim.

And then there were the ethics complaints filed against him in 2006 by two Republican state lawmakers alleging that Menendez had broken conflict of interest rules to the tune of $300,000 in rent payments… and the 2012 allegations that he had hired underage prostitutes while in the Dominican Republic.

Menendez has yet to announce if he will run this year to retain his senate seat, but he is already being challenged by Rep. Andy Kim and First Lady Tammy Murphy for the Democratic nomination. Rumor has it that “Gold Bar” Bob may run as an independent – with no expectation of winning – so he can use campaign contributions to pay off his mounting legal expenses.

Sounds very much in character to me.