On Thursday, after ducking reporters on Capitol Hill for days, Sen. Robert Menendez made a brief appearance before the annual New Jersey Chamber of Commerce dinner in Washington.

He immediately exited through the double doors at the back of a banquet hall at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, refusing to answer a barrage of questions as he walked briskly to the back elevators.

The 59-year-old Democrat said little more yesterday morning as he left his apartment on his way back home to New Jersey for the weekend.

New Jersey’s junior senator, suddenly the focus of a high-profile investigation into a wealthy Florida donor and friend, continues to keep a low public profile, declining to directly answer questions beyond the statements issued by his office denying any wrongdoing in the matter.

But the FBI investigation that came to light this week into Salomon Melgen, a prominent eye doctor from North Palm Beach who has known Menendez for at least 20 years, is raising growing ethics questions for the senator that has thrust him into an unwanted and unexpected spotlight.

A complaint over several flights Menendez took on Melgen’s private jet has been filed with the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics, which is chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). That complaint, lodged by a New Jersey state Sen. Sam Thompson (R-Middlesex), led to Menendez belatedly reimbursing Melgen nearly $60,000 for the flights.

But while the committee does not typically announce its investigations, Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), the ranking Republican on the committee, said yesterday in a statement: "We are aware of the news reports regarding the FBI raid on Dr. Melgen’s office. The Ethics Committee will follow its established procedures in this matter."

Separately, Menendez came under added fire yesterday for his apparent help boosting a Caribbean company tied to Melgen. That assistance was documented by a conservative watchdog group, the National Legal and Policy Center, headed by the former chief of staff to New Jersey Rep. Christopher Smith (R-4th Dist.). It said Menendez interceded on behalf of a Caribbean-based port security company in which Melgen held an ownership stake.

Those connections, reported by the New York Times, found Menendez urged officials in the State and Commerce departments to intervene on behalf of the company, ICSSI, after Melgen acquired a financial interest in the firm.

Ken Boehm, the executive director of the National Legal and Policy Center, said yesterday he began digging into Melgen’s portfolio after examining the tens of thousands of dollars the contributions the doctor had made to Menendez and his PAC committees.

"That to me said more than anything else. If he (Melgen) is doing that, what’s the senator doing for him?" Boehm said.

Transcripts of subcommittee hearings show Menendez supported the company’s efforts to enforce a long dormant port security contract with the Dominican Republic — negotiated long before Melgen took a stake in the company. According to Boehm, the contract had never been put into effect because it was a corrupt deal.

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"Once Melgen acquired the company, there was a full court press by the senator," he said.

In response to questions about the ICSSI contract, a spokesman for Menendez said in a statement: "As chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs and Global Narcotics, Senator Menendez has held several hearings in which he advocated for efforts to stop the spread of narcotics trafficking throughout Central America and the Caribbean.

"Stemming the growth of narcotics trafficking is a key challenge in the region. Ultimately, it’s a national security matter because these drugs end up on our streets and in our communities, fueling crime and addiction. It is a fight from which Senator Menendez will never back down."

Meanwhile, it is still unclear what sparked the FBI raid on Melgen’s medical practice — which came after unsubstantiated allegations by an anonymous tipster claimed that the doctor provided Menendez with the services of prostitutes at a private villa in the Dominican Republic. However, agents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were on hand for the raid, suggesting the focus was more likely on possible Medicare fraud.

Melgen has released a statement through his lawyer saying the government has not informed him what its concerns are. "However, we are confident that Dr. Melgen has acted appropriately at all times," said the statement.

Staff writer Christopher Baxter in Washington contributed to this report. Ted Sherman: (973) 392-4278 or tsherman@starledger.com



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