By Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Why is Bob Hugin within striking distance of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez in a state that hasn't elected a Republican to the U.S. Senate since 1972?

There are 15.5 million reasons. That's how much Hugin, a former Celgene Corp. executive, spent from his own pocket through June 30, most of them on ads attacking Menendez. D-N.J., on ethics.

That has been the singular theme emanating from the Hugin campaign and the super political action committee formed to support his candidacy.

"Corrupt, career politician Bob Menendez's only accomplishments after 25 years in Washington are selfishly fighting for himself and his donors instead of the people of New Jersey," Hugin said.

Menendez was "severely admonished" by the Senate Ethics Committee for accepting gifts from a friend and campaign donor, West Palm Beach ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, and then intervening with federal agencies on his behalf.

"Your decision to accept and your failure to disclose numerous gifts while simultaneously using your Senate office in furtherance of Dr. Melgen's interests created, at a minimum, the appearance of impropriety," the committee said.

Menendez's relationship with Melgen led to an indictment on federal corruption charges, though a jury did not convict him and the Justice Department dropped the case after a judge acquitted him on several counts.

"From the very beginning, I never wavered in my innocence and my belief that justice would prevail," Menendez said after the charges were dropped.

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Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Hugin. (Associated Press file photo)

The trlal and the ethics committee's rebuke have taken their toll on Menendez. In a recent Quinnipiac University poll that gave him a 10-point lead over Hugin, 59 percent of likely voters said he was not honest. Just 25 percent said he was.

No surprise, then, that Hugin has hammered Menendez on ethics since launching his campaign in February.

"I am offended by Senator Menendez's actions," Hugin said at the time. "I'm embarrassed about how people think about New Jersey based on Senator Menendez's behavior. It's embarrassing."

Even if you watch only a little TV, we're sure you've seen the ads:

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Here's a look at the record, point by point, with Menendez's responses:

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Dr. Salomon Melgen arrives at federal court in Newark in April 2015. (Ed Murray | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Salomon Melgen

At the center of the case against Menendez is Melgen, a West Palm Beach ophthalmologist and a friend of the senator's. Melgen paid for trips to Paris and the Dominican Republic, and the doctor also made his Dominican Republic villa available to Menendez.

Menendez was accused of intervening with federal agencies on behalf of Melgen, who was indicted along with the senator and also not convicted.

Menendez contacted the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services after the agency found that Melgen had overbilled the government by millions of dollars. He asked the U.S. Department of State about a port-security contract in the Dominican Republic held by a company whose investors include Melgen. And he sought to help Melgen obtain visas for his girlfriends.

"Menendez solicited the highest levels of government to obtain visas for Melgen's young foreign mistresses," Hugin said. "Menendez even intervened on Melgen's behalf despite Melgen's disgusting treatment of his patients that included lasering patients' eyes, performing unnecessary, horrific and barbaric procedures that prosecutors compared to torture, and scamming seniors by overcharging and reusing medicines that put them at risk of infection."

Menendez's response: His lawyers argued that Menendez was raising important public policy issues and his actions were protected by the Constitution's "speech and debate clause," which prevent lawmakers from being prosecuted for their legislative activities.

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In an unrelated case, Melgen was convicted of Medicare fraud and sentenced to 17 years in prison. He received millions of dollars from the government after convincing elderly patients to undergo unnecessary and sometimes painful tests and treatments that they didn't need.

Menendez's response: "Bob Hugin knows that Bob Menendez had nothing to do with Dr. Melgen's medical practice — everybody does," Menendez campaign spokesman Steven Sandberg said.

Sandberg said Celgene under Hugin paid a $280 million fine for Medicaid fraud.

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U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo | Andrew Harnik)

Campaign contributions

Mentioned in the indictment was $700,000 in contributions from Melgen's business to a super political action committee aligned with then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., in 2012.

The super PAC, in turn, spent $580,500 on Menendez's re-election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group. The indictment said Melgen earmarked $600,000 specifically for Menendez's race.

At the same, a super PAC funded by casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson was spending close to $500,000 on behalf of Menendez's Republican challenger, state Sen. Joe Kyrillos, R-Monmouth

That same year, Melgen gave $10,000 to the New Jersey State Democratic Committee. He contributed the maximum $5,000 to Menendez's 2012 re-election campaign. When Menendez became chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2009, Melgen gave $30,400 to the committee.

Melgen and his family also contributed $40,000 to Menendez's legal defense fund.

U.S. District Court Judge William Walls acquitted Menendez of bribery charges in connection with the contributions. "There's no there there," he said, quoting writer and poet Gertrude Stein.

Menendez's response: Melgen was a longtime Democratic donor and there was no connection between these donations and the senator's actions.

Among Melgen's earlier notable contributions were $25,000 in 2006 and $10,000 in 2003 to the Democratic National Committee, and $5,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2002. Melgen also gave $10,000 to the New Jersey Democrats in 2006.

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U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., interviewed by Spanish language media after a Senate Democratic roundtable. (Jonathan D. Salant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Siding with his donors

Menendez, then a House member, was a fierce opponent of the merger between Univision Communications and Hispanic Broadcasting Corp., which was approved in 2003.

His position was aligned with the Spanish Broadcasting Service, whose executives and employees are Menendez's 11th largest lifetime source of campaign cash, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Menendez, who also held stock in SBS at the time, testified against the merger and introduced legislation to require the Federal Communications Commission to hold hearings before approving it.

SBS President and Chief Executive Raul Alarcon Jr. gave $100,000 to Majority PAC in 2002. That was the same year that Melgen supported the super PAC.

Menendez's response: "Senator Menendez -- and many others -- opposed the Univision-HBC merger because he has long believed media consolidations can lead to the shrinking of community voices, and his investment in SBS, which was fully disclosed publicly at the time, had nothing to do with that position," spokeswoman Tricia Enright told Bloomberg News in March 2013.

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Lack of disclosure

In its report, the ethics committee said Menendez did not report the gifts and trips, including private flights, from Melgen on his annual financial disclosure forms. The panel said Menendez was required to do so under "Senate rule and federal law."

Menendez paid $58,000 for two flights, but not until two years later. The ethics committee ordered Menendez to pay the fair market value for any gifts or trips not already paid for, and to amend his financial disclosure forms to reflect them.

Menendez's response: The disclosure forms exclude gifts between friends, and Melgen certainly qualified as one.

"My understanding was that if there was a gift exchanged between a senator and a close personal friend, that those did not have to be disclosed," Menendez's deputy of staff, Robert Kelly, testified during the trial.

The exemption, however, was limited to $250 unless the lawmaker received written approval from the ethics committee. The panel said Menendez did not do so.

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More on the Senate race

Menendez keeps calling Republican Hugin a 'fraud' on health care. Here's what that's all about.

Menendez loss would be a disaster for Democrats in Trump midterm. Here's what they're doing.

Trump wants lower drug prices. Menendez's Republican challenger fought to keep them high.

What N.J. Democrats REALLY think about Menendez's chances in this Trump-fueled election

Will Menendez's bid to win re-election really be hurt by Senate rebuke on ethics?

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Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.