State could seek to pull Menendez pension, lifetime ban on public employment

The New Jersey Attorney General’s office is expected to seek a court order permanently barring former U.S. Senator Bob Menendez from holding public office for life — and may move to take his state pension away.

After a public corruption conviction – including those in federal court – the attorney general’s office typically goes to a Superior Court Judge to seek a lifetime forfeiture of any position of public profit or trust.   Menendez was convicted on sixteen counts of bribery, extortion and illegally representing the interests of a foreign government in July; yesterday, he was sentenced to eleven yrars in prison.

Records show that Menendez has been taking his $1,066-a-month pension since 2019.

Lifetime bans are relatively common in New Jersey.  Last year, the attorney general’s office prosecuted former Paterson Mayor Joey Torres for violating a 2017 order connected to his public corruption conviction after he sought to run for mayor in 2022.

In 2017, state prosecutors successfully moved to initiate a similar prohibition for David Samson, a former New Jersey Attorney General who pled guilty to a federal bribery charge connected to his tenure as chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.