Over the last few decades, the North Jersey newspaper received hundreds of thousands in advertising revenue from the Daibes-run Mariner’s Bank and other business interests.
Federal prosecutors allege that Daibes bribed U.S. Senator Bob Menendez; they say some of the envelopes of cash found at the senator’s home contained Daibes’ fingerprints. Daibes is now Menendez’s co-defendant. On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Wigenton rejected a plea agreement on bank fraud charges; he had pled guilty last year.
Last week, a reporter for The Record called candidates who had received contributions from Daibes to ask if they would return money from Daibes. Some of the contributions The Record inquired about went back to the 1990s and were spent long ago. Several candidates said they would give money from Daibes and Menendez to charity.
The New Jersey Globe contacted Dan Sforza, the executive editor of The Record, and asked if his newspaper planned to return advertising revenues they received from Mariner Bank and other Daibes money. Sforza did not respond.
“As Jerry Seinfeld would say, these guys know how to ask questions, but they don’t know how to answer them,” said a state legislator who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation. “The hypocrisy is overwhelming.”