Randy Bergmann, the editorial page editor of the Asbury Park Press, writes on his blog that Bob Menendez once did an interesting piece of "constituent service:"

In 1998, back when U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez was Rep. Menendez, he wrote a letter to federal prison officials asking that a father and son who were in jail on racketeering and drug charges be allowed to transfer to a facility closer to home, allowing them to be reunited at Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institute.
A Menendez spokesman said the then-congressmen had no relationship with the mobsters, Nicholas and Antonino Parlavecchio, and that writing the letter on behalf of prisoners seeking transfers so visitation would be more convenient was not unusual.

Interesting, no? Especially since Menendez is now running a brutal ad against Tom Kean, Jr. for getting some oppo research on Menendez from a Democrat who is sitting behind bars.

Amy Fagan writes in the Washington Times this morning that Republican hopes of winning in NJ hinge on corruption charges against Menendez. But Kean has been pushing the corruption argument against Menendez since the day the news broke back in early September and after an initial round of polls showed him jumping out to a slight lead, Menendez has moved ahead in nearly every poll taken in the last three weeks and is up 3.5% in the most recent RCP Average.