Robert Menendez
STATE – A New Jersey appellate court ruled today that the New Jersey secretary of state must accept a notice filed to recall U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez.
The court immediately stated the decision to allow the senator to appeal the ruling.
Menendez (D-NJ) is the subject of a recall campaign mounted by NJ Tea Parties United and the Sussex County Tea Party because of his support of health care reform and his history of voting in favor of government spending.
Under state law, the secretary of state must approve a committee’s notice to begin a recall effort before it can begin gathering signatures. Once the notice is approved, the recall committee must obtain signatures of 25 percent registered voters in the affected district before a recall election can be held.
Because there are 5.2 million registered voters in New Jersey, the committee would need 1.3 million signatures to trigger a recall election.
Menendez’s attorney argued that the petition drive should be stopped because voters do not have the right to recall federal lawmakers under the U.S. Constitution. The senator’s current term ends in 2012.
