Opinion

Menendez deserves no benefit of the doubt regarding his Senate seat

In the modern world of public corruption, the misconduct can be subtle and the lines blurry: between campaign contributions and outright bribes, between legitimate constituent services and improper influence. These cases are hard to bring and even harder to win.

Thus, Virginia’s former Republican governor Robert F. McDonnell was convicted in 2014 on corruption charges involving his efforts on behalf of a Virginia businessman — only to have that finding unanimously overturned in 2016 by the Supreme Court, which ruled that conduct such as arranging meetings and hosting events at the governor’s mansion, while “tawdry,” didn’t necessarily constitute “official acts.”