Second Dem gives up Menendez donations

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) will donate campaign contributions he received from Sen. Robert Menendez’s PAC during the 2010 cycle. 

Dan McNally, Bennet’s campaign manager, said the money from Menendez will be donated to charities in Colorado. 

{mosads}”Our campaign has not accepted any contributions from Senator Menendez this cycle, and we are donating his contributions from 2010 to charitable organizations that serve veterans in Colorado,” he said in a statement. 

Bennet received $10,000 in 2010 from the New Jersey Democrat’s political action committee, the New Millennium PAC, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The Colorado Democrat is up for reelection in 2016 and has been under pressure from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) to return the money. 

“It’s time for Senator Bennet to return the $10,000 donation he received from his indicted friend Senator Robert Menendez,” NRSC spokesman Matt Connelly said in a statement earlier this week. “Coloradans expect the highest ethical conduct from their representatives in Washington and Senator Bennet has clearly had a lapse in judgment when it comes to Senator Menendez.”

Bennet is the second Democrat to give up contributions received from Menendez. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is expected to return $10,000 to the New Jersey Democrat’s PAC. She will return an additional $8,000 to Salomon Melgen, Menendez’s friend and donor who plays a central role in the ethics charges against the senator.

Justin Buoen, an Klobuchar campaign aide said the “campaign has never received questions from federal authorities about these contributions.” 

Menendez was indicted Wednesday on 14 counts of corruption. He pleaded not guilty to those charges, which include conspiracy to commit bribery and honest services fraud, on Thursday afternoon in federal court. 

The Justice Department alleges Melgen bribed Menendez with gifts and donations to his legal defense fund set up to pay for legal fees associated with federal and congressional ethics investigations. 

Though Democrats quickly came out in support of Menendez, the senators’ decision to return or donate the campaign funds suggests they are trying to put some distance between themselves and the scandal.