The Senate is getting ready to swear in Senator Bob Menendez's (D-NJ) replacement after he resigned following a criminal conviction for corruption.

After Menendez was convicted of a public fraud scheme involving bribery and acting as a foreign agent, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (D) appointed George Helmy to finish out Menendez's term.

Helmy will only serve as a Senator until November when the winner of the Senate race between Representative Andy Kim (D-NJ) and Republican Curtis Bashaw is certified.

Helmy is Governor Murphy's former chief of staff and an ex-staffer to Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) so he is intimately tied into New Jersey politics and is very familiar with the Senate delegation.

Ultimately, his time in the Senate will likely be inconsequential but considering Democrats hold a one-vote majority, they need both of New Jersey's Senators in line.

However, he will be holding a seat on the Senate Foreign Relations, Finance, and Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. Menendez was a powerful figure and his corruption conviction looks much worse considering the power he had in the Senate.

New Jersey Corruption

Even with Menendez out of the Senate, questions need to be asked about the state of New Jersey politics which appears to be a cesspool of corruption thanks to decades of Democrat control.

Menendez was working as a foreign agent for years and Americans are supposed to believe that the other power players in New Jersey had no idea what was happening.

Menendez worked for an Egyptian businessman and in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars, luxury gifts, and 13 gold bars, he would help that businessman and meddle on behalf of friends and family in criminal investigations.

Menendez still denies any guilt despite his conviction and has vowed to appeal the ruling ahead of his October 29th sentencing.

Furthermore, his Democrat colleagues refused to expel him from the Senate which allowed him to collect a few more paychecks from taxpayers.

Democrats Refused To Expel Menendez

Considering how Democrats demanded Representative George Santos's expulsion before he was convicted of a crime, there are serious questions about how deep the corruption goes in New Jersey as well as the greater Democrat Party.

However, Menendez has been convicted in a court of law for much more severe crimes and Democrats are acting like nothing happened and there was no talk of expulsion.

Democrats are likely hoping that with Menendez likely heading to prison, Americans will move on and not scrutinize things further. Republicans should resist that urge and further look into who else was involved and knew about Menendez.

It isn't a stretch to suspect that a figure like Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was aware that Menendez and perhaps even other powerful Democrats are enriching themselves by acting on behalf of foreign interests.