over in the Senate more than half of the democratic caucus have called for New Jersey's senior senator Bob Menendez to resign following his indictment on federal corruption and bribery charges but Democrats from his home turf in Hudson County they've remained quiet and his senior political correspondent David Cruz reports their silence says it all Democrats from the governor on down have made it clear Bob Menendez should resign but there is one place where Democrats are a little less quick to show Menendez the door Hudson County it's where Menendez made his political bones and we're crossing him used to be tantamount to political suicide I know who you are and I won't forget you in the wake of the indictment Hudson County Democratic organization officials met and released a statement attributed to hcdo Chairman Anthony Venere which acknowledged the Senator's pain and noted his five Decades of service adding Senator Menendez will have to make his own choice on whether or not he can continue to effectively carry out the duties of his office while working to clear his name what you're really saying is that the uppercase D Democratic party does not have a lowercase D democratic values and you can see that happening in this very process Hector ran in a congressional primary against then Congressman Albee Osiris the hcdo candidate and was defeated handily he says when the bosses make up their minds everyone else falls into line you're essentially burning all your ties or you know you'll make yourself persona non grata for a certain amount of time there's no uh sin greater to the mafia than to betray the mafia Elena little just lost a primary for County Executive against Craig guy the hcdo candidate he has uh deep relationships to the other power players in hcdo and uh he's also known for being vindictive so I can certainly understand why no one wants to stick their neck out and be the first to ask for him to step down most Hudson Democrats we reached out to wanted no part of commenting about Menendez on the record many not even off the Record Hudson view reporter John Haynes says nowadays Menendez may not be as scary as all that but he has earned the Loyalty this is a guy that has deep connections there got a lot of people they're starting politics so some people don't want to touch it out of respect and other people just don't want their name attached to but that does it anyway Jersey city councilman James Solomon did not release a statement on the Menendez indictment he's felt all along that the senator should resign he says the hcdo perpetuates a common trait of political culture elected officials across the state view their power as not coming from the people but coming from other political bosses that's the root of the problem in in New Jersey and in Hudson County and we need more electoral competition at all levels from school board all the way up to United States Senate where elected officials feel like hey I gotta prove to the people that I deserve to keep this job not other political bosses ironically while the party bosses here were seen to be waffling on Menendez they're almost unanimous in their support for former Governor Jim McGreevy to be the next mayor of Jersey City a race that's almost two years away proving to some that the bosses can be decisive when they want to be I'm David Cruz David Cruz NJ Spotlight News