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The 2006 Democratic Congressional Primary for NJ's 13th congressional District, an acrimonious contest between West New York Mayor/Speaker of the Assembly Albio Sires and Perth Amboy Mayor/Assemblyman Joseph Vas that resulted in the former's victory to replace Bob Menendez.
Throughout the Campaign, Sires, who was endorsed by Governor Corzine and Senate President Richard Codey sought to stay above the fray, but descended after Assemblyman Vas started throwing accusations that bordered on accusing Sires of outright criminality
Vas had accused Sires on running am extortion scheme centered on Sires' former deputy mayor—Rene Abreu—who had been convicted on charges of morgage fraud but aquited on the extortion charges, Sires denied knowing anything about it.
Further, Vas questioned the awarding of a $193,000 job held by Sires' wife as an assistant superintendent of schools in West New York, funcionally charging that it was a patronage appointment.
Sires fought back by attacking Vas for helping out a child molester whereby he mentioned that "What Joe Vas did wasn't illegal, but it was criminal". What Vas had in fact done was request leniency for a 40-year-old man convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
In an attempt to mitigate the damage of this attack, during the campaigned Vas claimed that he had been wrong to do ask for leniency.
But in the end, Sires—who had a 2-to-1 advantage in fundraising and the coveted county ballot line in Hudson, Essex and Union counties—won due to those advantages, becoming the 13th and later 8th District Rep until he was succeeded by the son of the man he replaced—Rob Menendez Jr—in 2022
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