judy it all started with the menendez brothers. but didn't the scott peterson case cement the notion of handsome defendant as some sort of celebrity? >> absolutely. and he became the poster boy for horror and betrayal on many people's parts. every young woman coed who meets a guy in college like lacy did with scott, what do they want to dream that this guy they marry

the next is robert menendez from new jersey. senator menendez is at the forfront of helping develop the transportation policy. in particular, he's a champion for the safety. earlier this year, health institutions legislation to ban texting while driving across the country. the only hispanic member of the senate, senator has central to americans. he grew up in front of everybody in union city. and he has risen to become one of the united states senator and member of the senate leadership. he's earned the representation of the fighter for the new jersey and economic security ahead of others. he first entered public life to 19 year old politics when he witnessed short comings in the public education system, and rose to become a member of the u.s. house of representative leadership in the senate. please join me in welcoming senator robert menendez. [applause] [speaking in native tongue] >> we might continue that. let me say i thank the secretary for the gracious introduction. i appreciate being here with my distinguished colleague m

judy it all started with the menendez brothers. but didn't the scott peterson case cement the notion of handsome defendant as some sort of celebrity? >> absolutely. and he became the poster boy for horror and betrayal on many people's parts. every young woman coed who meets a guy in college like lacy did with scott, what do they want to dream that this guy they marry is going to end up murdering them and their unborn child? that's number one. a mistress, an innocent like amber frey who gets involved in a love affair and sex with a guy who dupes her into thinking that he's single. how many times has this happened to real women who have a horror about that? and on top of that the third group, jane, are the parents who stand up for their child, saying, he didn't do it, he's innocent, and then guess what, he gets convicted. so on all those grounds, he becomes the poster boy, psychologically and legally for the horror. >> amber frey was scott peterson's girlfriend at the time his wife lacy went missing. frey never knew he was married. a

judy it all started with the menendez brothers. but didn't the scott peterson case cement the notion of handsome defendant as some sort of celebrity? >> absolutely. and he became the poster boy for horror and betrayal on many people's parts. every young woman coed who meets a guy in college like laci did with scott, what do they want to dream that this guy they marry is going to end up murdering them and their unborn child? that's number one. a mistress, an innocent like amber frey who gets involved in a love affair and sex with a guy who dupes her into thinking that he's single. how many times has this happened to real women who have a horror about that? and on top of that the third group, jane, are the parents who stand up for their child, saying, he didn't do it, he's innocent, and then guess what, he gets convicted. so on all those grounds, he becomes the poster boy, psychologically and legally for the horror. >> amber frey was scott peterson's girlfriend at the time his wife laci went missing. frey never knew he was married. a

senator menendez. >> thank you, mr. chairman. me join my colleagues in commending you for the incredibly hard work that you have done and perseverance you've had in holding over 50 hearings along with the ranking member over the last year alone. this is not a passing fancy that this legislation is -- that you propose has come to. it's come through a thoughtful, in depth and prolonged process. and certainly for your bold leadership in seeking a long overdue, common sense regulatory reform. now, let me state from the outset, i may have a few issues with the package that you have. but i know what we attempt to do here is strike the right balance. we don't want the pendulum to swing too far that we can, in essence, stifle economic growth. but i do agree very strongly, mr. chairman, that we need to have regulatory reform or we are destined to relive sant anna's lament that those who, in fact, forget the past, and it's not a too distant past, but some are willing to for ge get it rather quickly -- are destined to relive it. the nation

he is mulling a run in new jersey against senator robert menendez, the senate's only hispanic member. on the democrats' line. good morning, jim. caller: i simply want to congratulate senator pryor. for the types of things he said. i will be buying his book and reading it. host: thanks for making the call. also in politics, this ap story -- "nfl's john runyon to run for congress. he was signed to play for the san diego chargers and he has told republican officials in burlington county that he would retire and seek to challenge representative john adler in 2010." john on the republican line. caller: i don't think obama has been deliberating. he has been planning to escalate all along. you know who wins? the neoconservatives, chicken hawks. your last guest, pryor -- that is what is wrong with congress. you at a guy making a fortune off of pbs. both of them sound like they have an iq of 90, just like george of the bush. -- george w. bush could chris dodd got his seat from his father. we have no merit to any more. host: next call, independent line. caller: can you hear me? host: yes, we ca

so this summer along with senator klobuchar on your committee, and senators menendez, and hagan, together we introduced the other drivers act which would mandate that states passed laws banning texting while driving. more and more states are passing texting bands it remains the case that fewer than half of the states have banned the practice as of today. mr. chairman, i am thrilled that you've introduced legislation and look forward to working with you on both of our bills as move forward to enact a ban on taxing. chairman rockefeller's bill and our bill are slyly different. senator rockefeller and hutchinson's approach focuses on carrots in the forms of grants to states to help them enact texting dance what our bill hughes allies stick to incentivize states to enact bans. but regards of the difference of our approaches, we all have the same goal in mind, to make the roads safer by keeping our drivers focused. and many of us support each other's legislation because we think the best way to go is both carrots and sticks. you, mr. chairman, have graciously cosponsored our bill as well as se

my colleague senator schumer, senator harry reid, senator merkel, menendez, senator harry levin -- levin, have joined us as co-sponsors. like the federal reserve's rule, our legislation would establish an opt in in rule 4 overdraft coverage for atm and debit transactions. customers would now have to consent before overdraft coverage is applied to their account. our legislation would go further, however, and limit the number of overdraft fees banks can charge to one per month to no more than 6 per year. that fee would have to be a reasonable and proportional to the cost of processing the overdraft. our legislation would also put a star -- stopped the practice of manipulating the order in which the transactions are posted and require banks to warn customers that are about to overdraw their account, giving their -- them a chance to cancel the very transactions they are about to engage in. finally it would require banks to notify customers promptly when they have overdrawn and accounts through whatever means the customer chooses -- e-mail, text messages, so they can quickly restore their bal