Bob Hugin, the retired pharma exec who wants to take out Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) in the 2018 general election, reported an income of $19.5 million in 2015 and $14.3 million in 2016, and paid an effective tax rate of 46 and 40 percent in each of those years, according to tax forms made available by his campaign, NorthJersey.com reports.

Hugin earlier today displayed the 2015 and 2016 returns for him and his wife, Kathleen Hugin, “though without exhibits showing charitable contributions for 2016 and numerous redactions of capital assets. Hugin retired from Celgene, a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Summit, after 19 years and stepped down from its board of directors in February, before announcing his bid to run for U.S. Senate on the Republican ticket,” NorthJersey.com reports.

Reporters derided the two-hour time-limited exercise as a retread of when Governor Phil Murphy’s 2017 handlers kept a stern yoke on the time.

Mike Soliman, campaign chairman for Menendez, issued a rebuke.

“While there is nothing wrong with being rich- Bob Hugin’s getting rich by ripping off cancer patients is despicable,” he said, going back to an out of the gate Hugin issue raised here.

“With a salary, bonuses and stock options totaling more than $80 million in just three years, it’s now clear why drug company CEO Bob Hugin thought writing a $280 million check to settle accusations that his company defrauded taxpayers and misled patients was no big deal,” Soliman added. “It’s no surprise that Hugin’s company used the Trump tax windfall to buy back stock rather than create jobs or lower health care costs for patients.  Bob Hugin has gotten very, very rich from overcharging cancer patients for the drugs they depend upon- and apparently he has no shame in showing off how much money he made from doing that.”