JERSEY CITY – The most fascinating thing about Steve Fulop refusing to endorse the reelection of Rep. Robert Menendez Jr. in CD-8 is that the mayor and gubernatorial candidate said publicly what many have been saying privately for the last year or so.

The younger Menendez would not hold elected office if it wasn’t for his father – the now-indicted U.S. Senator.

Here is how Fulop put it:

“When Senator Menendez first got indicted, I thought maybe I could separate the father and son, and I even expressed that to Rob. As time went on, I realized it is impossible to do that and the situations are tied together. It’s not a secret that Rob got to Congress only because of his dad’s influence, so it’s fair to move on from Rob now because of that same influence.”

That’s a pretty remarkable statement.

And the remarkable thing is not that it is true, but that Fulop said it.

You can call this a “live by the sword, die by the sword,” type of thing.

Obviously, it was the senator who made his son a member of the House.

But now that the elder Menendez is under indictment, Fulop’s take is that the younger Menendez should go too.

“I understand it’s his dad, but it’s unreasonable to be linked together because of family only when it helps,” Fulop says.

That, too, is a very true statement. But it also.is one that many politicians do not say publicly.

The cynical here may wonder if Fulop – his proclaimed candidacy for governor notwithstanding –  may be thinking about running for Congress instead.

We will see.

Of course, a Menendez in the Senate and a Menendez in the House is not the only family connection reverberating through Jersey politics these days.

The spectacle of a Murphy in Drumthwacket and a Murphy in the U.S. Senate – replacing the elder Menendez no less – is still unfolding.