In a state with a colorful history, it takes a lot for a New Jersey politician to cross the line into political toxicity. 
 
 Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez has found himself at the center of a growing controversy, with accusations swirling of a questionable friendship with a Florida eye surgeon being investigated for Medicare fraud, improper flights to the Dominican Republic and alleged patronizing of prostitutes — including underage girls — while in the Caribbean nation. 
 
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 In some states, these allegations — and the fact the Senate Ethics Committee has joined federal investigators in looking into the explosive claims — would be enough to sink Menendez. But in New Jersey, that may not be enough to topple the Hudson County political boss, who runs the political machine for a part of Jersey known for being rough and tumble and who easily won reelection last year. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Reid: 'Confidence' in Menendez) 
 
 “Six years is a long time,” said Democratic former Sen. Robert Torricelli , who left the Senate a decade ago under his own ethics cloud. “I think Bob Menendez is a very tenacious person, and he has the advantage of six long years and a fairly forgiving political environment in New Jersey. 
 
 “I wouldn’t be wasting time on a Bob Menendez political obituary,” he added. 
 
 The prostitution allegations surrounding Menendez partially came to light before last November’s election, when he won with 58 percent of the vote. Menendez has fervently denied the allegations, and the Justice Department wasn’t publicly investigating the case at that time. 
 
 Otherwise, Menendez has had a few good months: He was pictured with President Barack Obama and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as they toured the Jersey Shore after Hurricane Sandy; helped push through the Sandy relief spending package; and took over as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Sen. John Kerry left to become secretary of state. 
 
 He’s also the lead Democratic Hispanic voice on immigration reform in the Senate. 
 
 Top Senate Democrats, including Majority Leader Harry Reid, are backing Menendez. 
 
 “He was a leader in the House. He’s been a leader in the Senate. He’s chairman of that committee. He’ll do a wonderful job. And he’s also an integral part of what we do with immigration reform. So I have the utmost confidence in him,” Reid said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. 
 
 “I have confidence he did nothing wrong, but that’s what investigations are all about,” Reid added. 
 
 (PHOTOS: Top congressional scandals) 
 
 Senior Democratic aides said that with Ethics Committee investigating the matter, party leaders like Reid have cover not to take any action against Menendez until that panel completes its review of the case. The Ethics Committee would step out of the way if Menendez becomes formally involved in a criminal probe by the Justice Department. 
 
 Menendez’s aides would not comment on whether the senator has hired a defense attorney at this time or will set up a legal defense fund to help cover the costs of any ethics or criminal investigation. Marc Elias, a well-known Democratic lawyer, is advising Menendez on ethics issues but is not involved in the broader criminal case, multiple sources said. 
 
 Menendez, who divorced his wife in 2005 and is still single, isn’t personally wealthy. He last week repaid the company of the Florida eye surgeon, Salomon Melgen, $58,500 to cover the cost of two 2010 flights that the senator now acknowledges were personal jaunts to the Dominican Republic. 
 
 Meanwhile, The New York Times reported that Menendez intervened with state and Commerce Department officials on behalf of a Melgen-owned company trying to enforce a lucrative port-security contract with the Dominican government. ||||| The Spanish-language news channel Univision has located one of the women from the Dominican Republic who was allegedly hired by a doctor with ties to Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) to work as a prostitute. 
 
 The 21-year-old woman and her family deny that she ever participated in prostitution. The woman, Yaneisi Fernandez, said she has never seen Menendez before, not even on television. 
 
 (PHOTOS: Top congressional scandals) 
 
 
 
 "I’ve never been to Casa de Campo, I’ve never participated in those activities, don’t know those people or that man," Fernandez said, according to a translation provided by Univision. 
 
 
 
 Menendez came under fire last week when the office of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor with ties to the senator, was raided by the FBI. It was later learned that in January Menendez reimbursed Melgen for flights on his private jet to the Dominican Republic. 
 
 In reports first published by the Daily Caller, Menendez was accused of patronizing prostitutes -- some underage -- while with Melgen at his private estate in an area known as Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republican. Fernandez 's mother told Univision that she is a college student and any suggestion her daughter was involved with the senator is a misunderstanding. 
 
 Menendez has denied all of the allegations. 
 
 Media outlets have been searching for the women who were identified as prostitutes in records released by the government watchdog group CREW. Fernandez was identified in those records.
– At least one of the women allegedly involved in the prostitution scandal swirling around Sen. Bob Menendez denies the whole thing, Politico reports. Yaneisi Fernandez was allegedly hired by Dr. Salomon Melgen, who has ties to Menendez, but she says she's never participated in prostitution and she's never seen Menendez in person or on TV, according to Univision. Menendez and Melgen have been accused of patronizing prostitutes, some underage, in the Dominican Republic. Despite the fact that the controversy continues to grow, Politico reports that Menendez could weather the storm. First of all, it takes a lot to sink a New Jersey politician, the site points out, particularly in Menendez's neck of the woods. Plus, he was easily re-elected last year. "I think Bob Menendez is a very tenacious person, and he has the advantage of six long years and a fairly forgiving political environment in New Jersey," a former senator says. "I wouldn’t be wasting time on a Bob Menendez political obituary."