By Frank Spotorno with Dan Murphy
The news about Congressman elect George Santos keeps getting worse, and the hits just keep on coming. A recent comment from Dave Wasserman, the guru for covering congressional races for the Cook Political Report, who reminded readers that in September he wrote, that “Top House Republicans were well aware of Santos’s dishonesty before the election/NYT article, w/ several expressing late concern/incredulity that he might win,” and “republican strategists bitterly regard this race as a recruitment failure. ‘Nobody wants to touch him with a 10-foot pole,’” said one Washington DC GOP aide.
In 2016, I ran for Congress as the republican candidate against Joe Crowley in a NYC district that is now held by AOC. I ran a business for 20 years and campaigned in some of the same neighborhoods in Queens that Santos was elected to represent.
Both the NY GOP and NY Conservative parties vetted my candidacy, as they should every congressional candidate. Because I was a proud Italian American and a proud union member, my vetting may have taken longer because some wanted to make sure that I was who I said I was.
Did anyone in the Queens GOP, or Nassau GOP, or in the NYGOP, investigate George Santos like they looked into my past? Obviously not.
And the leaders in the NYGOP had two years to vet Santos, because he ran in 2020, losing to Tom Suozzi.
I also believe that some other republican should have challenged Santos this year, in anticipation of a Red Wave of republican support in this district, and across Long Island. Santos rode this Red Wave to victory, as another republican could have done, without the embarrassment to the party that we now see. The fact that we elected a fraud, instead of a loyal, honest republican, is another lost opportunity.
Another red flag in Santos’ campaign is that he loaned his campaign $700,000 and spent it like a drunken sailor. I loaned my campaign $100,000, but I spent it cautiously.
I worked hard earning every dollar, manufacturing, and installing elevator cabs across the city and the suburbs. I wasn’t going to spend my hard-earned dollars foolishly, and most candidates who are able to loan their campaigns funds are also cautious. Mr. Santos, according to his financial reports, did spent lavishly, which is an indication to me that he was not spending his own money.
Was Santo a donor to the NY GOP, or Nassau GOP? Did he attend fund raisers and buy tables for party events like I did, and most republican candidates do?
Everyone I speak to say that nobody ever believed his tales, but George Santos didn’t get the same amount of scrutiny that other GOP candidates do. Why?
I want Republicans to have control of the House of Representatives this year, and I understand that we have only a 5-seat majority, including Santos. However, if the lies keep coming out, and his FEC reports and disclosure forms have more inaccuracies, Santos may not make it to Congress.
And if he does survive, it is worth the embarrassment?
As a proud American, I am also disturbed by a story in the Daily Beast, which says that Santos took $56,000 from a Russian businessman named Andrew Intrater, who is connected to a business partner of Putin.
The story goes on to say that after receiving the money, Santos began attacking Ukraine in their war against Russia, calling Ukrainian President Zelensky a “fascist”. After Santos was criticized, he lied again, claiming that he was Jewish and Ukrainian.
As I continue to examine Santos FEC reports, I say that George Santos is a distraction from the critical issues that face our country. It’s time to remove that distraction, as soon as possible.
Can we win a special election if Santos steps down? I hope so, and I’m ready for the phone call if needed.
And I support Kevin McCArthy as the next Speaker of the House.
Frank Spotorno is the founder of Bring Our Jobs Home, an organization committed to US manufacturing. He was the republican and conservative candidate for Congress in NY-14 in 2016.
