Congress: It’s supposed to be made of hundreds of Representatives and Senators, stemming from different states and cultural backgrounds in order to represent the interests and values of the constituents that have trusted them to be their voice in politics.
However, just a day after Congress officially started, the residents of New York’s third congressional district demanded their newly elected representative be removed due to allegations of lies and deceit. The representative in question is a fresh face in Congress, but one who has already developed a shady legacy. His name, or at least the one he uses now, is George Santos.
Unlike the somewhat disillusioning results in other parts of the country, the midterm elections were quite successful for the Republican party of NY, being able to flip four previously controlled Democrat seats. Everything seemed to be going great, as the candidates seemed to represent the best of what conservative New Yorkers had to offer.
But with Santos, it almost seemed like he was too overqualified to run, being a financially successful Jewish and gay entrepreneur, who was not only able to overcome the effects the Holocaust left on his family but the terrorist attacks on 9/11 as well. He also gave back to his community, such as gathering money for a disabled veteran and his service dog.
Unfortunately to the supporters of Santos, many of the claims that their new Congressman has made have not only been revealed to be highly exaggerated but almost non-existent, through government sources and information provided by close associates of Santos.
The lie that began Santos’ descent was regarding his Jewish background. When running for office, the first thing viewers encountered was a description of Santos and the history that molded who he is: “George’s grandparents fled Jewish persecution in Ukraine, settled in Belgium, and again fled persecution during WWII”. However, this statement was proven to be false when the website myheritage.com tracked that both of Santos’ grandparents, Paulo Horta Devolder and Rosalina Caruso Horta Devolder, were born in Brazil.
The statement was later removed from Santos’ campaign website. And, the district in which Santos was running in has a strong Jewish community, with roughly 20% of the entire district’s population identifying as Jewish, and the news of Santos’ deceit alarmed many religious leaders and conservative Jewish interest groups. “(RJC) is aware of the claims being made against Congressman-elect George Santos, and we have reached out to his office directly to ascertain whether they are true”
“Given the seriousness, the Congressman-elect owes the public an explanation, and we look forward to hearing it,”stated Matt Brooks, head of the Republican Jewish Coalition. Even with the growing concern of a very important voting base, no answers have been given by the Santos team other than that Santos is not Jewish, but “Jew-ish”, coming from a Catholic background with close experience with Jewish people.
These exposed lies, along with many others such as Santos attending certain schools, working within prominent businesses, and obtaining money from undisclosed sources have also placed Santos under federal investigations and harsh reprimand from the Nassau County Republican party.
“George Santos has violated the trust of voters in the 3rd Congressional District, and he has disgraced the House of Representatives. What’s more, Mr. Santos has deceived the Republican party with a profusion of lies, fabrications, and hurtful comments, which have ensured that he has no place in the Nassau County Republican Committee. He is not welcome at our functions or our meetings. If he attempts to attend, he will be asked to leave. Further, he has no support within the party, and he will never have the endorsement of the Nassau County Republican Committee for any elective office”, stated Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph Cairo Jr.
Other than political leaders, the residents of Nassau have made protests outside of Santos’ vacant and empty office in Douglaston, calling on him to resign immediately. Jodi Kass Finkel, a resident of the third district, even went as far as to launch a bipartisan petition to remove Santos from Congress.
“We got a con man, we got a liar, we got a charlatan”, said Finkel. “We didn’t do our homework, this is our responsibility.”
“ The GOP did not vet their candidate”, stated Evelina Sarles, a resident who believes that some of the blame should also be directed at the party.
Even with the GOP of Nassau and its voters disowning Santos as their representative, it seems that he will not be gone anytime soon. “The voters of his district have elected him. He is seated. He is part of the Republican conference,” said Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy when questioned about Santos. “It’s the voters who made that decision. He has to answer to the voters and the voters to make another decision in two years. He will continue to serve.”
Even with no action being done right now, the rise of Santos demonstrates that even someone with no moral character or intellectual accomplishments is more than capable of taking one of the most powerful positions in the country on a stepstool built on lies. It demonstrates the importance of having the people and the party platform understand who they are placing in these important positions, for the sake of avoiding such incidents in the future.
