The House finally, on its third attempt, expelled George Santos, ridding us in NY-03 of this do-nothing, national disgrace and laughingstock who so maligned and blighted our district. He denied our 750,000 souls fair, equal representation in Congress, tainting the House with corruption and undermining public confidence and trust in government.
The historic vote to expel George Santos from Congress would not have happened but for the extraordinarily effective Concerned Citizens of NY-03. The ad hoc, nonpartisan group of constituents came together in their anger at his deception, doggedly dedicated to the sole purpose of having Santos removed from Congress.
Led by Jody Kass Finkel, whose articulate, reasoned, legalistic arguments in the form of press releases and her effective organizing of a steady stream of rallies, the group kept up the pressure on congressional Republicans. The organization forced Republicans – most specifically, the Long Island Republicans – to take action.
“For nearly a year, the residents of NY’s Third Congressional District have been saddled with the fraudster George Santos as our congressman – all because the GOP needed his reliable vote to shore up their political weakness,” Kass said in a press release. “Finally, when they could no longer hide behind the House Ethics Committee’s months-long ongoing investigation, the GOP relented and decided it was time to support the expulsion of George Santos. The final vote tally was 311 for expulsion (206 Democrats and 105 Republicans); 114 against expulsion (112 Republicans and two Democrats); and two Democrats voting present.”
But the fact that a majority of congressional Republicans, including all four top Republican leaders, still voted to keep Santos in Congress and all that he stood for despite the “unprecedented” offenses documented in the damning report by none other than the House Ethics Committee, says everything.
Notably, Elise Stefanik, representing NY’s 21 District, has risen to top leadership by becoming a major MAGA champion, 2020 election denier and Trump enabler, who was disclosed to have known of Santos’ frauds before the 2020 campaign. She never stood up for honest government, public service or upholding the oath of office. Stefanik is in the camp of politicians-to-keep-power-and-profit at all costs, even their soul.
Here’s the thing: Those who used such excuses as “wait for the courts to rule,” “voters should decide” and “it’s bad to overturn an election” have been shown to be effective purveyors of delay tactics as they manipulate both the judicial process and elections.
There is kind of a “unvirtuous circle” perfected by former President Trump in the way he used the “voters should decide” tactic to escape two impeachments, while his enablers have worked diabolically to make sure voters don’t get to decide – through voter suppression, election subversion, and extreme gerrymandering. At the same time the Trump circle is frustrating his criminal and civil prosecutions through strategic delays and intimidation of judges, attorneys, prosecutors, witnesses and jurors.
And yet Republicans have shown they will censure, recall, remove, impeach or even ignore Supreme Court decisions, at the drop of a hat, and nullify or neuter the powers of the president or governor – for example, holding up nominations and confirmations – when it suits. And no doubt they will use the Santos expulsion as precedent to go after Democrats in an unbalanced tit-for-tat.
It’s not coincidence that just days after expelling Santos, Republicans are pushing forward with a formal vote for an impeachment inquiry against President Biden, holding up critical votes for defense aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan in what is being called a “dramatic escalation of impeachment as a political weapon.”
Santos’ expulsion while historic does not for a second discount the forward motion of the Republican Party, now totally dominated by a fascist, authoritarian movement to end democracy. Santos was important only because of the narrow, now narrower Republican majority, but he is such small potatoes, an insignificant prickly insect whose biggest offense was posing a distraction and a symbol of the wholesale rot running through what is left of the Republican (MAGA) party. Yet it took “unprecedented” overt, outrageous antics and egregious flaunting of the system as well as a committed grassroots coalition to expel him.
“At some point, there needs to be a reckoning over how and why the NY Republicans engineered and supported Santos’ candidacy, as well as his ability to remain in Congress for nearly a year after he admitted on national TV that he lied because he knew it was the only way he could get elected,” Kass wrote. “And that reckoning should start with Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik and Nassau County GOP Party Chair Joe Cairo. At a minimum, the Nassau County and NYS Republican Committees owe the residents of NY-03 an apology.”
The key is to prevent another George Santos from ever becoming a candidate in the first place. Concerned Citizens of NY-03 is advocating passage of legislation – H.R.350: the SANTOS Act: Stopping Another Non-Truthful Office Seeker Act – aimed at protecting against future imposter candidates. That bill, which was introduced Jan. 12 by Rep. Dan Goldman and Rep. Ritchie Torres, would create new reporting requirements about a candidate’s educational background, military service and employment history.
To date, the bill has 12 Democrats but no Republicans (big surprise) co-sponsors.My bet is that the bill will be quashed now that Santos is gone. (Just as the DISCLOSE Act and Voting Rights bills have been.)
It will now be up to party leaders to select the candidate for the special election to be held in February 2024 to fill the unexpired term (a primary will be held in June to set the candidates for the 2024 Congressional election).
The key criteria for Jay Jacobs, who is chairing the Democratic committee, is who is in the best position to win (and beat the likely Republican candidate, who I’m betting will be Jack Martins). This is a must-win election.
