OPINION

He’ll be Congressman, not congressman-ish

Congressman-elect George Anthony Santos lied about his career on his resume before being elected.

B. Jay Cooper

Dec 27, 2022 — 3 min read

Congressman-elect George Anthony Santos lied about his career on his resume before being elected.

First published: Dec 2022.

C ongressman-elect George Anthony Santos (R-Fantasyland) “embellished” his resume as he was seeking election, he has admitted. Better that he admitted what he truly did – flat-out lie on his resume and about his life.

For example, he said he graduated from Baruch College. But he didn’t. He never even attended Baruch, according to the school. That, Santos says, is an embellishment, not a lie. I once worked at Yale University. It means I went “to” Yale every day to do my job, so I guess I could say I “attended” Yale because I was there every day?

His campaign web site stated, “George Anthony began working at Citigroup as an associate and quickly advanced to become an associate asset manager in the real asset division of the firm.” The next paragraph mentioned that “George Anthony was then offered an exciting opportunity with Goldman Sachs but what he thought would be the pinnacle of his career was not as fulfilling as he anticipated.”

A Goldman Sachs spokesman said they had no record of him being employed there and Citigroup said it could not confirm his employment. More embellISHments.

I capitalize “ISH” because another whopper of exaggeration by Santos during his campaign was that he was Jewish. But a check of genealogical records and other sources shows no family history of Judaism in the family’s background.

When Santos admitted his “embellISHments” this week he said he meant he was “Jew-ish.” Which is like being goy-ish, or successful-ish.

But the one true thing is based on his background and, I’m sure, other factors, Santos was elected in his New York district to be its congressman starting Jan. 3. And, he says he has no intention of resigning the job he has not even been sworn into yet. Nor has the Republican House leadership, or followers in fact, criticized Santos for his embellishments, let alone his flat-out lies.

Reports are that Santos is going to vote for GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy for Speaker, and the Leader ain’t casting off any votes because he hasn’t yet reached the 218 he needs to accomplish his long-sought goal.

Not only that, Market Watch has reported that GOP leadership aides say they knew about Santos’ “embellISHments” during the campaign and did nothing.

Whatever happened to leadership among the House Republican leaders has disappeared. And that is no embellishment. It’s a statement about the integrity of those folks.

So for McCarthy, it’s a win at any cost. And there ain’t no “ish” at the end of that word.

— AUTHOR —

▫ B. Jay Cooper, Former deputy White House press secretary to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Also headed communications offices at the RNC, U.S. Department of Commerce, and Yale University.

Sources

Text: This piece was originally published in The Screaming Moderate and re-published in PMP Magazine on 27 December 2022, with the author’s consent. | The author writes in a personal capacity.