This week we received the following phone message, which we felt warranted a response:
“Hi. I just picked up a copy of the South Shore Press… And you actually have that Santos writing a column for your paper? Your paper is going into the garbage. Forget it. Not that I buy it, but I'm not picking it up anymore. That's shameful. Disgraceful.”
In recent weeks you may have noticed that we have engaged former New York Congressman George Santos as a guest writer for the South Shore Press. Like many of you, we didn’t know Mr. Santos very well on a personal level, but had heard and read countless stories about him, his behavior, and the process by which he was removed from Congress.
When local Congressman Nick Lalota began the effort to have Mr. Santos removed from office, ultimately resulting in Santos’ seat being taken by a Democrat, we reached out to Mr. Santos to understand better what was happening, and why another local GOP member was trying to have him removed.
What we learned was stunning, and disappointing, but through that process we got to know Mr. Santos very well, have a good understanding of the man and why he made some of the decisions he has made, and it is our view that, despite his wrongdoing, the consequences he has faced, both in Congress and with the justice system, are overly punitive and unfair.
We have asked Mr. Santos to contribute to the South Shore Press for two reasons: 1) Mr. Santos has a unique and highly informed point of view on local and national politics, and irrespective of what anyone may think of Mr. Santos, the function of the South Shore Press (and the media more broadly) is to inform the electorate about the issues that impact our lives, and Mr. Santos is uniquely qualified to help us perform that objective, and 2) the world we live in today has a terrible tendency of creating a narrative that destroys or cancels individuals, and mindless zombies absorb those narratives and completely write those individuals off, without any sense of grace, humility, or even any attempt at understanding.
As adults in our community attempting to set examples for our children, that is simply not how any of us should behave.
Much of the information we are being fed is simply false, passed on to us by organizations and individuals attempting to fulfill their own perverse motives, and to simply accept that information at face value, particularly when doing so has catastrophic implications for other human beings, makes us no better than the evil doers in our midst.
Our position is that we should evaluate what we are being told. Attempt to understand what the truth is. And when casting judgment on others, particularly those in our own families or communities, do so with a sense of grace and humility which asks that we consider our own misdeeds, sins and bad choices, and have a sense of forgiveness and understanding in our hearts. That is what we have attempted to do with Mr. Santos.
Mr. Santos has made bad choices which he has expressed contrition and asked forgiveness for. He has faced consequences that few or nobody in comparable circumstances has ever faced. Congressmen have lied without being expelled (we may not have any congressmen left if a lie resulted in expulsion). Prior to Mr. Santos, there had only been five congressmen in the history of the United States expelled from the House – three were confederates expelled post the Civil War, and the other two had been convicted of acting as foreign agents. Mr. Santos was expelled under the guise that he had lied, and Congressman Lalota felt strongly that the sanctity of the House required Santos’ removal.
Subsequent to his expulsion, Mr. Santos has pleaded guilty to misusing campaign funds. Campaigns have used funds for items like clothes or food before without criminal liability.
Many of these consequences have been driven by the Suffolk County political apparatus looking to settle scores for petty grievances, and the fact is that Mr. Santos failed to “play ball” with some influential members of the local GOP. In the months ahead we will be exposing much of how that apparatus functions, and the “mafia-style” tactics used by those in power who use threats to intimidate opposition and use their power for their own personal gain and to punish anyone that crosses it. Local Congressman Lalota’s effort to expel Mr. Santos from Congress is an example of how that apparatus functions.
We contacted Mr. LaLota’s office for comment on this story and as of publication time, we have not received a response. If they respond after publication, we will add his comments on the web story at SouthShorePress.com
We are pleased to have Congressman Santos’ perspective in the South Shore Press, and we look forward to his continued thoughts on the political landscape as it unfolds.