Time for Santos protestors to get a new act

                                                                                     

Call to action by Robert Zimmernan supporters

Enough already with the calls for an investigation of new Republican Congressman George Santos, an admitted liar and fabulist.

Santos protestors need to find a new angle. 

Every law enforcement agency apparently known to man already has announced investigations into Santos, who may be from Queens or may be from Huntington and who appears to have fabricated most of his public resume:

The Nassau District Attorney, the Queens District Attorney, the State Attorney General, the U.S. attorney, the Federal Elections Commission, perhaps the House ethics committee. Even Brazil law enforcement has announced it will revive a 2008 fraud case against Santos. And of course every news outlet in the country has focused on examining Santos.

Who else is supposed to investigate?

Yet Democrat Robert Zimmerman, a longtime political commentator who lost to Republican Santos, led another demonstration yesterday outside the new Congressman's Queens office.  Actually, the office is still called Congressman Tom Suozzi's office but the  Democrat from Glen Cove did not seek re-election last year.

"George Santos is a fraud," the group chanted. "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire.

Chances are that most of the protestors never voted for Santos in the first place. It seems more likely that constituents in the North Shore 3rd Congressional District voted party rather than resume because Santos' resume was nearly impossible to find prior to both the 2020 election when Santos ran and lost to Suozzi and November 2022 election, when Santos beat Zimmerman soundly.

Santos always seemed a sketchy, unknown guy.

And whats the point of protesting outside Santos Queens office when he's in Washington DC? To frighten whatever female staffer is holding down the fort? According to News12, there was a female staffer in the office.

It also seems doubtful if Santos will resign unless forced to step down.

As a congressman he's making $174,000 in salary and is allocated more than a $1 million  for staff, travel and office expenses.

He already appears to have hired right-wing staff, including Viswanag Burra, a former aide to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon.

In fact, it appears that the Democratic repetitive protests have galvanized right-wing sympathy and support for Santos.

During the many votes for House Speaker last week, Santos was seen chuckling on the House Floor with Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Congresswoman, who earlier had tweeted her support of Santos:

 “The left doesn’t care about lying," Greene tweeted. "The real reason they’re attacking George Santos is that he the first openly gay Republican elected and they hate him for it. I’m glad George is being honest with his district now and look forward to seeing how George legislates & votes.”

                                                                                  

Greene whispering to Santos (Win McNamera/Getty images)

 

And he sat next to right-wing Congress members Matt Gaetz of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado for the House swearing in. 

                                                                                       

Santos, Goetz and Boebert (Win McNamera/Getty images)

Then there is this other jaw-dropping moment of Democrat hypocrisy:

On Thursday, Nassau Legis. Josh Lafazan again protested outside Santos/Suozzi's Queens office, in yet another near daily appearance to oppose Santos.

Lafazan came in third in last year's Democratic primary for the 3rd district seat despite outspending his rivals. (The best guess as to the reason for Lafazan's near daily anti-Santos protests is that he is trying to gin up publicity for another run at the 3rd District seat if Santos is ousted.)

In the first four minutes of a 20-minutes press conference, Lafazan made these two claims: (Didn't listen to more than four minutes).

During the many votes  for Kevin McCarthy, Lafazan contends, Santos "didn't even raise his hand to vote for speaker when they called out George Santos."

Don't know what Lafazan was watching but C-Span focused on Santos during the second vote and showed him standing up and calling out "McCarthy."

Lafazan also lambasted Santos for not showing up to work. "The fact that he has not been sworn in is no excuse for him not to show up for work. ..the least you can do is actually show up and do the job."

Yet Lafazan did not physically show up in the county legislature's chambers and do his job as a legislator for eight months -- from January through August last year -- while he was out campaigning and holding press conferences during his unsuccessful run for Congress.

His votes were all remote, taking advantage of a governor-ordered rule change that allowed elected officials to vote remotely because of the coronavirus rather than requiring them to actually appear before the public to vote.

Finally there is the photo of Santos flashing a hand gesture associated with  -- but not exclusively to -- right-wing groups.

                                                                           

George Santos being sworn in as Congressman (Pat Benic/UPI/shutterstock)

A cynic might say it was done on purpose, an alternative to the more familiar middle-finger gesture, to say to the protestors: "I won. You lost. Screw off."

Maybe protestors, while coming up with something else to demand of Santos, might ask themselves the real question: How did a respected, longtime political player like Zimmerman lose to an unknown  fraudster like Santos?