Santos vs Lafazan: Getting down and dirty

4/15/2023 07:45:00 PM

Santos tweet today of old Lafazan photo

Fabulist Republican Congressman George Santos and failed Congressional candidate Josh Lafazan, a Nassau Democratic County legislator, got into a Twitter war Saturday, each accusing the other of misdeeds and dishonesty.

Nobody looks good in this fight.

It started with a story in the New York Post.

Despite numerous calls for Santos to resign because he lied about most of background, the 3rd District Congressman will announce his re-election campaign on Monday, the Post reported.

Lafazan. who lost his bid to win the Democratic primary for the 3rd District seat last year, tweeted his outrage. And then asked for donations to his 2024 Congressional campaign for the Santos seat.

But Lafazan is supposedly running for re-election to his 18th District county legislative seat this year. Shouldn't he be raising money for that race, which he came close to losing two years ago?

Ever since the New York Times last December disclosed the Santos' resume falsehoods, Lafazan has held numerous press conferences blasting the new Congressman and demanding his resignation.

But Lafazan used county resources, including his county office, to announce and hold these clearly political news conferences, which is inappropriate if not illegal.

Lafazan also stood outside Santos' Queens federal office and demanded that Santos show up for work. Some voters in District 3 say Santos has been absent and unavailable instead of representing his constituents.

But Lafazan himself did not show up in person for county legislative meetings for eight months last year.

Instead he voted remotely at the same time he was campaigning for the Congressional seat nomination. He also was able to appear in person at news conferences in the legislative office building but not at legislative meetings.

Lafazan tweeted that "New York's 3rd Congressional district deserves an honest Congressman willing to put our district first."

Santos replied and referenced a social media post in which a woman alleges Lafazan dated her to get her family to donate to his campaign and then ghosted her when they did.

He also referenced the fact that Lafazan received more than $700,000 in donations for his failed congressional campaign from a PAC largedly funded by jailed former cryptocurrency king Sam Bankman Fried, who is charged with bilking investors out of millions of dollars.

Lafazan tweeted that unlike Santos, he didn't lie to get elected. "My credentials are clean."

Santos responded with a photo of Lafazan's "real chin."

Lafazan replied that corrective jaw surgery was necessary to help his breathing and save his life.

The change in Lafazan's looks has been raising eyebrows in county politics for more than a year. He went from no chin to a very prominent chin.

From a Lafazan Congressional campaign post

Back when Lafazan was no where to be seen, Democratic staffers mumbled something about dental surgery.

But many people have dental surgery without emerging with a brand new profile.

During last year's primary campaign, Democratic candidate Robert Zimmerman filed a complaint with the federal elections commission about a loan of as much of $100,000 that Lafazan had received from a wealthy North Shore couple. Lafazan contended it was a "student loan" received before the primary campaign began.

Zimmerman withdrew the complaint after he won the primary and before losing to Santos.

But a Plainview resident filed his own complaint with the FEC about the loan.

The FEC acknowledged the complaint last month.

Lafazan's former Republican opponent for the legislature also filed a complaint about the loan with the county ethics board in January.

Although Lafazan said he received the money in 2020, he did not report the debt on his county financial disclosures as required by county law for two years.

So far, apparently, the county ethics board has not acted.

Here are the twitter posts in chronological order: