Rep. George Santos names new campaign treasurer
Rep. George Santos (R-Nassau/Queens) shown on Capitol Hill in January. Credit: TNS/Anna Moneymaker
WASHINGTON — Rep. George Santos responded Tuesday to the Federal Election Commission’s warning last week that he could no longer raise or spend campaign money without a treasurer by naming a new one for his main campaign committee.
The Devolder-Santos for Congress committee filed a form identifying Andrew Olson of Queens as its new treasurer, a day after filings named Olson the new treasurer for six other Santos campaign committees.
Santos (R-Nassau/Queens) has been without a campaign treasurer since Jan. 25, after the resignation from all of his committees by his longtime treasurer Nancy Marks.
Marks serves as treasurer for several candidates through her business Campaigns Unlimited in Shirley.
Filings by the Santos main campaign committee last month listed Thomas Datwyler as his new treasurer, but Datwyler through his attorney denied he had taken the job.
The filing on Tuesday for Devolder-Santos for Congress, however, included an error, according to campaign finance lawyer Brett Kappel, by checking off a box saying it was national committee of the Republican Party.
Only the Republican National Committee, National Republican Senate Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee are national committees of the Republican Party, Kappel said.
“This is FEC 101 folks,” Kappel said.
Olson lists an address on Queens Boulevard in Elmhurst that Santos has used in the past.
Little information exists about Olson. He does not appear to have been a federal campaign finance committee treasurer before.
Neither Santos nor Olson responded to queries late Tuesday.
In a letter to Santos last week, the FEC warned that failure to appoint a new treasurer “will result in the inability of the committee to accept contributions and make disbursements.”
Filings with the FEC Monday identified Olson as the treasurer for Devolder Santos for Congress Recount, the Devolder Santos Victory Committee and the GADS PAC leadership committee and amended the year-end reports for 2022 for all three of them.
Other filings identified Olson as the treasurer for the Devolder Santos Nassau Victory Committee, Devolder Santos Van Duyne Victory Committee and the Santos D’Esposito Nassau Victory Committee and notified the FEC that those committees would be terminated.
