Santos funding shows need for campaign spending reform

Thank George Santos for this: He’s showing everyone the ridiculousness of how we spend money in politics.

Before the depths of his resume deceptions became clear — and long before his team frantically started posting updated filings this week — he had already pulled off plenty of eyebrow-raising financial feats with little fear of future penalties.

He spent tens of thousands of dollars on hotels, restaurants, and even what he labeled “apartment rental for staff” for a home he seemed to have lived in. Did small-dollar donors want their money to support trips to Orlando, Las Vegas, or the Trump International Hotel in Washington? It was a pattern Santos started early, paying for an Airbnb and laptop out of a “recount” fund created the day after Election Day 2020 even though he lost to Rep. Tom Suozzi by nearly 50,000 votes.

He tossed off funds to obscure, newly formed companies, and sometimes the people affiliated with those companies donated in turn to his wide universe of political entities. This circular relationship seems to benefit both sides, but does it boost his constituents? The most egregious concern is that Santos or his family could be getting some sort of direct benefit from his own spending. In one troubling example, a Santos-affiliated state PAC that received money from donors to his campaign also paid Santos' sister Tiffany thousands of dollars.

In these practices, Santos pushes the envelope to the breaking point. But he is hardly alone among political practitioners who benefit handily from the gobs of money spent in races every year. The political firms he paid include ones firmly established in Long Island politics, such as Donald Trump pollster McLaughlin & Associates (misspelled on Santos’ filings), Karin Murphy’s firm Campaign Strategy & Consulting, and various companies associated with Shirley campaign treasurer Nancy Marks, who has worked for dozens of candidates including former Rep. Lee Zeldin.

Santos worked particularly closely with Marks, whose companies earned over $170,000 from John Cummings, a Republican who ran against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2020 and raked in over $11 million in contributions en route to being wiped out at the polls.

The pros get paid, win or lose. Voters might ponder the benefit of all that money.

There are ways to start taming the system, for Santos and everyone. More enforcement is needed, starting with the Federal Election Commission, whose civil penalties are slaps on the wrist often applied years after the fact. More power should be granted to the commission’s staff for timely investigations of matters like converting campaign funds for personal use. Federal prosecutors should aggressively bring charges for fraudulent schemes, and the stricter the limits on political fundraising and spending the better.

By ripping back the curtain, Santos is exposing just how easy it is to exploit the system.