Daily Point
The old college try
One of Rep. George Santos’ latest excuses for his biographical fictions is that he lied for political survival.
“I would have never gotten the nomination from the Nassau County GOP if I had not concluded college,” the Republican newcomer said in a recent Newsmax interview.
Like all of Santos’ claims, this one should be taken with a grain of salt. “People come to us from all walks of life,” Nassau GOP chairman Joe Cairo told The Point on Monday, adding that the lack of a college degree is not seen as a “fatal impediment.”
The Nassau GOP is in fact currently running a candidate, Michael Giangregorio, who did not complete college. Giangregorio, who works at JPMorgan and is vying to fill Steve Rhoads’ former county legislative seat, told The Point that he did ”a couple” credits at St. John’s University and Baruch College — yes, the place where Santos claimed he was a volleyball star. Giangregorio, however, says he dropped out to help pay for costly treatment when his mother was diagnosed with lymphoma.
And there is at least one recent example of a Long Islander in Congress who did not go to college at all: Republican Felix Grucci, who represented the 1st Congressional District from 2001 to 2003.
Grucci went right from Bellport High School to working in the family business, Fireworks by Grucci. Before his congressional run, he served on the Brookhaven Town council and as town supervisor.
It was “never an issue” during his campaign, Grucci told The Point, positing that his work and government history may have helped. "If there was no history, it might have come up, but I ran a very successful business,” Grucci said by phone on Monday.
The retired businessman said he received an honorary title from the now shuttered Dowling College due to his public service, but it wasn’t one he used.
Grucci said he has never met Santos, but felt that “there was no need for him to do stuff like that.” He suggested that people don’t vote on whether you went to college or not, but rather on whether they think you can “improve the quality of their lives.”
Talking Point
Ask the audience
Jon Kaiman is doing a little crowdsourcing to figure out his next move.
The current Suffolk deputy county executive and 2022 CD3 Democratic hopeful sent an email to supporters over the weekend with the subject line, “Jon Kaiman for Congress or North Hempstead Town Supervisor?”
He then laid out some of the political possibilities for his future considering that his boss, Steve Bellone, is term-limited from the top Suffolk post in this year’s election. That includes the “great honor” of serving in Congress, as well as “a good deal of support and encouragement for me to make a run for North Hempstead Town Supervisor,” a seat Kaiman previously held and which is now occupied by Jennifer DeSena, who caucuses with Republicans and faces reelection this fall.
“I am interested in your opinion on this decision and so please reply to this e-mail and let me know what you think,” the message said.
Such audience participation can be a good way to stay in touch with supporters and donors, and the email also includes a fundraising link and a mention about his recent fundraiser to retire 2022 campaign debt, which Kaiman termed “a success but there is still more to go.” More undecided time could mean more opportunities to retire that debt.
Kaiman told The Point that he received “dozens” of responses so far, including from his mother, who called to say he should do what he thought he’d be best at and whatever makes most sense for his family.
The note itself included a lot of material about the virtues of the North Hempstead gig, including being “chief executive of a town with 237,000 residents.”
“I am considering it,” the email said about a supervisor run.
Pencil Point
Unbelievable
Credit: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Mike Luckovich
For more cartoons, visit www.newsday.com/nationalcartoons
Quick Points
Consequences
- Turkish authorities have begun to detain contractors they blame for buildings that collapsed in last week’s earthquake because they did not meet existing code. You wonder whether Turkish authorities will detain any Turkish authorities who were supposed to make sure those buildings met code.
- After the U.S. military shot down a fourth aerial object in eight days and again largely declined to comment on the object, the issue might not be what the military doesn’t know about the objects, but what it does know and isn’t saying.
- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is again criticizing Florida Sen. Rick Scott for his plan to sunset federal programs like Social Security and Medicare over worries it might cost the GOP in the 2024 election. But McConnell knows Scott is not the only elected Republican throwing cutting glances at Social Security and Medicare.
- Pentagon officials say they don’t know when the last shoot-down of an unknown aerial object over U.S. territory took place before this past week. That apparently is not all they don’t know.
- Rep. Mike Turner, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the Biden administration now appears “somewhat trigger-happy” when it comes to balloons, compared with it being “permissive” with the first Chinese spy balloon that sailed across the country before it was destroyed. In today’s politics, there is no sweet spot to find.
- Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar of California said President Joe Biden has earned an “incomplete” grade on his handling of border issues. If you’re Biden, that beats the alternative.
