George Santos: The Long Awaited Defenestration--
(Photo credit: Slate, May 10, 2023)
George Santos: The Long Awaited Defenestration--
The "Slate" article linked here is the most intelligible overview I've seen yet on the scale and scope of the alleged financial fraud which Santos carried out over a time frame which overlapped his political campaigns. It is must read, though a little longish and somewhat like exploring a catacomb.
When you read this account, being a normal person, you'll find yourself asking how it is possible to mastermind such a far-flung scheme, right smack in the middle of the financial "ground zero" known as New York, where Wall Street and the Securities Exchange Commission co-exist in an uneasy tug of war. This, with all concerned maintaining their territorial power sharing arrangement in which there are at least limits to both overt theft and fraud, and as well the Laissez Faire "hands off" policy towards the money making engine which drives our capitalist so-called system. In other words, we know that they all steal, but at least they make the effort to cover their asses well enough by following SOME rules. Most of them anyway.
What is notable about Santos is his galactically blithe disregard for any rules, regulations, laws, or even a modicum of effort to cover his tracks in the future. It is if he had tethered a zip line with the end dropping him down into a live Volcano, during which he whooped and hollered and shot selfies, showing himself thoroughly enjoying his ride and with full knowledge of the ultimate hot bath which comes at the end, hollering loudly halfway, "heyyy, so far so good." Only a self-absorbed oblivious narcissist is capable of such aggressive disregard for social responsibility and public morals. Truly in his case, beauty was only in the eyes of the Devolder. (Sorry, I was looking for a place to get that one in)
You may be wondering about my use of the word "defenestration" in the title of my short intro to this Slate profile. It's actually a personal preference, given the fact that in my history of political organizing, I funded dozens of campaigns, helped recruit a score of candidates, petitioned to gain ballot access for them, raised millions of dollars in individual small and medium donations, and an occasional large "special" which was intended for non-campaign related types of projects which were political in nature.
More than half of the nearly five million dollars in campaign money which I personally raised needed to be reported to the Federal Election Commission, in order to insure that every donor was real, was giving their own money and was not a "straw donor," that campaign donations and spending were kept below or at legal limits, that we had documentation of employment history of donors, and that the donations were not from foreign nationals and therefore legally allowable. We also did thorough background checks on people we were recruiting as candidates. (We had a couple of cases where guys we had petitioned for to put on the ballot had criminal records which they had withheld from us, so we had to drop their campaigns) Additionally we made it a point to not do anything regarding money transfers or use of exotic financial instruments which would send up red flags to the FEC, or put our donors into an unexpected tax liability situation which would come back to bite them later. And as a matter of course, we were fanatical in documenting campaign expenses and making sure they were legitimate. The fundraisers were responsible as were the operations staffers to insure transparency and compliance.
And lastly, we made it a point to not "blow people out" by asking them for too much, too often, and creating family conflicts, financial hardships, or problems which would cause our supporters such angst that it would invite demands for refunds, or worse, lawsuits. Despite enormous "boiler room" type pressure from our managers to reach "quotas," we tried to be thorough, honest, considerate, and respectful to our contributors while simultaneously meeting our political needs, and insuring our compliance with Federal laws and regulations. However, because of the pressure, some of us cut corners and cheated around the edges on occasion in order to inflate our stats, and of this I am not proud.
In other words, we attempted to do every single fucking thing which George, "The Devolved One" Devolder refused to do throughout his demented zipline ride into the pit of campaign finance Hell. Therefore, had he or anyone like him ever been sitting next to me in a political fundraising office, I would have smelled what he was up to a mile away, and then consequently thrown him and the contents of his desk out the fucking second story window, to land on the storefront awning below. In fact, I might have made it a point to miss the awning. (Reminds me of an old bit from the TV show "Get Smart." Maxwell Smart, Agent 86, would instruct his robot "Hymie" to jump out of the office window and land on the awning below to break his fall, in order to hide from "The Chief." Out Hymie would go, you'd hear a crash on the street, and Max would turn to his partner Agent 99, and say, "missed it by THAT much," holding his fingers two inches apart. Don't ask me why I thought of that, it's just a flashback)
But, thank Karma, I don't have to incriminate myself and do time over him, since the DOJ is taking care of it for us. It's a happy day, all things considered.
Read the account below. I had the feeling that someone had stolen my book idea for a Gothic horror novel about a serial political fundraising criminal who left behind him an incalculable trail of devastation and destruction, only to have it all come back upon him as his plot unraveled. Except, in Santos case, it is not a horror story but a comedy, because he made absolutely zero effort to cover up his crimes.
George Santos is the equivalent of a bank robber, who held up a teller at gunpoint while wearing a full mask, then while thanking the teller leaves his personal business card in order to provide for any needed future financial services.
I knew some of his story, and thought I knew enough. Then I read this, and came to a conclusion. Santos is emphatically NOT the story. It. Is. The. System.
Only a spectacularly broken political/ financial campaign law system could have produced a George Santos, meaning, could have allowed him to operate under the radar for so long in the light of New York's big city lights.
So, some of us will take special pleasure in watching this guy get pilloried, almost as much as he will, given his apparent predilection for pain and humiliation. But stepping back, it's a case study for why and how the entirety of US campaign finance law must be overhauled.
Any coverage of the Santos indictment and trial that does not feature that reality as a centerpiece is going to be largely tabloid bullshit, meant for your entertainment, nothing else, and not intended to change a goddamned thing.
And so, without further ado...
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/05/george-santos-charged-criminal-case-doj.html
