George Santos, if that is his real name, cannot seem to make it through a day without becoming embroiled in yet another scandal and/or lie. The scandal du jour is another doozy too! From CNBC:
A member of George Santos’ political team had a plan to raise money for the Republican congressman’s campaign: Impersonate the chief of staff of now House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Wealthy donors received calls and emails from a man who said he was Dan Meyer, McCarthy’s chief of staff, during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, according to people familiar with the matter. His name was actually Sam Miele, and he worked for Santos raising money for his campaign, according to one GOP donor who contributed to Santos’ campaign. This financier and some others in this story declined to be named in order to speak freely about private discussions.
As the gentle reader could imagine, there is the possibility of legal problems for those involved:
Some of the tactics deployed by campaign fundraisers have raised eyebrows among ethics and legal experts. Brendan Fischer, a deputy executive director of the watchdog Documented, and Robert Maguire, a research director at campaign ethics watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, each told CNBC that the impersonation of McCarthy’s chief of staff could have broken the law.
“A person who misrepresented themselves as speaking on behalf of a candidate in order to raise money may have committed a criminal violation, and any other person who knowingly and willfully participated in the plan could also face criminal charges,” Fischer said in an email.
The story also reveals just what a hot mess the GOP is right now. To even think about poaching on a colleague's staffers or fundraisers is about the only infringement that would bother a Republican. But even now, not one Republican is saying a thing about this. Are they abso-fucking-lutely desperate that they continue to tolerate this nonsense?
