Experts question spending by George Santos-tied super PAC

Top campaign contributors to George Santos bankrolled a super PAC that funneled most of its money to a Santos campaign consultant, after holding a single fundraiser that attendees said Santos touted as his own, Newsday found.

Campaign finance experts said the activities of the “1776 Liberty” PAC, which formed and disbanded within five months late last year, were unorthodox and may have violated federal election law.

Super PACs can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money to benefit candidates for office.

But they cannot coordinate directly with candidate campaign committees or contribute to them, including by paying companies for work on a candidate’s behalf, according to federal election law.

The 1776 Liberty PAC, described in Federal Election Commission filings as an “Independent Expenditure-only” committee, made no independent expenditures, such as television or digital ads, records show. 

It split its money between expenses for the fundraiser, held at the Brookville estate of major Republican donors David and Lelia Centner, and to a Michigan political fundraising consulting firm that also worked for Santos' primary campaign committee.

“This super PAC didn’t make any independent expenditures, and it did make a significant payment to the same consulting firm working for Santos,” said Paul S. Ryan, a veteran campaign finance attorney who has worked for nonprofit watchdog groups such as the Campaign Legal Center and Common Cause.

“This raises the question of whether the super PAC was making an illegal contribution to Santos by subsidizing the consulting firm’s work for the Santos campaign,” Ryan said.

Brett Kappel, a Washington D.C. campaign finance attorney, said Super PACs sometimes simply fail in their mission to raise enough money for pricey independent ad buys on candidates' behalf.

However, Kappel said, “the fact that there are no independent expenditures at all would be very unusual. Usually, at the very least, they would buy some digital ads or something, even if they made very little money off of the fundraiser.”

Richard Briffault, a Columbia University Law School professor who specializes in federal election law, told Newsday the payments from 1776 Liberty PAC to Santos’ primary fundraising consultant could be “a backdoor way of paying the consultants when the campaign itself is limited in its fundraising.”

Representatives of 1776 Liberty PAC and Templar Baker Group, the Michigan consulting company, did not respond to requests for comment.

Santos, who was elected last year to represent the Third Congressional District in Nassau and Queens, said in a text message to Newsday Friday: "I know absolutely nothing about this pac."

Santos continued: "I went to an event during the campaign with no promises made in return about any pac. My campaign has parted ways with Templar Baker."

The first-term Republican's campaign finance activity is the subject of state and federal investigations after he admitted fabricating key parts of his biography, including his religion, education and work history.

Last Thursday, the House Ethics Committee announced a probe into Santos to determine if he violated laws on campaign finance, financial disclosure, conflict of interest and sexual misconduct.

Santos donors power the new super PAC

1776 Liberty PAC registered with the FEC last July and raised about $65,000 over a two-week period in August.

Nearly two-thirds of the money came from individuals who had contributed previously to Santos' primary campaign committee or companies associated with individual Santos donors, a Newsday analysis of the PAC's campaign finance filings shows.

The donations all came around the time of the Aug. 22 fundraiser at the Centners' home.

The home, which sits on more than 30 acres of land and was assessed for more than $13 million last year, was built in 1929 for Henry Upham Harris, who ran a major Wall Street brokerage firm, according to real estate listing sites.

The couple, who also have a home in Miami and run a private school there, were among the top donors to Santos’ own federal campaign committees, contributing a total of about $42,000 in 2022 election cycle, FEC records show.

The Centners spread debunked theories about COVID-19 vaccines, and barred vaccinated teachers from being near students at their school, according to news reports.

They did not respond to a request for comment.

Some guests said they presumed they were attending a Santos fundraiser.

Nassau Republican Chairman Joseph Cairo and North Hempstead Town Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said Santos had told them the event his fundraiser, and made no mention of the super PAC.

Cairo recalled Santos only asked for money for his own campaign.

Santos' speech at the event was "standard political rhetoric: 'I need your support, I need money,'" Cairo said.

DeSena, a Democrat who won the town supervisor's job on the GOP line in 2021, said Santos “invited me himself," to the event, which featured an art auction and Lee Greenwood performing his signature 1984 song, “God Bless the USA.”

"He called it a fundraiser for himself," DeSena said of Santos.

'We all got duped'

Among those who bought tickets to the 1776 Liberty PAC event was Ryan Girdusky, a New York political strategist.

Girdusky, his brother and father each spent $1,500 for tickets to the August fundraiser, federal campaign finance records show.

Girdusky runs a political action committee called the 1776 Project that focuses on recruiting conservative candidates for school board elections.

Its treasurer is Nancy Marks, of Shirley, who served as treasurer for Santos’ campaign committees until last month.

The largest contribution to 1776 Liberty PAC was $15,000 from Shiny Car Wash & Quick Lube Inc. of Flushing, Queens.

Public records show CEO Annamaria Oppedisano has shared residential addresses in Whitestone, Queens with Joseph Oppedisano, owner of Il Bacco Ristorante in Little Neck.

Joseph Oppedisano, his daughter and co-owner Tina Maria Oppedisano, and other family members contributed a total of $9,000 to Santos committees during the 2022 congressional election cycle, according to FEC records.

Santos campaign committees spent tens of thousands of dollars on meals and events at Il Bacco, according to the federal campaign filings.

George Kramer, a veterinary cardiologist with Atlantic Coast Veterinary Specialists in Bohemia, contributed $10,000 to the super PAC last August.

Kramer and his family gave $23,600 to campaign committees tied to Santos, FEC filings show.

Scott Barone, a real estate developer from Mill Neck, contributed $7,500 to 1776 Liberty, records show.

Barone and his wife gave a total of more than $40,000 to Santos committees, according to the FEC.

Steve Baktidy, a Sands Point resident who runs a Bronx auto body shop, gave $8,500 to the super PAC but did not make any contributions directly to Santos, records show.

Baktidy told Newsday he believed the fundraiser at the Centner home was to support North Hempstead Republicans he knew.

Baktidy said he didn’t know at the time the event was tied to Santos.

“We all got duped,” Baktidy said. “It is what it is.”

Michigan ties

The 1776 Liberty PAC paid the bulk of the money it collected for the fundraiser — nearly $46,000, including a reimbursement to one of its principals — to Templar Baker, of Livonia, Mich.

In its FEC filings the super PAC reported the payments were for “general political and fundraising” consulting.

Templar Baker was paid a total of $103,000 in 2021 and 2022 from Santos’ main congressional campaign committee, Devolder Santos for Congress, as its chief fundraising consultant, according to campaign finance records.

Former Michigan Republican Chairman Bobby Schostak founded Templar Baker in 2015, according to his biography on the company’s website.

1776 Liberty itself was registered as a super PAC by a large Washington D.C. consulting company with Michigan ties.

The company, Aristotle, helps establish and manage political action committees.

A contact at Aristotle listed on 1776 Liberty's "statement of organization" filed with the FEC was Henrietta Tow, a former chief financial officer for the Michigan Republican Party.

Justin Phillips, senior vice president for compliance at Aristotle, was listed as Liberty's treasurer.

Tow and Phillips did not respond to requests for comment.

The 1776 Liberty PAC was terminated on Dec. 19, 2022, the day The New York Times published a report exposing Santos’ fabrications about his college, work, financial and ethnic history.

Payments to event vendors

Much of the rest of 1776 Liberty's expenditures went to vendors that supplied the August fundraiser, federal records show.

Two of the companies received payments both from 1776 Liberty and Santos-tied campaign committees, and no other federal political committee during the last election cycle, FEC records show.

On Aug. 22, the PAC paid $11,190 to Messina Market and Catering of East Norwich to provide food for the Centner fundraiser, campaign finance records show.

In September, The Devolder Santos Nassau Victory Committee — Santos’ joint fundraising arm with the Nassau County Republican Committee — paid $4,835 to CSH Foods LLC, at the same address as Messina's for "food and beverage for event," according to FEC filings.

Jennifer Bowles, a co-owner of the businesses, told Newsday she didn't deal directly either the PAC or Santos' campaign: She dealt strictly with a “party planner” for the event at the Centner home.

“We catered one event," she said. "That’s all I know.”

The 1776 Liberty PAC also paid $300 in November to Sugarwood Consulting of Hicksville for “fundraising consulting.”

Santos’ primary congressional campaign committee was the only other federal committee to employ Sugarwood, paying the company — incorporated in February 2022 — a total of $1,500 for “political strategy consulting” last year, records show.