Santos' peers push 'Son of Sam' law

Daily Point

Santos’ LI peers look to tighten the screws

The three Long Island Republicans elected to Congress along with George Santos in November are in the politically unique position of doing all they can to distance themselves from their delegation’s already-legendary deceiver.

Now first-term Rep. Anthony D’Esposito in the 4th Congressional District is working on legislation that would “prohibit Members of the House of Representatives who are convicted of offenses involving financial or campaign finance fraud from receiving compensation for biographies, media appearances, or expressive or creative works, and for other purposes.”

Supporters of the bill would also like to see this ban enshrined in the House rules. Either way, such action might put them ahead of Santos' career curve for the first time. Santos hasn’t been charged with any crime or ethical violation yet — or, to the public’s knowledge, sold the rights to his life story, fictional or otherwise. But with every day he clings to office, the possibility increases that Santos will somehow come out a winner in this whole bizarre episode.

If this means a kind of “Son of Sam” law for convicted politicians, it may be difficult to avoid legal pitfalls involving freedom of speech. After the serial killer David Berkowitz was convicted, New York enacted a law barring him and others in his position from the prospect of profiting off the crimes.

That law, however, was unanimously struck down by the Supreme Court in 1991 after Simon & Schuster pressed a case involving its publication of Nick Pileggi’s book “Wiseguy,” about mobster Henry Hill, the basis of the movie “Goodfellas.” But New York and other states still have laws devoted to enabling crime victims to act against the generation of such profits.

Through a spokesperson, D’Esposito sent The Point this statement on Tuesday: “The aim of this legislative package is to penalize elected officials who breached the public’s trust. Our office has been in ongoing conversations with several New York members of Congress as this legislation advances through the lawmaking process, and we look forward to formally introducing it soon. “

A spokesperson for Santos this week railed against the initiative, saying GOP lawmakers should be attacking Democratic policies instead. That retort from Santos’ camp is addressed in D’Esposito’s statement — which concludes: “If Representative Santos has issues with good government measures such as this then that is his prerogative, or perhaps the sign of a guilty conscience.”

D’Esposito, a former NYPD detective, isn’t the only incumbent who has called for Santos’ resignation, expulsion, and investigation while seeking other ways to keep the pressure on.

On Monday, fellow rookie and CD1 Rep. Nick LaLota, a former Suffolk County elections commissioner, tweeted: “I didn’t see a more provable case of election fraud in my seven years as elections commissioner than the fraud committed by George Santos. His lies were the very reason he was nominated, got donations and votes. I’m for election integrity. I’m for expelling George Santos.”

The drumbeat goes on.

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

Talking Point

A real bus stop

The general aggravation of bad weather became very specific for 30 Long Islanders gathered Tuesday morning at the Melville park ‘n’ ride on the Long Island Expressway. It was 6 a.m., and members of the Long Island Lobby Coalition were waiting in the cold and slush for the bus that would take them to Albany for their annual Long Island Lobbying Day — a bus that never came.

“We called the bus company 11 times before they picked up,” Citizens Campaign for the Environment executive director Adrienne Esposito told The Point.

That was when the group learned the driver had hit a patch of black ice somewhere on Long Island, flew off the road and into a ditch. The bus company said it probably could get the driver there in about two hours, but the group called off the trip.

“We said that won’t work, it’ll be the height of rush hour, we’ll miss all the Senate and Assembly meetings,” Esposito said.

By midmorning, they were busy rescheduling the spate of confirmed meetings with 18 Assembly members and seven state senators as well as a contingent of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s staff.

The group — which included CCE, the Long Island Federation of Labor, AARP, various chambers of commerce and civic organizations, and others — had an ambitious agenda to push. Among the topics — and this is but a small selection — were small business assistance, bus funding for both counties, offshore wind, reducing packaging waste, Hochul’s housing plan, universal school meals, sewers in Hempstead, and a Huntington Station land transfer.

While the group hopes the bus going off the road is not a metaphor for its lobbying campaign, Esposito acknowledged that the new date, March 14, is deeper into the state budget season than usual.

“Sooner would have been better but it was certainly beyond our control,” she said. “We were heartbroken but we’re not deterred.”

As with many weather stories, this one also had a silver lining. Said Esposito: “Next time, we’ll probably have even more people.”

— Michael Dobie @mwdobie

Pencil Point

Truth hurts

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Final Point

The fight for public campaign finance

Backers of New York’s new public campaign finance program are trying to raise awareness about the effort and get the needed funding included in the upcoming state budget. That includes a poll from left-leaning groups Data for Progress and Stand Up America that found 61% of likely New York voters supporting the program, which allows those running for statewide or state legislative office to qualify for public matching funds based on $5-$250 donations from residents in their district.

It comes at a time when some lawmakers are reportedly floating a delay for the program, something advocates are fighting against.

The poll, which had a 3 percentage point margin of error, found majority support for the program by both Democrats and Republicans, though much more for Democrats: 69% vs. 53%. There were also regional disparities: 57% support on Long Island vs. 67% in New York City.

Those kinds of differentials could be a sign of the fights to come over the program, for which 19 candidates have registered already, including State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, a host of Democratic state senators and Assembly members, and at least one candidate who has run for multiple NYC offices on the GOP line.

Other candidates have until next February to sign up, but there have been concerns raised by some Republican and Conservative candidates about the cost for public campaign finance.

The Data for Progress poll, which was conducted in February with 1,105 likely voters using SMS and web panel tools, also gauged people’s support for state leaders providing enough funding for the matching program to run it “as intended,” an issue that will likely be aired during budget season. The poll found 73% support for that among Democrats and 52% among Republicans, with majority support across most of the state but more in New York City than Long Island, where public campaign finance has sometimes gotten the boot. A similar matching program in Suffolk County was killed last year after the GOP takeover of the county legislature.

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano