Santos' aide is MAGA-Jim Jordan link

Daily Point

Santos aide has connections in the Jim Jordan sphere

Rep. Jim Jordan on Tuesday had only one Long Island supporter in his bid for House speaker: the erratic and indicted George Santos. That fits, given Santos’ exhibitions of loyalty to Donald Trump and the indicted ex-president’s backing of Jordan. It even raises the question of whether Jordan, if he becomes speaker — he fell short in the first round of voting — might squelch or alter the timing of the House ethics committee’s ongoing review of Santos’ various controversies.

Santos’ chief-of-staff appears at least as implanted in Jordan’s corner as his boss.

That right-hand man is Vish Burra, who fits the profile of a loose-cannon operative. Burra is an official with the extremist-friendly New York Young Republicans to which Santos also belongs.

Burra’s interests appear especially aligned with those of Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, in making indicted Hunter Biden the target of his pursuit in efforts to justify an impeachment of President Joe Biden.

Burra’s name popped up when the president’s son filed a lawsuit against Trump advisor/attorney Rudy Giuliani alleging that his famous anti-Biden “laptop” revelations resulted from illegal hacking, with the data obtained having been tampered with, Hunter Biden claims on the eighth page of his court complaint filed last month:

“It recently has come to light that Defendant Giuliani apparently worked directly with Steve Bannon and Vish Burra to access, manipulate, and copy Plaintiff’s ‘laptop,’ which Burra has dubbed the ‘Manhattan Project’ because he and others ‘were essentially creating a nuclear political weapon’ referring to Burra’s work with Defendant Giuliani and others [Steve Bannon and Bernie Kerik] to manipulate the laptop.”

Putting Burra in the same skulduggery efforts as the more famous Giuliani, Bannon and Kerik undoubtedly give the former Staten Islander (who according to published accounts had a drug-dealing conviction in his youth) extra cred in MAGA circles, and very possibly in Jordan’s.

He has a unique public-private career arc.

Burra, 32, whose full first name is Viswanag, indicates in his LinkedIn profile that he has previously been “special operations coordinator” for Rep. Matt Gaetz — who recently initiated the drive to remove Kevin McCarthy as GOP speaker.

Burra says he served as full-time communications director last year for losing Buffalo congressional candidate Carl Paladino. He’s also listed himself as having been a full-time producer for Bannon’s “War Room” podcast “for conservative nationalists around the globe.” He says he was also self-employed at a company called Basilisk Strategies.

In May, Burra stirred controversy by sending nasty and threatening tweets to a freelance reporter, Jacqueline Sweet, who broke stories about his boss’s famous fake-resume scandal. At the time, a Santos spokeswoman said, “This kind of behavior from anyone is unacceptable, much less from a congressional staffer. The tweets have been deleted and disciplinary action will be taken.” Gabrielle Lipsky, Santos’ press aide, told The Point on Tuesday that Burra got a one-week suspension. Looking forward, it seems unlikely Jordan, if he’s House speaker, would have motive to investigate or push Burra off any congressional payrolls.

— Dan Janison dan.janison@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Who's got the pull?

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Final Point

Calone's 'Technicolor' battle against Romaine

Could the Suffolk County executive race become a technicolor dream for Democrat Dave Calone? The 50-year-old businessman is betting heavily — much of it with his own money — that his media push on cable TV and the internet will pay off in these final weeks of the campaign.

Calone’s camp recently paid nearly $1 million to a national consulting firm, Technicolor Political, according to the most recent Oct. 6 filing with the state Board of Elections. As the race nears its Election Day finale, insiders told The Point that Technicolor Political will oversee an intensified array of cable TV and internet ads against Calone’s GOP opponent, Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine.

Since Labor Day, both sides have been exchanging sharp charges, the most recent of which is Romaine’s management of the Brookhaven landfill. Viewers of cable news shows, in particular, can expect to see even more campaign ads in the days ahead, especially from Calone.

Technicolor Political, with offices in Washington and Chicago, has represented many Democrats around the country, including Calone’s longtime college friend, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who headlined a $100,000 Manhattan fundraiser earlier this year for Calone. In this race, insiders say Technicolor is using consultant J.J. Balaban, who is familiar with Suffolk from having worked in a previous county executive race for incumbent Democrat Steve Bellone. After 12 years in office, Bellone is term-limited from running again.

Meanwhile, Republican Romaine is relying on a local media firm, the Public Relations and Marketing Group of Patchogue, headed by John C. Zaher, for his media buys. Though the firm has handled other local campaigns, it is working with Romaine for the first time. The most recent state report shows that the firm has been paid $240,000 by the Romaine camp, which is also making substantial investments in outdoor advertising like roadside signs.

Calone’s camp is hoping that Technicolor Political can help pull off a long-shot victory in the same way it helped guide the upset win of Brandon Johnson in the April race for Chicago mayor. Calone’s video ads, which have referred to Romaine as “Crook-Ed” and corrupt since September, have been fueled with $750,000 from the candidate himself, state election records show.

“We’re doing more because we have raised more,” said Shane Wolfe, campaign manager for Calone, who has raised slightly more than Romaine since mid-July, the last reporting period. But overall, Romaine has $1.5 million left to spend in the final days of the campaign and Calone has $1.019 million.

— Thomas Maier thomas.maier@newsday.com

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