Santositis hits Jericho school district election

Daily Point

Santos donor running for Jericho school board

Whether the federal criminal case against Rep. George Santos could undermine his 2024 reelection bid, the CD3 House member is having an immediate impact on a school board campaign in his district, heading into the board trustees and budget votes Tuesday.

Critics of Jericho school district candidate John Sarraf have been linking him to Santos, noting that Sarraf supported Santos, suggesting Sarraf has lied about his own background and posting photos of the school board candidate with the fabulist congressman.

“We don’t need more lies, we don’t need another George Santos,” said one social media post targeting Sarraf, although the poster didn’t mention any of the alternative candidates.

Sarraf told The Point he first met Santos during the battle with Nassau County over using the vacant Hampton Inn in Jericho for transition housing for homeless families, which was heating up during Santos’ first bid for Congress in 2020. Sarraf was part of a group called Concerned Jericho Parents, which opposed the effort. And Santos, too, spoke out against the plan.

Two years later, Sarraf became a supporter and donor, giving Santos a total of $3,000 toward the 2022 campaign. Just weeks after Santos’ victory, the then-congressman-elect was honored at an event for Love Together Brasil, an organization led by Sarraf’s wife, Geralda.

“I was fooled like everybody else,” Sarraf told The Point in an interview Monday.

Sarraf, a business owner, told The Point that those who are supporting his opponents in the school board race have put out misinformation of their own, quoting him as saying he was an “educator” when he was referring to how he, as a parent, educates his children, in an effort to paint him as someone who’s untruthful.

“You always get disappointed when people start calling you names … when as a person, you try to do something good for the community,” Sarraf said. “I feel horrible. It’s not true. I’m not a con man like George Santos.”

Sarraf said he supported Santos on issues like crime, as he thought he was voting for “somebody who was going to help.”

“Why do my political beliefs have anything to do with the school board?” Sarraf asked.

Sarraf, who has children in the Jericho schools, said the campaign has turned ugly and “unfair.” While he said he’s running to focus on excellence in teaching, on security in schools, and on the need for transparency and open dialogue, that’s not what the campaign has become about, he said.

Instead, he said, residents are being told he donated more money to Santos than he did, and that he stands for banning books. The truth, he said, is that he supports free speech, although he added that he thinks “pornographic material for middle school” is not appropriate, without defining what books specifically he was talking about.

Sarraf ran for school board and lost in 2022, when he was endorsed by the Long Island Loud Majority, a MAGA advocacy group, and the right-wing 1776 Project PAC, which advocates for school board candidates who “promote patriotism.” The Federal Election Commission lists the PAC’s treasurer as the Santos-connected Nancy Marks.

This year, Loud Majority and the 1776 Project PAC haven’t endorsed in the race. But the New York State United Teachers union has — and chose Sarraf’s opponents, Jill Citron and Divya Balachandar. The same two candidates were recommended by the Long Island Strong Schools Alliance, a nonprofit that supports diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.

The endorsements and rhetoric, Sarraf said, have been hard to take. But they also reflect a larger issue, one he said likely will remain even after Tuesday’s election.

“The community is very divided,” Sarraf said.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

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