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Disgraced Congressperson-elect George Santos appears to be the headline gift that keeps on giving — and this time, he’s moved on from callous misrepresentations of well, basically everything in his life, to travel expenses that might raise a Kardashian eyebrow, if the silicon would allow.
It’s not uncommon for elected officials to spend big on travel. Nope. Hopping around DC there are plenty of jets fueled up and even more first class snapped up every time members of congress in the US head home to their “constituents” across the country.
What’s uncommon is a yet to be sworn in local official spending big on travel all over the country, including $14,000 restaurant tabs and $70,000 in air and hotels. As new light comes out around campaign spending for the yet to be sworn in congressperson elect, it appears Santos proverbially told other US lawmakers to hold his beer.
And surely, if he’s as rich and successful as he’s claimed, he could’ve just used his own personal funds for trips outside of the needs of his constituency, right?
George Santos Spent $70,000 On Travel
Let’s start with a bit of context on typical travel spend by other local congresspeople in 2022 for an apples to apples look.
Newly elected Republican Congressman Nick LaLota, also from Long Island, spent a total of $800 on hotels and $3,000 on airfare during the course of his campaign. It’s not unreasonable for campaign consultants to be brought in from elsewhere and of course they’d need some form of accommodation.
This makes the linear comparison to the $70,000 from disgraced George Santos — who may have apparently falsely claimed his mother died on 9/11, which is enough to make any New Yorker want to scream — all the more amusing.
Santos spent a whopping $40,000 on airfare and $30,000 on hotels and Airbnb’s to run a local campaign where the only audience that “matters” was based in New York.
According to research and reporting by the New York TimesSantos has preferences with his hotel stays too. Santos favored Hilton and Hyatt and GSTP fathoms that he likely earned top tier status, given the spend.
The $30,000 Mr. Santos’s campaign spent on hotels and Airbnb expenditures included stays in Tennessee, Virginia, Texas, Florida, California, Kansas, Michigan, Washington, D.C., New Jersey and in New York itself.
New York Times
Santos hasn’t (yet) been sworn in, so he doesn’t even really need to commute much to D.C. at the moment. Sure, a trip for office space, go for it — but all these others? There are also reports that Santos used campaign funds to rent a house for himself.
VIP Perks?
With $40,000 in airline spend, Santos would’ve cleared the hurdles to reach the heights of Diamond Medallion with Delta, which should help with future upgrades. The New York Post reports $38,000 of the $40,000 in airline spend went to Delta.
I’d love to know if Santos achieved Delta’s secretive 360° VIP status, but given the airfare boon last year, I somewhat doubt $38,000 would’ve been enough.
Hopefully, he ultimately won’t reap these new travel benefits at all, as he settles in to equally expensive, but slightly less “free” accommodations for duping the good people of Strong Island.
GSTP doesn’t typically wade into pop-culture travel BS, but as a New Yorker who spent much of his life on Long Island, I’m triggered! Apolitically, we simply can’t have a truly functioning country or democracy when blatantly lying about every key detail in ones experience, from education to professional life and other affiliations is accepted.
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