In the wake of the revelations that Congressman-elect George Santos’s resume was a fabrication and did not represent his truthful biography or experience, a Nassau County lawmaker proposed outlawing such lies.
Joshua Lafazan, a Democrat from Syosset, proposed the “Campaign Honesty” bill, which would make it a misdemeanor in the county for politicians to lie about qualifications when running for office.
“When an everyday citizen applies for a job in a company, there is a background check conducted. If they are found to have lied about something on their resume, they do not get the job,” Lafazan said. “We have to take action to restore people’s trust in their elected officials, and that is why I am proposing the Campaign Honesty Bill — a first-of-its-kind piece of legislation here on Long Island to make sure that candidates do not commit voter fraud and are honest with the people they want to serve.”
This is especially notable since from all appearances, the GOP will not be taking any action to prevent Santos from being sworn in, and indeed, as The New York Times reported, “The muted response from party leaders suggested that so far they were prepared to mete out little, if any, punishment to the congressman-elect.”
Lafazan’s bill would make it a misdemeanor for a candidate to lie about their registered addresses, employment history, education and/or income sources. If passed, it would apply only to candidates running in Nassau County.
Those are all details that were called into question about Santos in a report in the New York Times earlier this month. Santos later admitted that he lied about his background when running for Congress against Democrat Robert Zimmerman, but said he still plans to take the seat.
