Free advice: Don't give money to George Santos

There was a brief, shining moment last week when one could almost imagine George Santos disappearing from public life. After all, the New York Republican's fellow members of the U.S. House of Representatives had expelled him from Congress after a scathing report from the bipartisan House Ethics Committee. (For the record, U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, who represents Lorain County, voted to oust Santos.) Santos is under federal indictment for a laundry list of alleged crimes, including making false statements about his campaign finances, identity theft and wire fraud. He's been exposed far and wide as having fabricated much of his biography, including where he went to college and where he worked. He falsely claimed that his mother had survived the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, and that his grandparents had fled the Holocaust. And those are only some of the whoopers he told. Why do we bring all of this up? Because Santos does not appear to be slinking away in disgrace. (Who does in politics these days?) Instead, he appears to be trying to carve out a living by making appearances on Cameo, a website in which usually minor celebrities record personalized messages for a fee. Santos is listed as a "Former congressional 'Icon'" and "The Expelled member of Congress from New York City." His listed price for recording a personal video was $250 when we checked Tuesday afternoon, although The Washington Post reported the price was cheaper Monday when Santos debuted on Cameo. By the time The Post published its story Tuesday evening, the price apparently had climbed to $350 and Santos had paused taking new video requests. As of this writing, he had garnered 10 five-star reviews. Just who, you might wonder, would want to pay Santos to record a message? Well, in at least two cases, Democrats. U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., hired Santos to troll U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., who has resisted calls to resign after he and his wife were indicted on public corruption charges. "I thought my ethically-challenged colleague @BobMenendezNJ could use some encouragement given his substantial legal problems," Fetterman posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. "So, I approached a seasoned expert on the matter to give 'Bobby from Jersey' some advice." Santos was happy to oblige, saying to Menendez in part: "You stand your ground, sir, and don't get bogged down by all the haters out there. Stay strong." Santos seemed to get a kick out of Fetterman's move, writing on X that "I love this! I wish I knew the Bobby in question! LOL". That was followed by a laughing-crying emoji. The Ohio Democratic Party got in on the act as well, paying Santos to record a message for Bernie Moreno, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate. Once again, Santos did as he was asked. "Hey, I just wanted to stop by and say thank you to Bernie Moreno from Ohio for when I ran for U.S. Congress in 2022 for maxing out to my campaign," Santos said in the video. "Unfortunately, you know, it ended, it's over, but I want to say thank you very much for that donation and for all the support and I hope that in the future I can come back and be part of the game again. Bye." Federal Election Commission records show that Moreno donated $2,900 to Santos' campaign on Sept. 28, 2022. Although Moreno made the donation before Santos was revealed to the world as a serial fabulist, it's still fair game to knock him for the donation. That's how politics works. Ohio Democrats probably had a good laugh at how cleverly and cheaply they scored a few political points against a potential general election opponent of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland. (State Sen. Matt Dolan and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose are also running in the Republican primary for a chance to take on Brown.) The problem, however, is that those Democrats are now guilty of the exact same thing they gleefully dinged Moreno for: giving money to George Santos. Worse, the Democrats knew exactly who and what Santos was when they bought the video, costing them whatever moral high ground they had in criticizing Moreno's political contribution. Some political points aren't worth the price.