Sunday, November 9, 2025
Long Island is a populous region. It is estimated to have a combined two-county population of just under 3 million people. The island boasts many famous names, including Billy Joel and Billy Crystal. One name that keeps cropping up, not in the category of highly respected people, is that of former U.S. Rep. George Santos a well-known regional figure for all the wrong reasons.
In August 2024 Santos pleaded guilty in federal court to wire fraud and identify theft. In April he was sentenced to seven years in a federal prison — and Long Islanders were able to turn their attention to other, more serious matters. That was so until two Fridays ago, when President Trump announced in a Truth Social post that he was issuing a commutation of Santos’s sentence. Sadly, within hours, Santos was freed from prison after having served less than three months.
There aren’t many news items that can jolt Long Islanders, but that commutation hit many like a ton of bricks. For the better part of 2024, the media had had a field day with Santos. While he had been a member of Congress, representing the Island’s North Shore, friends from as far away as Florida and California flooded my phone with inquiries about whether I knew Santos, and what he was like. Other than being familiar with his name and the allegations, I was glad that our paths never crossed.
During my many years on earth I have heard of hundreds of pardons and commutations, issued by presidents and governors, but very few have stunned me like this one. I can cite name after name of people who have benefited from this variety of kindness. Presidents of both parties have pardoned or commuted the sentences of such famous names as the late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, and Patty Hearst. Any American with a knowledge of history knows of President Gerald Ford’s pardon of the disgraced President Richard Nixon.
The first recorded act of American governmental discretion was the amnesty issued to participants in the Whiskey Rebellion in the early 1790s. George Washington granted relief to those who were convicted. Bill Clinton pardoned financier Marc Rich and Roger Clinton, his half- brother. President Biden issued a blanket pardon of a number of members of his family. To date, Trump has pardoned or commuted the sentences of more than a dozen present or former public officials.
So what’s the big deal about George Santos? No figure from our region has been the subject of so much public scorn from so many people in both political parties. Republican County Executive Bruce Blakeman and County Chair Joe Cairo both called for Santos’s expulsion from Congress. Well-known Democrats including Congress members Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen asked for similar action.
Regrettably, Santos has become the poster boy for conduct that we have never experienced in our fairly close-knit community. His exaggerations about his record, when he presented himself to the Island’s voters, are now part of our political folklore. He claimed so many false things about his life that there are too many to recite in one column. But his mistruths eventually caught up with him, and he wound up being sentenced to federal prison.
Santos’s release following his presidential gift continued to attract political scorn from Republican Congressmen Andrew Garbarino and Nick LaLota, who were among those who had called for his expulsion from the House. Since he was released, he has claimed that he would consider becoming a “prison reform” advocate. Absent proof in the future, his post-prison remarks very much resemble his original exaggerations.
Those of us who live in the political world are very cognizant of the quality of the people who sign their sworn oath of office and promise to abide by the Constitution of our republic. We ask that they be true to us in order to gain our trust. They sometimes stray from their path, but most of them toe the line and don’t ignore their pledge to America.
Santos was a big disappointment, and all of Long Island regrets the leniency he was given that he didn’t deserve.
Jerry Kremer was a state assemblyman for 23 years, and chaired the Assembly’s Ways and Means Committee for 12 years. Comments about this column? jkremer@liherald.com.
