Lately, American politics have truly become a circus, with fraudulent politicians like the now infamous Republican New York Rep. George Santos pulling focus from the real issues plaguing the country. Santos’ scandals include a fabricated life story, allegedly using political donations for personal expenses, and accusations of deliberately lying to the federal government — his degree of messiness would be impressive if it weren’t so evil.
Luckily, there are folks fighting to bring balance to Congress from the inside, including Ritchie Torres, the Democrat representative for New York’s 15 District.
As another representative from New York, Torres took issue with Santos from the get-go as his lies came to light. On Santos’ first day in office on January 3 of this year, Torres tweeted a picture of the plaque outside Santos’ door with the caption, “I am writing to report an act of vandalism,” much to the delight of Gay Twitter™.
A week later, Torres teamed up with fellow New York representative Dan Goldman to file a formal complaint with the House Ethics Committee against Santos, a first step to holding him accountable for his lies. (Santos replied by claiming he’d “done nothing unethical.” Sure, Jan.)
Next, Torres and Goldman worked together once again to introduce a bill that would keep liars like Santos out of office in the future. They called it the “SANTOS” Act — an acronym for “Stopping Another Non-Truthful Office Seeker” and an artful bit of shade — and if passed, the bill would require any candidate for Congress to file additional information about their educational background, military service, and employment history.
“I am appalled at the level to which George Santos has purposefully and continually lied to the American public about every facet of his professional and personal life,” Torres said in a statement accompanying the bill. “His deception is a stain on our Democratic process and threatens to corrupt the very institution in which I am deeply humbled and proud to serve. We must work to ensure that our elected leaders are being truthful and transparent with voters, and I remain as committed as ever to doing just that.”
Santos isn’t the only conservative politician to get taken down by Torres. He also came for Florida’s Ron DeSantis after the governor rejected proposals from the College Board for a new Advanced Placement (AP) course on African-American studies.
Torres swiftly took to Twitter to call attention to the dangerous implications of refusing to teach Black history, writing, “SHOCKING: Ron DeSantis has BANNED the teaching of AP African American Studies in Florida. Florida has gone from Don’t Say Gay to Don’t Say Black.” The tweet garnered more than 107,000 likes and 8.7 million views.
When Torres was elected in 2020, he made history as the first openly gay Afro-Latinx person in Congress.
“I never thought in my wildest dreams that as a poor kid from the Bronx, I would become a United States congressman,” Torres told Reuters at the time.
“LGBTQ people of color are about to have a seat in one of the most powerful tables,” Torres went on. “A wise person once said, ‘If you don’t have a seat at the table, then you’re probably on the menu.’”
And Torres is putting that seat at the table to good use. He’s continuing his campaign to expel Santos from Congress: now that Santos has officially been indicted on 13 counts, plead not guilty, and refused to resign, Torres is calling on House Republicans to join him in officially expelling Santos once and for all.
It’s a first-class reflection of Torres’ goals for his time as a representative: to change Congress and the country for the better. Giving Santos the boot? A stellar first step.
“I hope to be an inspirational example of what is possible in America,” Torres said. “But in the end, I’m going to be judged not by who I am but by what I accomplish. So my identity matters in the short run, but in the long run, what matters is the record that I build in Congress.”
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Al
AFter Trump’s election, the very FIRST bill the GOP-dominated House passed was to gut its own Ethics Committee. Santos will get a slap on the wrist.
eagerbeaver
A big thumbs up for Ritchie Torres. Hopefully Torres will succeed in the take down of Santos. What a joke of an example for a representative to New York.
Jack
Congressman Torres has a bright future. And creating visibility for himself by taking down this pathological criminal? Bravo!
RIGay
When I hear people like Torres and Jeffries, I feel good about the future of our government. I just hope there are enough of them to overcome the garbage that is the GOP.
Kangol2
I’m glad he’s stepped up on this. But he also should be very careful dealing with some of the NY real estate people who’ve backed him, or fly-by-night outfits like FTX, which was cozying up to him. Stay on it, Congressman Torres and mind your Ps and Qs!
Invader7
Uh oh.. Georgina Sanctimonious has competition and is probably gonna lose the next election !! Karma IS a bitch !!!