To the Editor:

When former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s scandals surfaced, Rep. Elise Stefanik made multiple attacks, such as calling him, “America’s worst governor.” As details emerged, she was joined by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, President Biden, and at least 85 other prominent Democrats from either Congress or New York State in rightfully calling for Cuomo’s eventual resignation.

But, in contrast with these Democrats who show willingness to “police their own,” Stefanik repeatedly shows she only cares about ethics when it involves a Democrat.

Following explosive revelations that Republican Representative George Santos (NY3), blatantly falsified multiple parts of his resume and personal history to get elected, prominent New York GOP donors expressed betrayal over the donations they made to the then unknown candidate based on Stefanik’s endorsement and outreach.

“I would have never donated without Elise,” said Ken Salamone, who contributed nearly $26,000 to the Santos campaign and his joint fundraising committee. Among others, Kristen Bianco, another GOP donor, claims to have been swayed by Stefanik’s and other Republicans’ support of Santos.

It is encouraging that both the NY Conservative Party and the Nassau County GOP have condemned Santos’s deceptions and called for him to resign, with Nassau County GOP chairman Joseph G. Cairo saying, “His lies were not mere fibs. He disgraced the House of Representatives.”

Yet Stefanik is mum. No condemnation. No public apology to those she misled into donating to a fraud of epic proportions. No retraction of her wholehearted tweet intended to generate donations, “MAJOR ENDORSEMENT ALERT Excited to endorse my friend and fellow America First conservative George Santos for Congress in #NY03.”

And certainly no call for his resignation as she (and Gillibrand, Schumer and numerous other Democrats) did with Cuomo. Not only was Santos, who “disgraced the House of Representatives,” seated in Congress without a single call for resignation from House Republican leadership, he was given power by being placed on two committees, only to “voluntarily” resign later.

With a razor thin majority, the GOP leadership in Congress, which includes Stefanik, chooses power over principle.

I miss my mother’s Republican Party.

Ginger Storey-Welch
Colton