DC Politics: Mr. Pinocchio goes to Washington: The story of George … – Indiana University The Penn Online
According to MSNBC, there are five kinds of lies that 78 percent of job applicants in the US will tell during the hiring process. Congress newcomer George Santos [R-N.Y.] seems to have committed himself to score all five during his campaign.
Although it has been less than a month since he has been sworn into Congress, Santos has been in a major scandal after several media sources have spotted inconsistencies, contradictions and objective lies he has told during his campaign.
Given that an electoral campaign can be considered the “hiring process” for a politician, this scandal has raised the question: what the ways in which people lie during the hiring process, and how does George Santos compare to the average liar?
Having a mastery of skills they barely use:
Per the article, the lie most commonly told by job seekers during an interview or resumé is the claim of mastery of a skill they either do not possess or have not actually mastered, with sixty percent of job applicants being guilty of such lie.
Santos has told this lie rather sporadically, with the most notorious example being his supposed career as a varsity athlete in college, in which the man claimed to have been a star in the volleyball team at Baruch College.
“We went to play against Harvard, Yale and we slayed them,” Santos said in an interview with Sid Rosenberg during his first campaign in 2020. “We were champions across the entire Northeast Corridor. It was a great time. I sacrificed both my knees and got very nice knee replacements, knee replacements from playing volleyball.”
However, as reported by Vanity Fair, this could not have been true because Baruch College has not played the institutions mentioned by Santos. Additionally, Baruch could not have been the champion team of the Northeast corridor because the college is not a part of the conference, according to their website.
Lying about where they went to school:
Even if Baruch had an impressive volleyball team capable of winning a championship at a conference, they are not a part of, Santos could not have been part of such team because he was never a student at Baruch College.
Despite claiming to have earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the college, and a master’s degree of business administration from New York University (NYU), after both institutions denied the claim, Santos admitted that he has never attended any institution of secondary education.
“I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning,” Santos said in an exclusive interview with The New York Post. “I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resumé.”
According to MSNBC, about 40 percent of job applicants tell this kind of lie, varying from lying about which institution they have attended to lying about having a degree altogether.
Having a higher GPA by more than half a point:
About 59 percent of people pursuing jobs boost their GPAs by more than half a point. In a copy of his resumé obtained by The New York Times, Santos claimed that his college GPA was 3.89. Given that Santos did not even attend college, this makes it a GPA boost by 3.89 points.
Working at a company longer than they did in order to omit another employer:
As reported by MSNBC, around 50 percent of applicants extend their time of employment at certain employers to cover up a gap in employment or to omit another employer.
Unsurprisingly, Santos has also used such tactic during his campaign.
Throughout his campaign, Santos has claimed to have worked for Goldman Sachs and the Citigroup. In the resumé obtained by The New York Times, Santos claimed to have worked at the former between January and August 2017 and at the latter from February 2011 to January 2014. Both companies denied any involvement with Santos, and he later admitted that claiming he worked for them was a “poor choice of words.”
A place that Santos has worked, however, and that is not present in his resumé is the Harbor City Capital Corporation, a company that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has labeled as a “classic Ponzi scheme” in a complaint filed in April 2021. Santos now confirms involvement in the company but denies any wrongdoing.
“As to any questions about Harbor City Capital, in light of the ongoing investigation, and for the benefit of the victims, it would be inappropriate to respond other than to say that Congressman Santos was completely unaware of any illegal activity going on at Harbor City Capital,” Joseph Murray, George Santos’ attorney, said in a statement last week.
Saying they achieved things they didn’t:
The fifth lie most applicants tell happens to be the one Santos has done the most.
Throughout his campaign Santos has claimed to have run a charity named Friends of Pets United, yet IRS has no records of such non-profit organization. Throughout his campaign, Santos told voters he owned several properties across New York, later he backtracked and said he does not own properties at all.
Santos has even lied about other people’s achievements. On a Twitter post, Santos has claimed that his mother was a hero who died in the terrorist attacks of September 11. However, immigration records obtained by NBC News show that the woman was living in Brazil during the time and would not come back to the U.S. until 2003.
Other lies:
Having scored every single lie told by applicants throughout his campaign, however, was not enough for Santos who might have even lied about his actual political positions.
Throughout his campaign, Santos, who is openly gay, championed Florida’s HB 1557, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill and has aligned himself with other far-right wing Republicans who have targeted the LGBTQ+ community, in special drag queens.
Now, a popular Brazilian drag queen named Eula Rochard told ABC News in an interview that Rochard knew Santos over ten years ago when Santos supposedly performed as a drag queen when he was living in Brazil under the name Kitara Ravache. According to Rochard, who shared pictures of him and Santos, Santos even registered to be a part of a 2008 “Miss Gay Rio de Janeiro” drag queen competition but did not win the contest.
Santos denies the claims.
“The most recent obsession from the media claiming that I am a drag Queen or ‘performed’ as a drag Queen is categorically false,” Santos said in a tweet.
Given the unprecedented amount of lies the congressman has told throughout his campaign, several politicians, including some of his own party, have called on Santos to resign.
“With the extent and severity of the allegations against him, his inability to take full responsibility for his conduct, and the numerous investigations underway, I believe he is unable to fulfill his duties and should resign,” Rep. Mike Lawler [R-N.Y.] said.
Despite the controversies surrounding him, Santos was still given committee assignments in the House of Representatives, sitting on both the House Small Business Committee and the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. Additionally, considering how narrow the GOP majority in the House is, it is unknown if higher party leadership will call on Santos to resign.