George Santos is gone. Is this good?

The expulsion of George Santos is both disturbing and revealing of a DC culture lost in its own failures

The deed has been done. Is this good or bad for Congress?

I guess everyone has their own view about whether George Santos should have been expelled from Congress or not. The Ethics Committee made its report about the accusations about the activities of Santos’ and his campaign after he was indicted by a federal court in New York. The vote result is below in the photo. He has been expelled by a wide margin above the two thirds necessary.

Below, I will share with you the number of Members of Congress who were convicted of crimes and not expelled from Congress.

Here's the question I ask. How necessary was this prior to an actual conviction of Santos in court? Further, is the House of Representatives taking into account all the bad behavior that happens regularly among its membership? Is what Santos is facing worse than, say, the $17 million of unaccounted for cash paid out by the House to settle sexual harassment claims? More on that in a bit.

The history of the five previous expulsions in Congress

Most people are still unaware how few Members of Congress have ever been expelled. This is an extremely rare practice. George Santos is only the sixth Member of the House of Representatives to be expelled in Congress’ 233-year history. Here is a rundown.

There were three expulsions in 1861 of members who were supporting the Confederacy: John Bullock Clark and John William Reid of Missouri, and Henry Cornelius Burnett of Kentucky.

Beyond that, there are two others:

- Michael J. Meyers of Pennsylvania in 1980 related to the ABSCAM scandal. He was on video taking a $50,000 bribe. That was the tipping point for Congress. He wasn't convicted until later, but the tape was very clear. He was recorded saying "money talks, bullsh*t walks." This video which was seen and reported upon in every news outlet around the country is the reason that phrase creeped into popularity thereafter. The evidence was very clear. The House of Representatives voted 376 to 30 to expel him. He was recently convicted of bribing an election official in Philadelphia and given a 2 1/2 year sentence in 2022.

- James Trafacant of Ohio in 2002 after conviction on bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion charges. The House voted 420 yes, 1 no, 9 Present, and 4 members not voting.

Is George Santos in a worse place than these five previous?

No one has explained properly why George Santos must be added the five people who preceded him. It's not like this is the first time a Member of Congress has been indicted. It’s happened numerous time before. I couldn't locate the total number of Members indicted while in office: it must be rather large. I did locate the number of Members of Congress convicted of an illegal act while in Congress.

Here are the numbers of Members of Congress convicted of crimes and never expelled (by number convicted during Presidency):

Theodore Roosevelt--1901-1909: 3

William Howard Taft--1909-1913: 1

Calvin Coolidge--1923-1929: 1

Herbert Hoover--1929-1933: 1

Franklin Roosevelt--1933-1945: 4

Harry Truman--1945-1953: 4

Dwight Eisenhower--1953-1961: 3

John F. Kennedy--1961-1963: 1

Lyndon Johnson--1963-1969: 2

Richard Nixon--1969-1974: 5

Gerald Ford--1974-1977: 5

Jimmy Carter--1977-1981: 5

Ronald Reagan--1981-1989: 15

George H. W. Bush--1989-1993: 4

Bill Clinton--1993-2001: 10

George W. Bush--2001-2009: 7

Barack Obama--2009-2017: 10

Donald Trump--2017-2021: 3

Joe Biden--2021-present: 1 (not George Santos)

In all US History, there have been 85 Members of Congress who were convicted of crimes while serving in that office. Prior to George Santos today, only two convicts have been expelled from Congress. And three were expelled during time of war for giving help to the enemy.

85 Members of Congress convicted of crimes. Only six expulsions in all of our history. To be clear, many of those convicted resigned from their office after their conviction. George Santos hasn't been convicted. Nor has he caused any problems or acted inappropriately in his duties as a Congressman. And he declared he would not run for re-election.

Congress has a right to do this but have they now created chaos?

This particular expulsion opens the door to a misuse of the House of Representatives' constitutional authority to punish members.

Article 1, Section 5 of the Constitution says:

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

So, the House may of right expel a member with two thirds of the Members agreeing to do so. It does not have the ability to avoid consequences of those actions with the public if not carefully considered to their satisfaction. And it would do well to take into account (as it has until today) that the best means of punishment is making Members accountable to their voters on Election Day.

Have we fully considered what all this means?