Santositis hits Jericho school district election

Daily Point

Santos donor running for Jericho school board

Whether the federal criminal case against Rep. George Santos could undermine his 2024 reelection bid, the CD3 House member is having an immediate impact on a school board campaign in his district, heading into the board trustees and budget votes Tuesday.

Critics of Jericho school district candidate John Sarraf have been linking him to Santos, noting that Sarraf supported Santos, suggesting Sarraf has lied about his own background and posting photos of the school board candidate with the fabulist congressman.

“We don’t need more lies, we don’t need another George Santos,” said one social media post targeting Sarraf, although the poster didn’t mention any of the alternative candidates.

Sarraf told The Point he first met Santos during the battle with Nassau County over using the vacant Hampton Inn in Jericho for transition housing for homeless families, which was heating up during Santos’ first bid for Congress in 2020. Sarraf was part of a group called Concerned Jericho Parents, which opposed the effort. And Santos, too, spoke out against the plan.

Two years later, Sarraf became a supporter and donor, giving Santos a total of $3,000 toward the 2022 campaign. Just weeks after Santos’ victory, the then congressman-elect was honored at an event for Love Together Brasil, an organization led by Sarraf’s wife, Geralda.

“I was fooled like everybody else,” Sarraf told The Point in an interview Monday.

Sarraf, a business owner, told The Point that those who are supporting his opponents in the school board race have put out misinformation of their own, quoting him as saying he was an “educator” when he was referring to how he, as a parent, educates his children, in an effort to paint him as someone who’s untruthful.

“You always get disappointed when people start calling you names … when as a person, you try to do something good for the community,” Sarraf said. “I feel…