Coming as no surprise to anyone familiar with him, freshman Congressman Eli Crane (R), who ran on “cleaning up the mess” in Washington, and who has joined the likes of Matt Gaetz and Lauren Boebert in pushing hard for the impeachment of President Joe Biden, isn’t actually serious about rooting out corruption or changing the culture in Washington.
Instead, he is interested in stoking division, “owning the libs”, and perpetuating corruption as long as it benefits his friends because, in his mind right wing grifters are patriots, and its only liberals and RINOs that can be guilty of crimes, never the extreme right. When he isn’t voting to vacate Kevin McCarthy for being too liberal, he’s busy dismissing the crimes of or making excuses for the J6 insurrectionists, or putting up anti-immigrant Christmas decorations, or waxing poetic about the evils of Hunter Biden.
Congressman Crane doesn’t want to drain the swamp; he wants to be on the ownership team that owns the swamp. The distinction may be lost on him, but it shouldn’t be lost on the rest of us.
While Santos has not yet been convicted, he has been indicted on multiple charges and his crimes are well documented by the House Committee on Ethics.
Of course, Rep. Crane isn’t alone in the Arizona GOP delegation in supporting Santos. Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, and Deb Lesko did the same, while Reps. Schweikert and Ciscomani voted to expel Santos (both face tough re-election races). However, of the four far right Arizona Reps, Crane is the only one that represents a single digit Trump District (Trump carried it by 7.8 percentage points in 2020) while the others are deeper in the red zone.
One way to clean up the mess in Washington would be to mop Eli Crane off the House floor. Fortunately, he has drawn a formidable opponent, Jonathan Nez, former Navao Nation President. Helping Jonathan Nez would send a strong message that selective enablers of right-wing corruption should be replaced with dedicated public servants. You can help here:
www.jonathannezforaz.com