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The Office of Congressional Ethics referred Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to the House Ethics Committee Thursday to investigate “impermissible gifts associated with her attendance at the Met Gala in 2021.” This is no surprise for Cockburn — any committed socialist should be causing trouble and smashing the system from within! Ocasio-Cortez caused a stir when she appeared at the gala in a dress saying “Tax the Rich”.
For months, AOC’s campaign was receiving emails from providers seeking remuneration for clothing, lodging, transport and hair styling, among other services given to the congresswoman. After repeated attempts to get a response from the congresswoman’s staffer, one email said “This invoice is still outstanding and EXTREMELY overdue. Can you please update us on the current payment status ASAP?”
Another said, “Obviously it would look terrible if we had to file a complaint with the NY Dept of Labor against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress.” Imagine: the supposed champion of the working class on the verge of getting reported to the Department of Labor!
Ocasio-Cortez more or less eschewed any responsibility for the whole affair, instead faulting her staffer, who was supposed to handle the payments. Apparently, the congresswoman — who said the delays were “stressing me out” — had been repeatedly checking with the staffer, only to get unsatisfactory answers. That could well be true — but if you ask Cockburn, there eventually comes a time the congresswoman becomes culpable if she knew no actions were being taken to make the payments.
The funny thing is that after months of mounting payment inquiries, AOC’s campaign only paid many of the service providers after the OCE told them it was looking into potential ethics violations.
The kicker is that the campaign then also sought “an invoice and supporting documentation for any goods, services or amenities which… Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Mr. Roberts [her now-fiancé] may not have yet paid.” They were then sent a bill for $5,579.99.
Appearances are not always everything, but it sure looks like AOC scrambled to get and pay a bill for services that she had no intention of paying. Needless to say, the OCE suspects this contravenes statute, House rules and existing guidance — though the congresswoman rejects this.
Cockburn has to appreciate how delicious the whole scandal is: a twenty-first century democratic socialist being tripped up by her attendance at a glitzy gala that caters to the top 1 percent. What’s richer: the gala or the irony?
