The Office of Congressional Ethics was asked by a conservative group to launch an investigation of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for accepting free tickets to Monday's Met Gala, where she wore a custom gown that said 'Tax the Rich.'
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attended the the ultra-elitist, $35,000-a-head Met Gala as guests of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, DailyMail.com can confirm.
In an ethics complaint, Thomas Jones, founder of the American Accountability Foundation, said he believes Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of the Bronx and Queens, broke House rules by accepting 'an impermissible gift' of free tickets to attend the annual gala.
'[W]hile the individual's invitations may bear the name of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum has ceded control over the invitations to a for-profit company, specifically Condé Nast, and to its Chief Content Officer, Anna Wintour,' Jones wrote.
He added that 'the New York Times outlines that the Met does not have control over who is invited to the event, but rather the for-profit company, is in control of who gets invited.'
The Times reported that 'about 400 Chosen Ones' got to attend this year.
According to House ethics information available online, members of Congress can only accept $100 worth of items per year from a specific source.
In addition, Congress members can also borrow works of art — in this case the 'TAX THE RICH' dress AOC wore by Aurora James — as long as there’s a written agreement with the owner specifying it will be returned.
The $35,000 ticket proceeds go to the Met's Costume Institute, one of the only departments that doesn't receive government funding, to supports its exhibitions, acquisitions, and capital improvements.
She boasted to the magazine: 'The Met Gala is seen as elite and inaccessible...As a working class woman, wanted to enjoy the event but also break the fourth wall and challenge the industry,' she proudly told Vogue at the event.
On Tuesday morning, AOC boasted about the surge in Google searches for the words 'tax the rich'.
But she has been slammed for supporting the event by many who say she simply wanted to enjoy the limelight while trying to pass it off as a political protest in yet another example of her tone-deaf hypocrisy.
AOC - who previously posed on the cover of Vanity Fair, drives a $35,000 Tesla and claims to be '100% grass roots from the Bronx' despite growing up in a wealthy NYC suburb.
Re: Champaign socialism at its finest
Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 10:57 am
by BoSoxGal
That last paragraph is very misleading. AOC is from the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx, for less than 15 years her family lived in Yorktown Heights but her father died when she was in sophomore year of college and they lost their house and her mother and grandmother had to move to Florida because they couldn’t afford to stay in NY. AOC returned to Parkchester after college and bartended, living there with her partner. When she entered Congress she was one of the least wealthy members, with a negative net worth of -$8,500. https://www.opensecrets.org/personal-fi ... &year=2018
Re: Champaign socialism at its finest
Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:06 pm
by Big RR
And FWIW, I have seen no reputable source that shows she has become wealthy in the last two years; I've never been a big supporter of her, but see no reason to make up stories about her. If she has broken House rules, by all means she should be investigated and treated the same as any other House member who has, but unsubstantiated allegations are just not worth paying any attention to.
Re: Champaign socialism at its finest
Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 5:04 pm
by ex-khobar Andy
Do learn how to spell 'champagne' old boy - it's obvious you didn't go to a toff school like wot I did.
Re: Champaign socialism at its finest
Posted: Sat Sep 18, 2021 8:18 pm
by Scooter
Claiming that she received $35,000 in value is also misleading in the extreme. Whoever comped the ticket was making a charitable donation to the Met. She didn't get any of that. If they want to argue the value of the canapés she consumed, that would be another matter.
Re: Champaign socialism at its finest
Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 3:50 am
by Big RR
I get mailings from the Met every year (because I subscribe at much cheaper seats) and as I recall the highest priced gala tickets are $45,000 with a $38,000 + tax deduction meaning around 8% of the ticket price is not a donation. Using that ratio for a $35,000 ticket, the value she received from the ticket (food and entertainment) was a little under $3000--not insignificant, but hardly $35,000.
Claiming that she received $35,000 in value is also misleading in the extreme. Whoever comped the ticket was making a charitable donation to the Met. She didn't get any of that. If they want to argue the value of the canapés she consumed, that would be another matter.
Per ethics rules, it IS considered a $35K gift. It would be no different than her being given tickets to the Academy Awards, or the Super Bowl.
Re: Champaign socialism at its finest
Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2021 10:48 pm
by Scooter
Please quote the actual wording of the ethics rule that says so.
You may accept an unsolicited offer of free attendance for a charity fundraising event for you and a spouse or dependent child.[89] “Free attendance” includes all or part of the cost of admission; local transportation to and from the event; and the food, refreshments, entertainment, and instructional materials provided to all event attendees.[90] Free attendance does not include entertainment collateral to the event or food and refreshments outside the group setting of the event, such as giveaways.[91]
A charity fundraising event must meet the following criteria.
You are invited by the event organizer directly, and
The event organizer is the organization(s) doing the work to put the event on, not a monetary event sponsor or table sponsor.[92]
The event’s primary purpose must be to raise funds to benefit an organization qualified under § 170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code.[93]
The primary purpose is usually met if at least half of the proceeds are tax-deductible charitable contributions.
According to the complaint, she was invited by Condé Nast, the entity that "is in control of who gets invited".
Which makes Condé Nast the event organizer for the purpose of this rule. Or at least one of the event organizers. Which makes it permissible to have accepted the invitation to the gala.
And I was wrong, she doesn't even have to account for the value of the canapés she ate.
Whoever wrote this hit piece could have done the 30 seconds of research it took me to find this out. But I suppose actual journalism died a long time ago...
.....AOC - who previously posed on the cover of Vanity Fair, drives a $35,000 Tesla and claims to be '100% grass roots from the Bronx' despite growing up in a wealthy NYC suburb.,,,,
$35000.00 seems kinda cheap for a Tesla. I've seen quite a few on the road around here and it seems that 9 out of 10 of them are white and very boring looking. They all look alike.
I've been thinking about buying a new car but nothing out there impresses me. I don't need a car but I like owning new ones.
Re: Champaign socialism at its finest
Posted: Mon Sep 20, 2021 5:31 am
by rubato
AOC is a callow child. The measure of her future significance is whether she will admit to her shortcomings and overcome them.
At the moment I am doubtful she will succede. But hope springs eternal.
No fucking kidding! Listen to one 15 minute interview with AOC and you’ll know she has more maturity, understanding of the complexities of the world, and compassion for her fellow human beings than some people will ever achieve in their entire lifetime.
I have stood in the foyer of the Met Opera house in NYC. I have walked around that fountain. All in the day time--actually abut 10am. There was no open country side visible in any direction.
snailgate
And Champaign county, Ohio from whence the town derives its name, has only voted democrat three times since 1856 or somesuch. Not AOC's wide open space, evidently
