PAC Problems

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D) N.Y and her Campaign Chair/Chief of Staff Saikat Chakrabarti filed a change of leadership form for their Political Action Committee (PAC). The external PAC is called Justice Democrats, which they both joined in December of 2017. According to the document filed with the Dept. of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs in DC, they did this on March 15th of this year. Prior to then, they effectively had legal control.

Justice Democrats 2019 Report

Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign has begun to attract interest in its operations. Apparently, her Campaign Chair runs the consulting company she used, among other financial irregularities that surfaced. She and her campaign Chair could face civil penalties or jail. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) will look into whether she hid control of an outside PAC that helped solidify her win in the 2018 midterm election.

Denials of Wrongdoing

The PACs raised more than $1.8 million for Ocasio-Cortez before the Primaries in June. There could be “massive reporting violations, probably at least some illegal contribution violations exceeding the lawful limits.” said a former FEC Commissioner, Brad Smith. Her campaign denies any wrongdoing, “It’s right-wing groups that are really questionable in what they’re doing,” Corbin Trent, a spokesman for Ocasio-Cortez, said.

An FEC complaint was filed by the conservative National Legal and Policy Center this week. The complaint alleges Ocasio-Cortez and her campaign used two PACs to funnel money into a Limited Liability Company (LLC) in order to evade campaign finance laws. Those two PACs are Justice Democrats and the Brand New Congress.

Additionally, a complaint by Coolidge-Reagan Foundation alleges Ocasio-Cortez paid her marketing consultant boyfriend, Riley Roberts, illegally through PACs and the LLC. Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign chief, a former technical entrepreneur, established the two PACs which were formed after the 2016 presidential election. He was working for the election of Bernie Sanders and wanted a new movement to elect a diverse array of progressive candidates to Congress.

Future Directions

Rep. Ocasio-Cortez campaigned on honesty in government and transparency, among other issues. She started off with a bang, taking on the party leaders and direction. In an about face, she went along with re-appointing Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker. She’s had a rocky start.

Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: "If we work our butts off to make sure that we take back all three chambers of Congress — Uh, rather, all three chambers of government: the presidency, the Senate, and the House."



The 3 branches of government: executive, legislative, judicial. pic.twitter.com/8rPSpzottE — Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) November 19, 2018 Archive.is

It was full of verbal inaccuracies for her to constantly explain. Taking radical stances on issues may limit her chances of getting re-elected. One such example is her championing a “Green New Deal” proposal which is an economy ruining experiment in Socialism. It is making centrist Democrats and even Left-leaning celebrities think twice about supporting her.

