From tax policy to Amazon’s job creation, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is building a reputation for being wrong about nearly everything. Now we can add campaign finance law to the list.
In what has become the most viewed Twitter video of any politician, Ocasio-Cortez recently played a “Corruption Game” during a House Oversight Committee hearing to call for “campaign finance reform.” In her words: “We have a system that is fundamentally broken. We have these influences existing in this body, which means that these influences are here, in this committee, shaping the questions that are being asked of you all right now.”
The crux of Ocasio-Cortez’ position, explained on her campaign website, is that “the wealthiest people in this country [have] the opportunity to purchase the U.S. Government,” which “discourages those who are less privileged from even considering a run.”
Ocasio-Cortez crusades against “special interests,” but every interest is “special” to those who care about it. That’s as true for the pro-abortion groups publicly endorsing Ocasio-Cortez as it is for the labor unions funding her campaign committee. They just happen to be “special interests” she likes, unlike (for example) the 25,000 New Yorkers who won’t be getting jobs at Amazon thanks in part to her work.
Ironically, Ocasio-Cortez’ own story contradicts her narrative that the “little guy” can’t win. A former bartender from a working-class background, Ocasio-Cortez defeated former Rep. Joe Crowley after being outspent by an 18-to-1 margin. A longtime incumbent who hadn’t faced a primary opponent since 2004, Crowley was the epitome of an entrenched D.C. insider with deep pockets. Yet he still lost (just like Eric Cantor before him).
Ocasio-Cortez is now one of the Democratic Party’s brightest stars, gracing the cover of Vanity Fair and attracting a $10 million Netflix documentary, only months after serving drinks in New York City. Her story proves that money doesn’t win elections, charismatic politicians and popular ideas do. If you really want to support a socialist candidate, no billionaire boogeyman can stop you. If you don’t, then you choose someone else. There is no amount of money that’s going to make voters vote for someone they don’t want to vote for. Just ask Jeb! Or ask Hillary Clinton, who outspent President Trump 2-to-1.
Money is simply a tool used to disseminate ideas to the public. Ocasio-Cortez knows it, having raised well over $2 million and spending nearly $1.7 million of it in her general election without facing any real competition. She spent those funds to spread her socialist ideas to the American people, through advertising, grassroots outreach, and other forms of political speech — the same speech Ocasio-Cortez would deny others in the name of “campaign finance reform.”
Ocasio-Cortez’ public image is as a woman of the people, taking on “corporate PACs [from] the fossil fuel industry, the healthcare industry, big pharma,” and calling out lobbyists who supposedly “write laws” in their favor.
She’s a hypocrite. The same “broken system” has worked remarkably well in her favor and makes her re-election likelier with each passing day. This is the same Ocasio-Cortez who has received more than $60,000 from lawyers and lobbyists, and an additional $23,450 from the healthcare industry. Throw in over $90,000 from finance, insurance, and real estate “interests,” and we have the makings of a savvy fundraiser.
Even as she scapegoats “the fossil fuel industry” and “big pharma” for lobbying Congress, Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t appear bothered enough to turn down more than $46,000 in contributions from union officials, who support laws that benefit pro-Democrat labor unions. I guess those are the right kinds of “special interests”?
When you hear her discuss rich people buying Congress, you’re not likely to hear her bring up George Soros, Tom Steyer, or Michael Bloomberg, who flood our political system with hundreds of millions of dollars. Apparently, those interests, because they align with hers, are the right kind of “special.”
Ocasio-Cortez is not alone. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., routinely urge Congress to “get money out of politics,” as they continue to host fundraising galas and cocktail parties. Since the late 1980s, their campaign committees have raised a combined $117 million ($90.4 million for Schumer and $26.5 million for Pelosi), and hundreds of millions more for Democratic super PACs. And all these Democrats have turned a completely blind eye to Hillary Clinton’s $84 million money laundering scheme during the 2016 election, the single largest campaign finance scandal in U.S. history.
If the system is indeed “broken,” the Left’s hypocrisy isn’t about fixing it. It’s about the fact that they’re only fixing it for themselves.
Dan Backer is a veteran campaign counsel, having served more than 100 candidates, PACs, and political organizations. He is founding attorney of political.law, a campaign finance and political law firm in Alexandria, Va.
