Tax AOC on all those Met Gala gifts
David Freddoso
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), everyone’s favorite hyphenated socialist, received multiple considerations — perhaps you could even call them “gifts” — connected with her attendance at the Met Gala in September 2021. It is finally causing her some real problems.
When caught and asked about these by the Office of Congressional Ethics, she paid some of these bills — and that, her office argues, is enough to let her off the hook.
NO POINT PASSING GUN CONTROL IF YOU DON’T PROSECUTE GUN CRIME
The ethics office has now released a report that includes emails pertaining to the alleged gifts, which may constitute a violation of House rules. The picture isn’t pretty. First of all, she was warned that her attendance would create ethical problems, and she went anyway. She took two $35,000 tickets from Vogue, which is owned by a company that pays for a congressional lobbyist — a huge no-no. She also stiffed her hairstylist and makeup artist for months, paying them only after an inquiry into the matter had begun. She has tried to blame a former staffer, who willingly threw herself under the bus recently.
Here is the defense that Ocasio-Cortez’s communications staff offered for her conduct in a statement to the Washington Examiner: “Even after OCE’s exhaustive review of the congresswoman’s personal communications, there is no record of the congresswoman refusing to pay for these expenses.”
That would be a very strange standard of conduct for members of Congress — in fact, it would make it nearly impossible to catch anyone for receiving a gift against House rules.
Let me illustrate why this is. Imagine, if you will, a member of Congress who is flagrantly corrupt and receives an unambiguously illegal gift on purpose — say, a yacht. Would you expect such a member of Congress to write an email to someone stating that he does not plan to pay for the yacht?
And if he does not put such a ridiculous statement in writing, do you think that would let him off the hook for any ethics violation?
I highly doubt it. If caught, he would not be able to get away with claiming that he just hadn’t gotten around to paying.
Beyond the ones she paid for, Ocasio-Cortez received several material considerations. Some she paid for much later, while others remain unclear. But in all, the maybe-gifts include her hairstyling job ($477), her famous “Tax the Rich” dress rental (valued at $1,300, but she reportedly paid only $300), two tickets to the event itself (valued at $70,000), and two seats at a sponsored table (estimated value of up to $300,000). In all, she might have received as much as two years’ worth of her annual salary on a single night.
The emails show attempts by Vogue staffers to obfuscate the fact that she had been invited by a registered lobbying entity. Although her invitation clearly stated that she had been invited by Vogue, they advised Ocasio-Cortez’s staff to lie and say she was a personal guest of Vogue’s global editorial director, Anna Wintour. This is clear evidence of mens rea on their part, at least. Clearly, they knew they had done something wrong and were potentially causing trouble for the congresswoman.
Did the congresswoman know she was doing something wrong? Well, again, she was warned in advance, in writing.
I have no idea whether the House Ethics Committee will see fit to find a violation here. I doubt that Ocasio-Cortez would be voted out of office, even if it does. But I think this is just the perfect mini-scandal for her. I sincerely hope that, somehow, she is forced to record these gifts as income and pay taxes on them. Then we’ll see her commitment to the cause.