Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is in trouble. And she is one of the worst imaginable messes for whom she considers herself the promising leader of the sector furthest to the left of Joe Biden’s formation. The Ethics Committee of the House of Representatives of Congress considers that there are “substantial reasons to believe” that the deputy “accepted gifts not allowed for her attendance at the Met Gala” in 2021, where she was one of the protagonists thanks to her striking dress labeled with a slogan in favor of raising taxes on the richest: Tax the Rich.
Although in the end she did personally pay the expenses that corresponded to her for the preparations and the outfit that she wore to the great fashion party at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, the investigation proves that she only did so after the Ethics Committee of the the Lower House would have contacted her, once the investigations began in March 2022, in order to ask her to account.
The payments, in addition, had a trick. On September 20, a week after the act, a publicist associated with the firm to which the dress belonged, Brother Vellies, passed an invoice for $2,283 to the congresswoman’s office, of which $1,300 corresponded to the rental of the model, 635 for the “purchase” of the shoes, 170 for the rented bag and jewelry, and the rest for taxes. But the next day, the same person brought the total of those costs down to $990. In particular, the rental of the dress went from 1,300 to 300 dollars: less than a quarter.
To questions from the Committee, the Ocasio-Cortez team alleged that it had been discussing prices with suppliers. But, according to investigators, he “could not explain” the drastic reduction in the rental price of the dress.
In April 2022, a month after beginning the investigation that is now made public in detail, the amount of unpaid services and products by Ocasio-Cortez amounted to $5,580. The expenses also included hairdressing (478 dollars) and makeup (345 dollars), as well as renting a room at the luxurious Carlyle Hotel for preparations prior to the gala. The parliamentarian paid on May 10.
Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged before the Committee that the situation was “deeply unfortunate”, but he came to unload responsibilities on his staff. She was unaware of the payment details, she said, and hoped her team would figure everything out.
Initially, the investigation focused on the cost of the invitation itself to the gala, of a charitable nature and intended to finance the Met Dress Institute. The ticket price was $35,000, and the payment for the ticket was made by Vogue and not by the Museum. But the researchers see no problem there, as Vogue acts as a brand associated with the Met and is fully involved in the organization.
Congressional rules prevent its members from accepting gifts in the form of “gratuity, favor, discount, entertainment, lodging, loan, indulgence, or any item having monetary value.” Representatives can accept invitations to charity events, as was the case, if the ticket is paid for by the organizer.
Ocasio-Cortez’s participation in that gala caused a lot to talk about at the time, but not because of the coverage of expenses but because of the use of a slogan from the left, the Tax the Rich in one of the most exclusive and elitist appointments of those that are held every year in the Big Apple.
The combative New York deputy of Puerto Rican descent, cited in some pools of possible candidates for the 2024 presidential elections, is clear that September 13, 2021 was a bad day for her. That night he showed off, yes, but not in the best way.
