AOC Loses Coveted PAC Position

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) quietly lost her coveted position as co-manager of a political action committee that played a critical role in her primary victory over Congressman Joseph Crowley.

The Washington Examiner’s Alana Goodman reports:
 

Justice Democrats, a federal PAC that helped Ocasio-Cortez get elected to Congress last year, quietly filed corporate paperwork removing Ocasio-Cortez as one of the group’s “governors” in Washington, D.C., on Mar. 15, the Daily Caller reported on Monday.

The move came just days after campaign finance lawyers told the Daily Caller that Ocasio-Cortez’s position as a governor of Justice Democrats could be a legal conflict because the PAC also supported her congressional bid.

“If the facts as alleged are true, and a candidate had control over a PAC that was working to get that candidate elected, then that candidate is potentially in very big trouble and may have engaged in multiple violations of federal campaign finance law, including receiving excessive contributions,” former Republican FEC Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky told the outlet.

Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff Saikat Chakrabarti, who founded the Justice Democrats PAC, was also removed as a governor on Mar. 15, according to the records filed with the D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. Current governors now include Justice Democrats Director Alexandra Rojas, Nasim Thompson, and Demond Drummer.

Ocasio-Cortez’s attorneys told Snopes.com the congresswoman left the board of Justice Democrats PAC in June 2018. However, the PAC’s corporate filings suggest she remained a part of its leadership until last Friday.