By Gabriella Muñoz - The Washington Times - Wednesday, February 19, 2020

An advocacy group targeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a new billboard campaign Wednesday, blaming the progressive freshman Democrat for Amazon pulling out of its plans to build a headquarters in New York City.

For the second year in a row Job Creators Network is putting up a billboard in Times Square highlighting Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’ push back against Amazon.

“Hey AOC! Remember when you bragged about the Amazon pullout?” The billboard reads “A year ago you lost 25,000 NYC Jobs, $4 billion in Lost Wages and $12 Billion in Lost Economic activity for NY. Thanks for Nothing, AOC!” the sign reads.

“A year ago, the New York economy experienced a significant loss when Amazon decided to cancel its HQ2 plans partly because of anti-business politics pushed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” Alfredo Ortiz, president and CEO of Job Creators Network, said in a statement.

Last year, the JCN billboard sparked a battle with progressive advocacy group Democracy for America, which responded with a billboard of their own praising the New York progressive superstar.

 

 

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was one of the lead voices criticizing the city for giving Amazon massive financial incentives when it announced its plans to put a second headquarters location in the Queens area. The company cited the complaints of local and state officials in a blog post explaining their decision to back out.

In December, Amazon announced that it would be expanding its operations in New York. Though, according to reports, it would only bring in about 1,500 jobs — a fraction of the estimated 25,000 the headquarters deal would have brought.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, however, saw the news as a moment of vindication.

 

 

• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.

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