This fundraiser is for the birds.<\/p>\n
Power-hungry \u201cSquad\u201d member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) cooked up a new way to have her cake and eat it too this Thanksgiving \u2013 by tying her annual turkey giveaway to her massive reelection campaign enterprise. And critics are crying fowl.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanksgiving is two weeks away,\u201d the self-described \u201cBronx girl\u201d<\/a> wrote in an email pitch last week. \u201cWill you chip in $5 or anything you can today to help us bring the joy of the holiday season into homes around NYC this year?\u201d<\/p>\n AOC has been doing Thanksgiving turkey fundraisers since her first year in office. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez \/ Instagram<\/p>\n But clicking on the contribution link sends people directly to a campaign fundraising page<\/a> operated by ActBlue, where donors are prompted to make a one-time or recurring monthly donation.<\/p>\n Selecting a dollar amount brings a disclosure that the appeal is \u201cpaid for by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress\u201d and a reminder that donations are not deductible as charitable contributions at tax time.<\/p>\n Like dozens of pols across Gotham, AOC has given away hundreds of gobblers since 2019, but as rumors swirl about her run for Senate<\/a> or even the White House in 2028, she decided to change her fundraising recipe.<\/p>\n Instead of having supporters send donations directly<\/a> to community organizations organizing turkey drives \u2014 like she did in 2021 when she reported raising $33,589.64<\/a> for three local charities \u2014 she\u2019s having people send money to her campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cA campaign is not supposed to be a pass-through for charitable work,\u201d said former City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli. \u201cWhat if she raised enough money for a million turkeys? Would she buy a million turkeys, or would she keep $990,000 for her campaign and then throw the rest of the turkeys out the back of a truck and take a photo-op?<\/p>\n AOC\u2019s campaign didn\u2019t answer questions why she\u2019s not telling people to donate to the organizations directly instead. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez \/ Instagram<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a clear case of why a campaign is not a charitable organization,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n City Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) \u2014 who\u2019s hosted turkey drives of his own<\/a> without seeking donations from the public \u2014 agreed.<\/p>\n \u201cSocialists like AOC and Mamdani love to promise everything for free, but somehow it always ends with them shaking down working people under the guise of community good will,\u201d he told The Post.<\/p>\n Critics say AOC using her campaign for the turkey fundraiser blurs ethical lines. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez\/ Facebook<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a typical bait and switch, pretending to be for the people while quietly pillaging them for every dollar they can get.\u201d<\/p>\n Of the more than a dozen NYC politicians with annual turkey drives reviewed by The Post, only two \u2014 AOC and Rep. Gregory Meeks<\/a> (D-NY) \u2014 used campaign funds, and AOC was the only one to beg constituents for money. Meeks has been named the most corrupt member<\/a> of Congress several years in a row.<\/p>\n Others instead coordinate between local charities, community groups or grocery stores donating the birds, and constituents in need. City Council Member Sandra Ung (D-Flushing), for example, handed out 526 turkeys last year<\/a> donated by area businesses.<\/p>\n The link says donations go to AOC\u2019s campaign and encourages people to set up recurring monthly contributions. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/p>\n A review of Federal Election Commission data for 2024 reveals AOC\u2019s campaign did make a $13,101 purchase at Westside Foods in the Bronx three days before Thanksgiving \u2013 possibly to procure the birds.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s pitching: give it to me to help out people, and then it says it\u2019s going to her benefit,\u201d said Paul Kamenar of the National Legal and Policy Center. It\u2019s a \u201cshady deal she\u2019s cooking up here. It appears that AOC\u2019s turkey giveaway project may be a fraudulent scheme to solicit donations for her campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cClearly, a full investigation and audit need to be conducted.\u201d<\/p>\n AOC\u2019s email asks people to donate for New Yorkers in need, but the link takes people to a campaign donation page. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/p>\n The FEC told The Post politicians who solicit donations on behalf of community organizations \u2013 like AOC did in her email blast \u2013 are not required to disclose how much they raise through the solicitation or how they spend those specific funds \u2014 meaning there\u2019s no official way to know how many of those dollars turn into actual turkeys, or if voters are just getting stuffed.<\/p>\n AOC\u2019s campaign refused to explain why it changed its recipe this time.<\/p>\n \u201cFor our Thanksgiving turkey fundraiser, we set a goal that we raise towards and if we surpass it then we order more,\u201d said her campaign manager Oliver Hidalgo-Wohlleben.<\/p>\n \u201cThanks to you all, hundreds of families and thousands of people in the community will be able to eat a Thanksgiving meal this year,\u201d AOC posted in 2023. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez \/ Instagram<\/p>\n The rep boasted about her turkey giveaway Saturday in an Instagram video.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to talk to you all about all the contributions you\u2019ve made,\u201d she tells her 9.5 million followers in a story<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to provide over 1,600 turkeys in the Bronx, and then all of your support and fundraising has raised an additional $20,000 above our raise goal which we are giving 100% to local food pantries to help feed families this Thanksgiving.\u201d<\/p>\n AOC boasted about her turkey giveaway Saturday in an Instagram video. aoc\/Instagram<\/p>\n But in past years, AOC only came up with fuzzy math when she talked turkey. She said in her online pitch this year that she handed out 600 turkeys in 2024. But in her campaign video<\/a> from that year the number was up to 1,000 gobblers. She put her 2021 bird number at 650.<\/p>\n Her campaign did not directly respond to follow-up questions about the discrepancies.<\/p>\n AOC\u2019s team said in its email blast it donated 600 turkeys last year, but a video it posted at the time contradicted that number. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez \/ Instagram<\/p>\n \u201cOcasio-Cortez is running a con under the guise of a charity drive,\u201d slammed Kiersten Pels, spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.<\/p>\n \u201cSlapping a \u2018turkey\u2019 label on a campaign fundraiser to trick voters into thinking they\u2019re helping charities is exactly the kind of scam that she and the socialist wing of the Democratic Party rely on.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t