Thursday, June 28, 2018

Ocasio-Cortez beat big real estate money, too

From the Real Deal:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old socialist who made New York’s affordable housing crisis a focal point of her Democratic primary campaign for the House of Representatives, defeated Rep. Joe Crowley of Queens by a stunning 15 point margin on Tuesday.

During the 2018 election cycle, Crowley, who represents New York’s 14th Congressional District and has long headed the Queens County Democratic machine, raised more money than he ever had before, bringing in $3.4 million, according to election data analyzed by the nonprofit group Open Secrets. The most generous industry was real estate, which accounted for at least $380,000, or more than 10 percent of the total raised.

Other major donors perhaps not represented in that total are also connected to real estate. Executives from Blackstone Group, the investment firm that is one of New York City’s largest landlords, gave $35,000, making it one of Crowley’s biggest corporate donors. This included donations from Jonathan Gray, the company’s current COO and former head of real estate, who gave $5,400. And Votesane PAC, a political action committee that counts many realtors as contributors, was another of Crowley’s largest donors this cycle, with $76,500 donated, records show.

Crowley’s most prominent real estate donors over the last 18 months included Related Companies executives, members of the Rudin real estate family, Rob Speyer, Jed Walentas, William Mack, Joseph Simone, Frederick Elghanayan, Scott Rechler, John Catsimatidis, Jeff Gural, landlord SL Green Realty and Washington lobbying group the Real Estate Roundtable.

Ocasio-Cortez campaigned against the influence of real estate money in New York City politics. “It’s time we stand up to the luxury developer lobby. Every official is too scared to do it – except me,” she tweeted in April. As of June 6, she had raised $301,000 for her campaign from 180 donors, federal elections records show. About a quarter of that came from Democratic candidate-supporting fundraising platform ActBlue.

31 comments:

Anonymous said...

I make it a habit to review political websites - leftist to rightist - every morning. You would be surprised at the heavy advertising that Joe Crowley paid for on Breitbart News!

You should not be surprised at the influence of money in the Democratic organization - every democrat hack in western Queens, from the 'environmental' Constantidies, to the 'library-liberal-gay'Van Bramer seems to be owned by developers - as are most of the shadowy community board types. Some community activists in Queens have been involved in stuff for a few decades now and have no idea who most of their community board people are or what they are doing there or how their presence benefits the community.

Of particular note are some of the younger members of the community board, some with at first blush maybe doing cultural or progressive things, but at closer inspection, are but neighborhood amenities designed to attract development (waterfront, art groups, theater groups), or, as the case of bike groups, designed to lower the carbon footprint for more development. You can bet your last dollar that the machine will tell them, that at the first hint of its disruption, they will be the ones with funding that will immediately be axed unless they desert any hint of supporting her.

And the threats that will be meted out to seniors, immigrant, and the disadvantaged by the heartless machine? Don't even take me there.

Ditto for the civic groups that depend on the machine for coffee money, speakers, space, and for 'swearing them in!' Yea, real help there.

Local media? You mean the local media that depends on press releases from developers and politicians for content, and advertising from the same for print and ink?

Finally, what will she do when her base will be wooed? What will she do if her base, with their legendary short attention span, wanders off?

So the machine is a wounded bull, and like any wounded animal, it will never be more dangerous than it is now. Ms Ocasio-Cortez's work is just starting.

She will need to organize her own power structure (like Trump is doing) and be prepared for a long dirty fight that will neither be pretty or take prisoners. Politics is dirty business Ms O-C. Are you up to it?

Its an open question if its Bunker Hill or Pearl Harbor. Tighten your seat belts boys n girls. Its going to be a bumpy ride.

Anonymous said...

NYC has always been a socialist leaning Democrat Party town. But there's more to this than that. Crowley was despised by most of the people he "didn't" represent but they kept electing him anyhow because his party affiliation. She deserved the win and he really deserved the loss. Congratulations lady.

Anonymous said...

I don’t care what political labels she wears. She walks and talks common sense. Good luck to her.

Anonymous said...

Nice work Queens Crap, and I agree with the comments that the machine is going to be ruthless now that they have lost. Just because Two Crowleys have lost their elected positions doesn't mean they will go quietly into that good night. Joe might go into lobbying or get appointed to something by the Governor. This alternative to the machine needs to grow. Clearly the time is over for the clubhouses. But what's next

Anonymous said...

i can't wait for my free stuff!!!!!!

JQ LLC said...

" In 2015, real estate contributions to the candidate surged, with donors including Vornado Realty Trust’s Steve Roth, Extell Development’s Gary Barnett and Related Companies’ Steve Ross. Shortly after the money poured in, Crowley introduced a bill that effectively lowered taxes on foreign real estate investors, reforming the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act, or FIRPTA."

This is all you need to know about the former congressman and habitual lousy singer and guitar player (did anyone see his concession song to Alex? WAAAAOOOOOOHHH) Nothing but a subservient tool crafting bills and laws benefiting the gentrification industrial complex, leading to families getting forced out of their neighborhoods or holding out paying more than half their paycheck. And also breaking the backs of relatives and friends who help out with what they can spare to keep striving and surviving.

I read a lot of red-scaring, paranoid nonsense and even some salient analysis I don't agree and even some thorough points written over and about her socialist party status. But to all that, don't worry about it. She is not Che Guevera for chrissakes and she's got a great platform and is on point and knowledgeable about all the issues of which Crowley lost track of because he was too busy whoring for donor cash, hooking up his relatives and buddies in Queens and playing his shitty guitars any chance he could, he practically used his position to realize his troubadour dreams.

Establishment, corporate owned Democrats and Republicans have been fucking up the program that is America for way too long and it has reached it's nadir, I don't think we can go lower. Take a fucking chance.

The girl is actually the embodiment of the fading American Dream. A well-educated persistent hard working girl makes good and goes to Washington.

Anonymous said...

The people have voted and they say it is time for change!!!

Anonymous said...

YAY YAY YAY!
Kicked REBNY square in the balls...huh?
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Anonymous said...

No way he spent even half of that 3.4 mil.

Joe Moretti said...

Here Here JQ LLC for you comment.

Yes, too many people are ill informed by "factoids", bullshit 1% elitist artist talking heads from Fox News (who could care less about working people only how big their bank accounts are) and of course the old stand-by, "racism".

Your lines say it all:

"Establishment, corporate owned Democrats and Republicans have been fucking up the program that is America for way too long and it has reached it's nadir, I don't think we can go lower. Take a fucking chance. The girl is actually the embodiment of the fading American Dream. A well-educated persistent hard working girl makes good and goes to Washington."

Anonymous said...

"No way he spent even half of that 3.4 mil."

Absolutely correct. As a matter of fact, I know the fund for a dead politician is still being used to pay for "this n that".

You see campaign cash can be used for anything - the fund manager cannot use it for personal expenses is the only constraint - and there are funds out their in the 6 and 7 figures that are being used for God knows what.

Anonymous said...

She'll get slaughtered in Congress if she wins. BUT this is the new wave coming. Stale pale male Congress is in for a shock.

JQ LLC said...

"She'll get slaughtered in Congress if she wins."

I don't think so. Nobody fucks with latinas from the boogie down bronx. Even Nancy Pelosi is shitting herself, she wouldn't even mention Alexandria's name.

Anonymous said...

Choosing between this illegal dreamer and the cuck, is like choosing between poop and pee, they both are terrible. New York is just screwed.

Anonymous said...

An assumed victory party?
Little did Joe Crowley think that he would be attending an old fashioned Irish wake where he was to be the corpse.

Anonymous said...

And so...the Great Democratic Dictatorship of Quueens begins to fall!
It was ersatz democratic....really old fart conservative to the point where the party has become out of touch with the present...let alone...the emerging future!

Anonymous said...

Now maybe we'll get a real Democratic Party in Queens not a closet racist old boys network!

georgetheatheist said...

From the NY Times, Thursday, June 28, 2018:

"Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s mother was born in Puerto Rico. Her late father, Sergio Ocasio, an architect, was born in the Bronx. The family lived in Parkchester, a planned community of mid-rise buildings, in the same apartment where Ms. Ocasio-Cortez now lives, until Alexandria was about 5, when they moved an hour north to a modest two-bedroom house on a quiet street in Yorktown Heights, a suburb in Westchester County, in search of better schools."

What was wrong with the schools in the Bronx? (I know the answer. Do you?)

Snake Plissskin said...

You have to get rid the cancer to its root. That means uprooting the entire political establishment in the borough.

Decapitating a leader means another takes his place and its business as usual. You need to completely destroy the structure to ensure change.

You cannot do a victory dance and go home. Your real work is just starting.

Anonymous said...

How dare she crash our "party". Dems should be afraid. Very afraid.

Anonymous said...

Now maybe we'll get a real Democratic Party in Queens not a closet racist old boys network!

Well I agree, and by the head of the machine advertising heavily on Brietbart that some posted here said they saw on a daily basis tells us something that most progressives felt for some time: be it Vallone or Van Bramer, the Queens Democratic Party Machine is all platitudes that are being mouthed - their real heart is on the plantation or on speed dial with developers to make money.

The entire party apparatus, chapter and verse, need to be replaced. And she has a few precious years to do it.

Anonymous said...

How did she get the same apartment that her parents vacated all those years before?

Anonymous said...

Take Paul Vallome for example. He was going around saying he's the best candidate to keep the Asians out of politics in the northeast. At least the GOP is open about their racism. Boss Tweed type party bosses will be gone in Queens , their last stronghold. NOW....be sure to
THROW ALL INCUMBENTS OUT!
They've been growing fat asses on our tax money. Drain Queens' boss swamp.
Goodbye Toby Stavosky....another old crooked racist relic.

R185 said...

"this illegal dreamer" ?! Don't let your racist fears get too far ahead of you. She and both her parents were American born.

Anonymous said...

communists.. the only good news is that now everyone can see their real hideous ideology. Crowley himself was a commie but didn't dear to show. In any case, America learn nothing from all the world-wide tragedies the ideology of Comrade de Blasio, Cortez, and others like them brought upon people, including in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Venezuela..

Cav said...

JQLLC said...
"She'll get slaughtered in Congress if she wins."

I don't think so. Nobody fucks with latinas from the boogie down bronx. Even Nancy Pelosi is shitting herself, she wouldn't even mention Alexandria's name."


Friday, June 29, 2018


Yeah, right. She'll be all boogie down Bronx and the other 434 members congress who will just be shaking in their boots at the thought that she'll yell "oh no you deh-ent", give 'em total attitude or maybe bore them all to death with speeches about Marxist dialectic materialism. Yep, that's a real game changer.
Uh, no.

Get real, Sparky. She'll most likely have two years (or more with her thralls giving her a lifetime appointment to office) of no legislative achievement, just more emotionally charged speeches and diatribes. Well, maybe a spot in a committee and some pork tossed her way from time to time if she makes nice with Pelosi or other higher ranking party bosses which is the most likely.

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Anonymous said...
"How dare she crash our "party". Dems should be afraid. Very afraid."

Friday, June 29, 2018


Be afraid, be very afraid-(?) Did Ocasio Cortez have her genes spliced with fly DNA in a teleportation accident? Ooohh, sceery sceery.

That's what they said about Hiram Monserrate too in the beginning of his political career too and look how that turned out.

You have the right idea but must think outside the progressive liberal box.

The old white people running the Democrat party didn't have the foresight to realize playing identity politics is a double edged sword. They thought it was like the old days of FDR and Al Smith where they just jumped in front of the socialist parade and would lead it. You can say what you want about your beliefs but you can't change your race or ethnicity so no jumping out in front of the identity parade.

But at least for now, they still control the game board.

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Anonymous said...
"Take Paul Vallome for example. He was going around saying he's the best candidate to keep the Asians out of politics in the northeast. At least the GOP is open about their racism. Boss Tweed type party bosses will be gone in Queens , their last stronghold. NOW....be sure to
THROW ALL INCUMBENTS OUT!
They've been growing fat asses on our tax money. Drain Queens' boss swamp.
Goodbye Toby Stavosky....another old crooked racist relic."

Friday, June 29, 2018


Great idea except what's the point of replacing the socialist lite Democrat machine with a new socialist extreme and more balkanized machine? Why will it be any different than when the Irish, Jews and Italians overthrew the WASP political machine of the past to form their own machine swamps? Do you really think the Asians in general care about the interests of non-Asians and won't try to block incursions of non-Asians into what they consider to be their territory? Is turnabout fair play?

Braying racist is either just cheap virtue signalling or a pathetic attempt to convince yourself that you are not racist yourself.

***********************************************************************************


This election was all about which identity group gets to play power broker in a single congressional district. So you replace one prog with another and you think you're going to get different results? To us proles, it's a simple a change of masters in a particular small fiefdom but the overall system remains the same. New hands grasping the levers of power in the same old managerial state. The swamp refills with new prog denizens hungry to get in the public trough themselves. The same machine continues on with the same party, same ideology, same speeches just under new management.

Don Cavaioli

kingb said...

You're all excited about electing a commie to congress. I've never come across such a politically confused group of people as the commenters on this website. Congratulations.

JQ LLC said...

I don't know, Don. This may be reliant on intangibles, but Alexandria has got something going on here, even if her socialist beliefs and proposal to abolish ICE turns off a lot of people. But she's got an excellent platform that even Sean Hannity unwittingly praised it in a segment he recently did to try to red-scare his viewers.

The thing is the government we have now is unacceptable to a wide majority of people beyond the low turnout of voters in the 14th district. Which is a result of the massive income disparity in the nation and the slow fading demise of the middle class.

You're analysis and prognosis about a revolving door system in elected office is dead on correct and your cynicism is as well justified. But she has galvanized the political climate in just 5 days.

Sure she's one person, but sometimes that's all it takes to begin a movement and a revolution. Time will tell if she follows her passion for honest service and social justice for all or if she becomes a sellout more enamored with celebrity and personal gain. We're going to have to wait til November (if she prevails) and beyond to find out.

Sparky?

Anonymous said...

"Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s mother was born in Puerto Rico. Her late father, Sergio Ocasio, an architect, was born in the Bronx. The family lived in Parkchester, a planned community of mid-rise buildings, in the same apartment where Ms. Ocasio-Cortez now lives, until Alexandria was about 5, when they moved an hour north to a modest two-bedroom house on a quiet street in Yorktown Heights, a suburb in Westchester County, in search of better schools."

What was wrong with the schools in the Bronx? (I know the answer. Do you?)
______________________________________________________________________________________

Don't worry, our Major is already working on this issue, A+ to everyone and you don't even have to show up at school.....He also asked if you want a Air Jordan, Iphone 10 ...and fries with that too?

Ned said...

2 years with no legislative achievement, no knowledge of constitutional law or parliamentary procedure is the perfect democrat to have in office. All the grazing sheep in New York need reaming in the Boo-wha keister just a little more to become angry enough to re-think lousy voting habits.
This woman is the perfect candidate to annoy and fire people up.
Do away with ICE and borders LOL ? I think she crazy or just wanted high numbers of Hispanic and Chinese votes.

Every incumbent must be thrown out because they are all soiled. It like having a bag of apples, if you keep them around too long they fester together.

Ned
www.nra.org

Anonymous said...

YOu gotta see AOC's opponent's file:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/ca789bonwhf39fn/tonypapnut.pdf