Ethics panel says AOC broke House rules with ‘Tax the Rich’ Met Gala gown, must pay up
The ethics investigation findings were in on rules broken during New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D) 2021 Met Gala appearance, as well as what she owed to see the “matter closed.”
As the Democratic Socialist and Squad member was nearly halfway through her second term in 2021, she famously flaunted her leftist politics at the $30,000+ ticketed event with a dress that read “Tax the Rich.” Friday, the House Committee on Ethics submitted its report that found she had violated the Gift Rule and would have to pay up out of her own funds.
The conclusion for the 31-page report stated, “The Committee determined that Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s conduct was inconsistent with House Rules, laws, and other standards of conduct with respect to her acceptance of certain goods and services associated with her attendance at the 2021 MET Gala, and her delay in making appropriate payment for their receipt.”
“While the Committee did not find that Representative Ocasio-Cortez’s violations were knowing and willful, she nonetheless received impermissible gifts and must bear responsibility for the other conduct that occurred with respect to the delays in payment,” it went on.
Per the report, the amount paid on apparel and accessory rentals that included the dress from designer Brother Vellies had totaled $990.76. However, the Ethics Committee determined that the fair market value for those goods totaled $3,724.04.
Citing her “general cooperation in the matter,” the report indicated that Ocasio-Cortez’s failure to comply had come as she “proactively took steps” to abide by the Gift Rule. Still, evidence was presented to suggest the designer may have reduced costs for the goods after statements had been made by the congresswoman’s staff while payments to vendors were delayed and, in some instances, didn’t occur until after the ethics investigation was underway.
“I just never, ever, ever would have allowed that to happen, knowing what I have learned. But I wasn’t privy to the invoices, wasn’t privy to the ones that had been sent,” the congresswoman had said in March 2023 when she’d previously faulted her staff over the failed payments.
The staff appeared to remain the scapegoat for Ocasio-Cortez as the report deemed them “overly reliant on the vendors themselves to ensure the congresswoman’s compliance with the Gift Rule, despite the vendors’ countervailing incentives to ensure she would be able to promote their goods and services.”
In order to make up the difference in the discounted expenses, the lawmaker was expected to make up the difference out of her own funds in order to bring the final payments up to fair market value. This included paying the designer an additional $2,733.28 for accessories as well as donating $250 to the Costume Institute to cover her fiancé Riley Roberts’ meal after he’d accepted free admission to the event.
While the committee encouraged all congressional staff to seek guidance when in doubt, and announced the matter would be considered closed after payments were made, a separate ethics complaint had been filed regarding “troubling expenses” exceeding $4,500 out of congressional funds allegedly for dance lessons.
As with her jet-setting tour to “Fight Oligarchy” with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I), reactions to the report’s findings couldn’t help but call out the “rules for thee, but not for me” discordance in the congresswoman’s lifestyle.
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