by DCG
A fool and his money…
From Daily Mail: Runners who took part in an event organised by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez didn’t know they were donating to her campaign.
The New York Democrat, 29, held a 5k run in Queens on Saturday that she described as ‘a Family Fun Run supporting U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.’
But many of the 400 runners didn’t realize their $30 registration fees were going directly into the lawmaker’s campaign funds, the New York Post reported.
‘We’re getting together for our own health, for our planet’s health … and to fight for the Green New Deal together,’ the freshman Democrat told the participants before they set off.
Supporters jogged through Astoria Park alongside a AOC, who walked the route and believed their money was going to help save the planet. ‘It’s going to help raise awareness and educate people,’ a female runner told The Post. ‘I think it’s really for this particular New Green Deal,’ said Brian Schwartz of Long Island. ‘No question.’
Another woman claimed: ‘It’s to help the environment. To support the Green New Deal. It’s a good cause.’
A notice on AOC’s Facebook page claiming that the run would support ‘U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez & the Green New Deal’ added to the confusion.
However full disclosure was made in the fine print, which participants may have been unaware of. ‘Registration fees are contributions to AOC for Congress,’ reads the legal disclosure on aoc5k.com, which lists the Federal Election Commission rules that donors must follow.
‘It was a campaign fundraiser,’ Ocasio-Cortez spokesman Corbin Trent confirmed that the event was in fact a campaign fundraiser.
198 runners came from the Bronx and from Queens neighborhoods within the 14th congressional district at Saturday’s run. The remaining 200 came from other areas. Children as young as three took part with a $20 fee to join the kids 1k. It is understood participants paid $11,000 in total.
Some participants felt told the New York Post they were felt they were taken in by the misleading advertising. ‘The site says it’s to benefit her environmental plan,’ said one supporter who would not give his name. ‘If it is going to go directly to her campaign they should have said so.’
Read the whole story here.
DCG