AOC really wanted to attend the September 2021 Met ball – a charity event for its Costume Institute, yes, but also the world’s number-one social event for the rich, famous, and beautiful.But $35,000 tickets for two people (she wanted her boyfriend to go, too) would cost nearly six figures…AOC snagged two free tickets (after much prodding by her campaign staffer) by cozying up to Vogue’s Anna Wintour, who runs this show for the Met. AOC’s written invitation specifically informed her that she and her boyfriend were “guests of Vogue.”Little problem: members of Congress can’t take near-seven-figure gifts from companies that employ lobbyists. Vogue is part of a sprawling media firm, including the firm that owns a big piece of Spectrum, our highly regulated internet provider.
As AOC’s anti-corruption lawyer warned her staff, “the Congresswoman could accept an invitation from [the Met], but not [italics his] from Vogue . . . Since Advance Publications is a registered lobbyist, we’ll need to be extra careful!”Extra careful . . . the morning after. As a Vogue staffer informed AOC’s office the day after the ball, “Hope the [C]ongresswoman had a great time last night! … [W]e have had a number of inquiries . . . Mainly from Page Six. . . . Given that she was a guest of [V]ogue, we were planning to say . . . she was a guest of Anna [Wintour]’s. . . . wanted to check with you.”Cue hours of highly paid butt-covering. As the bi-partisan Office of Congressional Ethics found last week, “documents” – emails between the Met and AOC’s office to “thread” the “needle,” in one Met staffer’s phrasing – “suggest that there was some attempt to obfuscate Vogue’s role.”
Makeup: $344.85. AOC didn’t pay it for six months, after the ethics investigation started. The makeup artist sent the bill to a collection agency, which said it was “EXTREMELY overdue.”Hair: $477.73. After months of non-payment – also until the start of the ethics investigation — the hairstylist’s rep emailed AOC’s staff that “it would look terrible if we had to file a complaint with the NY Dept of Labor against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”Transportation from the Bronx to the Carlyle Hotel? $586.84 (including idling time – good for the planet!). It wasn’t until May 2022 – eight months after the gala – that AOC reimbursed Conde Nast for her $180 share. Why they split this bill four ways is unclear — the other three people in the car were there for her.Hotel? $4,602.92 – not reimbursed to the designer until May 2022.AOC’s boyfriend’s shoes and bowtie? $406.09 – not reimbursed until May 2022 (under investigation, her staff suddenly decided he shouldn’t receive free gifts).Car service from the Carlyle to the museum? $571.59 – not reimbursed until May.The only person who got paid the full value of her services was the manicurist – because, as AOC’s staffer told investigators, “the woman there said she … would need to be paid by cash” … immediately.