Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez received a gentle spanking from the House Ethics Committee, which ruled she broke congressional rules with her 2021 appearance at the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York — and the attention-grabbing “Tax the Rich” dress she wore.
The committee said Friday the New York Democrat tried to comply with the rules by paying for some of the swag she was given, but in some cases, she paid late and less than fair market value.
Among those was the dress that Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue magazine, asked to be designed from scratch for the congresswoman, according to the committee report. The designer initially put the value of renting the dress at $1,300 but later reduced it to $300.
The committee said Ms. Ocasio-Cortez also erred by accepting a free ticket for her then-boyfriend and now fiance, Riley Roberts. Tickets went for $35,000.
The bipartisan committee concluded that her conduct “was inconsistent with House rules, laws and other standards of conduct.”
“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,” the committee said in a unanimous report.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance at the September 2021 gala created a stir, given the price of tickets and her white gown with the anti-rich message in large, red lettering down the back.
The Washington Times reached out to the congresswoman’s office and campaign for this story.
At the time, she defended her appearance at the event, saying New York City elected officials are regularly invited as part of their duties, and that’s how she saw her attendance.
She also defended the dress, made by designer Aurora James.
“The medium is the message,” AOC said.
According to the committee’s investigation, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez began getting invites to the gala in 2019, just after her surprise election to Congress in 2018.
There was no gala in 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the congresswoman accepted Ms. Wintour’s invitation to be a guest in 2021.
That began a saga of the congresswoman’s office trying to work out how to do it while staying within ethics rules. It didn’t succeed.
The committee said evidence showed the designer originally put the rental value of the infamous dress at $1,300. It reached the $300 price after a campaign staffer asked for a lower amount.
The staffer compared the one-of-a-kind designer dress made specifically for the congresswoman to dresses available on Rent the Runway, a clothing service, to argue for the lower rate.
The payment wasn’t made until March 9, 2022, after a different ethics panel began inquiring about the Met event.
A month later, again after the initial ethics probe, the designer sent another invoice for nearly $5,600 in other expenses, including room rentals, a car service and shows and a bow tie for Mr. Roberts.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez paid that invoice in May 2022 from personal funds, the committee said.
The 2021 gala was postponed from the spring to the fall amid coronavirus concerns. All guests were told to prove vaccination status and agree to social distancing and to wear masks while indoors.
