Right-Wing Times Square Billboard Blames AOC For Amazon Pullout

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A right-wing interest group shelled out for a Times Square billboard to blame Bronx-born Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Amazon's decision to pull out of a deal to establish a headquarters in Long Island City.

The Job Creators Network — which describes itself as an advocate for small businesses "under attack by over-taxation, over-regulation, and lack of access to credit" — launched its billboard Wednesday on a building on West 42nd Street near Eighth Avenue, the group said in a statement.

The group claims that losing Amazon's Long Island City headquarters will cost New York City 25,000 jobs, $4 billion in wages and $12 billion in economic activity. Its billboard places the lions share of the blame on Ocasio-Cortez, who was one of many politicians who joined advocacy groups in voicing opposition to a deal that would have given Amazon about $3 billion in tax exemptions.

"The Amazon pullout is a perfect example of what we’ve been saying: socialism takes and capitalism creates," Alfredo Ortiz, President and CEO of the Job Creators Network, said in a statement. "The economic consequences of Amazon’s pullout is just a small taste of the harm that is to come if Ocasio-Cortez’s anti-business canon comes to fruition and is made federal policy."

The group's billboard reads: "Thanks for nothing, AOC!"

But it might be Ocasio-Cortez who ends up thanking the Job Creators Network. New York Times reporter Shane Goldmacher noted that the congressmember's office is already using the billboard to raise money.

"A right-wing group has paid for a billboard attacking Alexandria in Times Square. We have to fight back -- chip in to help up rise above these smears," a fundraising email reads, as reported by Goldmacher.

Ocasio-Cortez also addressed the billboard in one of her trademark Twitter clapbacks:

"Few things effectively communicate the power we’ve built in fighting dark money & anti-worker policies like billionaire-funded groups blowing tons of cash on wack billboards (this one is funded by the Mercers)," Ocasio-Cortez Tweeted.

The broken Amazon deal is one of many things right-wing groups have used to scold Ocasio-Cortez since she began her first term in Congress after unseating longtime representative Joe Crowley. Other grievances include: Her boyfriend's email account, a video of her dancing in college and her high school nickname.