Amazon Spokesperson Blames Ocasio-Cortez for NYC Retreat
Lifezette ^ | February 15, 2019 | Kathryn Blackhurst
Posted on 2/15/2019, 3:17:23 PM by E. Pluribus Unum
The progressive congresswoman fielded intense backlash after the shocking cancellation of the company's planned second headquarters
An Amazon spokesperson blamed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and her vocal resistance for the company’s shocking decision to cancel plans for its New York City headquarters on Thursday.
Polls showed that 70 percent of New Yorkers supported Amazon’s planned investment in the state.
Thus, Amazon stunned many New Yorkers and the nation at large when the company bowed to intense opposition from some state and local officials on Thursday and announced it was abandoning the Big Apple for its second headquarters.
“For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term,” Amazon said in a statement.
But “a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City,” the company admitted.
Jodi Seth, Amazon’s head of policy communications, told NBC News that same day the company blamed a few specific New York politicians for its decision.
“It wasn’t any one incident,” Seth noted. “It was that the environment over the course of the past three months had not got[ten] any better. There were some local and state elected officials who refused to meet with Amazon and criticized us day in and day out about the plan.”
“If you talk to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, it’s ‘Never Amazon,'” Seth added. “If you talk to [New York City Councilman Jimmy] Van Bramer [a Democrat], it’s unions.”
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