But other experts, including Brendan Fischer of the Campaign Legal Center, say the allegations are “speculative” and that there’s no evidence that the PACs improperly subsidized work for the campaign.
He and other election law experts say the lack of disclosure by Ocasio-Cortez’s team is the fault of relatively lax laws governing reporting on payments to so-called sub-vendors.
Because the FEC doesn’t require it, the LLC didn’t have to list how it used the money paid to it by the PACs.
Fischer and Ryan say that if Ocasio-Cortez and her team did, in fact, mislabel payments (that were not “strategic consulting”), the FEC would consider that to be a minor violation that could result in a fine — not jail time.
“There are phrases on the FEC’s approved list of phrases that should be used to describe fundraising activities and phone-banking activities. ‘Strategic consulting’ is not some magic phrase that covers everything,” Ryan said. “But in the grand scheme of things, the FEC would consider such an inaccurate description of the purpose of a disbursement as a very minor violation.”
Now, since AOC is (rightly) decrying money in politics she probably should have held her staff to a higher standard than the law allows. That said, that conservatives are covering this with nearly apoplectic fervor is hilarious. They’re doing the same thing with headlines blaring about “Democratic anti-semitism!!1!!!”
And in both cases the MSM starts covering these stories that ooze through the anal fissures of right wing insanity unironically with (yet again) Chuck Todd literally using the phrase “Dems in disarray!”
(By the way, if you use reddit and want to get a glimpse into the fever dreams of right wing media, go to to /r politics and sort by new. The headlines from Townhall, the Federalist, Free Beacon, Washington Examiner, NRO, and Fox will fill you with “delight.” You’ll also instantly recognize the kewpie-doll like responses when certain posters try to own us libtards with their talking points. They’ve become a malformed borg completely oblivious to how brainwashed they are.)
