AOC turkey fundraiser going to campaign account

This is the time of year when politicians are out there doing turkey giveaways for photo-ops.

It is not uncommon for them to raise money for charities for this purpose over the holiday season, but that was not the case for AOC this year.

Instead, her turkey fundraising email had a link that went directly to her campaign.

Growing Calls to Run Against Schumer

Democrats and voters are not happy with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) right now.

When he helped Republicans pass the first continuing resolution (CR) right after Trump took office, they were fuming. But then he had the Schumer Shutdown for Trump’s second CR, which wound up with Democrats getting nothing they wanted.

There were already whispers about AOC primarying Schumer, but now the calls for her to run are getting louder with every passing day.

One donor, on AOC replacing Schumer in the Senate, stated, “We’ve got to get rid of him. She’s the future. He’s the past. This week proved that, and I don’t care how he voted. He proved he couldn’t lead anymore.”

As Unpopular as Ever

The sentiment by donors is being reflected in polling, as Schumer has never polled this low during his career.

The last showed Schumer with a record-low approval of 32%, with a 55% disapproval rating.

Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg explained, “In February 2005 — the first Siena Poll in its current incarnation — Schumer had a 63-20% favorability rating. In July 2005, he had his all-time best favorability rating, 70-22%,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg.

“Schumer is viewed unfavorably by a plurality of New York City voters, and strong majorities of downstate suburbanites and upstaters.”

Need That Money

Fundraising for turkey drops is not unusual, but what is unusual is for that money not to be immediately directed to charities that generally take care of buying and distributing the turkeys (politicians usually show up and hand them out for a photo-op).

In AOC’s email, she wrote, “Thanksgiving is two weeks away. Will you chip in $5 or anything you can today to help us bring the joy of the holiday season into homes around NYC this year?”

This is nothing unusual, except for the fact that the link in the email went to her ActBlue account, which sent the money to her campaign instead of the charities.

Former City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli noted:

A campaign is not supposed to be a pass-through for charitable work. What if she raised enough money for a million turkeys? Would she buy a million turkeys, or would she keep $990,000 for her campaign and then throw the rest of the turkeys out the back of a truck and take a photo-op? This is a clear case of why a campaign is not a charitable organization.

One of AOC’s reps boasted about the giveaway, claiming all excess funds would be given to local food pantries, but AOC’s numbers have been a bit fuzzy in the past, making claims against the turkey giveaway that did not match up.

Is this her way of stocking up on cash for a run against Schumer, or is she really on the up and up here? My guess is that we are going to see an ethics filing by a conservative group to audit her books to make sure the campaign is skimming off the top of the holiday donations.