Conservative group blasts Ocasio-Cortez over Amazon with Times Square billboard

A conservative advocacy group put up a billboard in Times Square on Wednesday calling out Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) over Amazon’s recently announced decision to scrap plans for building a second headquarters in Queens.

The Job Creators Network (JCN) is putting up the billboard in the tourist hotspot for one week, the organization announced. The group blames Ocasio-Cortez for the consequences it says will follow the tech giant’s decision.

“The pullout of Amazon—because of anti-business politicians, notably Ocasio-Cortez—is a major blow to the New York economy. The retreat will not only cost the area $12 billion in economic activity, but 25,000 new jobs that would have paid an average salary of $150,000,” the group said in a statement.{mosads}

“The Amazon pullout is a perfect example of what we’ve been saying: socialism takes and capitalism creates,” JCN President and CEO Alfredo Ortiz added. “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.”

Check out the sign in Times Sq.! ⁦Thanks to @JobCreatorsUSA⁩! pic.twitter.com/iIN0DTo8r2

— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) February 20, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez and other local activists were vocal in their opposition to Amazon’s move, claiming it would not create jobs for people already living in the area and make the community unaffordable for low-income residents.

The New York Democrat lauded local organizers’ efforts when Amazon announced it would not go through with the Queens project. The company had planned to split its second headquarters between New York’s Long Island City and northern Virginia.

“Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world,” she tweeted.

Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world. https://t.co/nyvm5vtH9k

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 14, 2019

Amazon directly cited local opposition in New York when it announced it would seek to build a second headquarters elsewhere. 

“While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, 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,” Amazon said in a statement.