XPost: alt.politics.democrats, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.gossip.celebrities   
   From: Not-Sure@idiocracy.gov   
      
   On 2/24/19 7:55 PM, Felcher Adam Schiff wrote:   
   > She may be America’s most famous freshman congresswoman, but in   
   > New York, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is a virtual ghost.   
   >   
   > She has no district office and no local phone number, unlike the   
   > state’s three other freshman members.   
   >   
   > And it’s unclear whether the 29-year-old lawmaker, who   
   > represents the Bronx and Queens, actually still lives in the   
   > Parkchester neighborhood that has been so closely tied to her   
   > rise — even though she won her upset victory over fellow   
   > Democrat Rep. Joe Crowley with accusations that his home in   
   > Virginia made him too Washington-focused to serve his district.   
   >   
   > Ocasio-Cortez has used her deceased father’s Bronx condo on her   
   > voter registration since 2012, and even posed in the one-bedroom   
   > Bronx flat for celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz in a Vogue   
   > magazine profile after her stunning November election. But The   
   > Post could find little indication she continues to live there.   
   >   
   > The Post e-mailed the Ocasio-Cortez’ spokesman, Corbin Trent,   
   > four times with specific questions — they were all ignored. On   
   > Saturday, The Post reached Corbin by phone.   
   >   
   > “We will not be commenting,” he said. Among the queries he   
   > refused to answer: Where does the congresswoman live?   
   >   
   > On Saturday night, a staffer promised a Post reporter that   
   > Ocasio-Cortez would talk to him after a speaking event in Corona.   
   >   
   > During the event, two staffers were seen reading an early   
   > edition of this story on their phones.   
   >   
   > “Come downstairs, I have to take a picture quick,” the   
   > congresswoman then told the reporter after the event,   
   > instructing him to wait for her. Twenty minutes later, she   
   > ducked out a back door, jumped into a chauffeured SUV, and   
   > zoomed off.   
   >   
   > Ocasio-Cortez was in New York City last weekend and this   
   > weekend, with appearances in Queens on both Saturdays — yet she   
   > was not seen coming or going from her Parkchester pad either day.   
   >   
   > Her apartment’s next-door neighbor said she had never seen   
   > Ocasio-Cortez. Another neighbor, who has lived down the hall   
   > from the congresswoman’s apartment for the last 40 years, said   
   > he’d never seen her or her boyfriend, Riley Roberts, who has   
   > claimed the address as his own since last spring.   
   >   
   > “I would have remembered,” said the neighbor when shown a   
   > photograph of Ocasio-Cortez.   
   >   
   > Workers at Jerry’s Pizzeria, less than a block from her   
   > building, and at the local grocery store said she had never   
   > patronized their businesses — and a server at a nearby taqueria   
   > said the congresswoman had only come in to be filmed by news   
   > crews.   
   >   
   > A postal worker who delivers mail to the building said that in   
   > the last 10 years he has only seen Ocasio-Cortez intermittently,   
   > and that several months’ worth of mail regularly accumulates in   
   > the mailbox before anyone bothers to collect it. The worker said   
   > that Ocasio-Cortez and Roberts were the only ones getting mail   
   > at the address.   
   >   
   > “Just because their names are on the box doesn’t mean they live   
   > there,” he said.   
   >   
   > And in 2017, when Ocasio-Cortez first filed paperwork to become   
   > a congressional candidate, she didn’t even know what district   
   > she lived in, mistakenly declaring plans to run for neighboring   
   > District 15 before correcting the error days later.   
   >   
   > Meanwhile, in Washington, Ocasio-Cortez has rented a pad in a   
   > luxe building in the chic Navy Yard neighborhood, where studios   
   > start at $1,840 a month, according to the Washington Examiner.   
   >   
   > Her new digs feature gold-plated amenities like a rooftop   
   > infinity pool, a cycling studio with a dozen pricey Pelotons,   
   > men’s and women’s saunas, and a golf simulation lounge — but no   
   > affordable units for low-income residents, in spite of a local   
   > law that requires them, the news site reported.   
   >   
   > In the eight months since Ocasio-Cortez’s dramatic defeat of the   
   > long-serving Crowley in June’s Democratic primary — a victory   
   > that all but guaranteed a general election win in the heavily   
   > Democratic District 14 — the congresswoman has failed to open a   
   > local office.   
   >   
   > Ocasio-Cortez has made four trips to the city since she was   
   > inducted to Congress on Jan. 3, according to a Post review of   
   > published reports and social media. Those excursions featured   
   > five public events in her district — and three high-profile   
   > Manhattan appearances, including a Jan. 21 guest slot on “The   
   > Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”   
   >   
   > A district office “makes government immediately responsible and   
   > accountable to the citizens,” said Jadan Horyn of Reclaim New   
   > York, a government watchdog group.   
   >   
   > “Constituents need to know their representatives are working for   
   > them, and not for national prominence.”   
   >   
   > The space slated for Ocasio-Cortez’s constituent office is in a   
   > new building in Jackson Heights.   
   >   
   > Suites in the building at 74-09 37th Avenue rent for about $40   
   > per square foot. Ocasio-Cortez’s office, on the third floor, is   
   > just under 5,000 square feet, which would bring the annual   
   > undiscounted rental price to $200,000 or nearly $17,000 a month.   
   >   
   > In January, Ocasio-Cortez sought to blame the delay on a   
   > stubborn landlord at a different building where her predecessor   
   > Crowley maintained one of his two district offices.   
   >   
   > “Although we attempted to take over our predecessor’s lease, the   
   > landlord wanted to almost double rent” from $7,800 to $15,000   
   > per month, she tweeted Jan. 22 — without specifying which of   
   > Crowley’s spaces she had hoped to inherit.   
   >   
   > “That spike would have meant less caseworkers for our   
   > community,” she posted. “Instead, we’re making a new space with   
   > a family business!”   
   >   
   > But Ocasio-Cortez neglected to mention that her rent would end   
   > up likely topping the cost of Crowley’s former digs.   
   >   
   > When The Post visited last week, the congresswoman’s office was   
   > still under construction, with workers building interior walls   
   > and installing drywall. A carpenter there said the work would   
   > probably take several more weeks to complete. A staffer said at   
   > a community board meeting that it would open March 4.   
   >   
   > It’s unknown if taxpayers or the landlord is paying for the   
   > extensive renovations.   
   >   
   > A spokesman for Cow Bay Contracting, the Nassau County   
   > construction company working on the office space, refused   
      
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