Saikat Chakrabarti, the brain behind Ocasio-Cortez to leave office

SaraACarter.com
Sat, 03 Aug 2019 15:18 UTC

"Saikat [Chakrabarti] has decided to leave the office of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez to work with [nonprofit group] New Consensus to further develop plans for a Green New Deal," Corbin Trent, Ocasio-Cortez director of communications, said Friday.

Saikat Chakrabarti, was the chief of staff and also managed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's upstart 2018 campaign. He is leaving office after a series of controversies, and high profile fights with other democrats in the house of representatives.

"We are extraordinarily grateful for his service to advance a bold agenda and improve the lives of the people in NY-14. From his co-founding of Justice Democrats to his work on the Ocasio-Cortez campaign and in the official office, Saikat's goal has always been to do whatever he can to help the larger progressive movement, and we look forward to continuing working with him to do just that," Corbin Trent continued.

Chakrabarti has also been at the center of legal controversy. In April, he and Ocasio-Cortez were named in a Federal Election Commission complaint accusing them of overseeing a "shadowy web" of political action committees (PACs) that allowed them to raise more cash than they could have legally. The complaint also alleged that a limited liability company (LLC) was created to avoid federal expenditure requirements by offering Ocasio-Cortez and other Democratic candidates political consulting services at a price so low that the company apparently shut down before the election was even over.

The complaint centers on Brand New Congress LLC, a now-defunct company owned by Chakrabarti that aimed to recruit up to 400 left-wing candidates for national office. Dan Backer, the conservative attorney behind the complaint, said Brand New Congress LLC was guilty of providing campaign contributions known as "in-kind" expenditures by only charging candidates for a portion of the total cost of the service. Essentially, Backer claimed the company operated at a loss to provide its approved candidates with campaign services on the cheap.

Backer said Chakrabarti "was on all sides of the scheme." He owned Brand New Congress LLC, sat on the board of the Justice Democrats PAC and co-founded the Brand New Congress PAC — all while serving as Ocasio-Cortez's campaign manager.

Comment: AOC's brain? Not exactly what you would want to be known for.

• Hypocrisy from the Radical Left: AOC's Chief of Staff may have funneled money to her boyfriend through PAC
• AOC chief of staff funneled $1M from PAC to his own companies
• AOC and her chief of staff quietly removed from control of Justice Democrats PAC

Breitbart adds:

The shakeup comes as the congresswoman's office has been engulfed in controversy since Chakrabarti attacked more moderate members of the House majority.

In June, Chakrabarti took to social media to air his frustration with moderate Democrats for forcing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to abandon a $4.6 billion emergency border appropriation bill favored by progressives. In a series of tweets, Chakrabarti likened the moderates to old Southern Democrats, many of whom were avowed segregationists.

He stood by the comparison even when a progressive activist noted Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS), the first openly LGBT Native American woman elected to Congress, was one of the moderates that wavered on the bill.

"I think the point still stands. I don't think people have to be personally racist to enable a racist system. And the same could even be said of the Southern Democrats," Chakrabarti said in a now deleted follow-up tweet. "I don't believe Sharice is a racist person, but her votes are showing her to enable a racist system."

Although Breitbart News reported on the controversial comments at the time, neither Ocasio-Cortez nor House leadership acknowledged that Chakrabarti may have crossed a line. The situation, though, changed sharply in July when Ocasio-Cortez accused Pelosi of "singling out newly elected women of color."

After the rebuke, Pelosi's allies within the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) moved simultaneously to defend the Speaker and attack the freshman congresswoman. A number of the CBC's members, including Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-MO), directed their anger at both Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff.

"It shows you how ignorant and little history [Chakrabarti] knows, how ignorant he is to American history. How dare he," Clay toldThe Hill.

The Missouri Democrat extended his criticism to Justice Democrats, the group started by Chakrabart to support left-leaning primary challenges to establishment Democrats.

"I find it juvenile, their tactics, I find their ignorance to be beyond belief about American history and about who are really segregationists," Clay said. "And so how dare they try to play the race card at this point, it shows you the weakness of their arguments."

Other moderates appeared to echo the sentiment, with some even anonymously calling for Chakrabarti's ouster.

Saikat Chakrabarti, and the organization Justice Democrats has some interesting history: