FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM SEPTEMBER 5, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 29
Conservative group attacking AOC
hires libertarian consultant to run polls
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A conservative PAC based in D.C. created
for the sole purpose of unseating Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently sent
out a batch of antagonistic fl iers to residents
Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
Avella will run for old Queens City Council seat
BY JENNA BAGCAL
jbagcal@qns.com
@jenna_bagcal
Following former Senator Tony Avella’s
loss during the 11th Senate District election,
he all but disappeared. His social
media accounts remained untouched
since November 2018, save for a few
Facebook posts advertising a yard sale
at his home in Whitestone. His offi cial
LinkedIn account lists him as “retired”
since January 2019.
But now the former IDC member is
ready to run for offi ce again. POLITICO
fi rst reported on Board of Elections
records, which showed that Avella registered
as a candidate for his old City
Council seat in District 19. Councilman
Paul Vallone currently holds the position
but faces term limits in 2021, according to
a local newspaper.
Avella was councilman from 2002 to
2009 and ran an unsuccessful bid for
mayor in 2009. He then ran for senator
in District 11, unseating longtime
Republican Senator Frank Padavan.
In 2014, Avella joined the Independent
Democratic Conference (IDC) along with
seven other Democratic Senators. Th e
IDC was heavily criticized for caucusing
separately from other Democrats in
the Senate.
Th at same year, Avella won the Senate
seat against Senator John Liu by a margin
of fewer than 1,000 votes. But in 2018, the
former city comptroller defeated Avella,
securing over 54 percent of the votes last
November. Avella, who ran on third party
lines, earned only 21 percent of the vote.
During his 2018 campaign, a judge
found that Avella accepted $42,000
in State Independence Campaign
Committee funds (SICC) aft er the court
and BOE ordered former IDC members
to relinquish those funds. Avella had
taken approximately $145,000 from the
SICC fund since 2016.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
in areas of Queens and the Bronx
in her district.
Th e fl iers were distributed during
door-knocking eff orts between Aug. 22
and 26 that the PAC is conducting in the
area. Federal Election Commission fi lings
as of July 31 show that the Stop AOC PAC,
started by Virginia lawyer Dan Backer,
has spent over $50,000, not just on fl iers
but on constituent surveys, too.
Th e PAC began its mission of convincing
residents that Ocasio-Cortez is working
against their interest by buying digital
ads and TV spots and at fi rst commissioned
a poll by an impartial political
research fi rm. Th en they hired a libertarian
advocacy group to take over the polling
in the district.
“I’m a bit of a partisan and I recognize
that, but when we did the poll originally,
I would’ve thought the things that I care
about, other people care about. But they
don’t,” Backer told QNS. “It was all about
Amazon.”
Backer has been involved in dozens of
conservative PACs over the years. He currently
is leading two other organizations
aimed at reelecting President Trump in
2020. Great America PAC has raised $1.7
million and the Committee to Defend the
President PAC raised $3 million.
Based on the results of the initial poll
in March, Backer said that the Stop AOC
PAC has used subsequent polls in order to
quantify the level of anger among Ocasio-
Cortez’s constituents who didn’t agree
with Ocasio-Cortez’s stance on the Long
Island City Amazon HQ2 deal.
Over the past six months, the PAC commissioned
polls from two diff erent polling
companies to patently diff erent results.
Th e fi rst poll it commissioned was in
March from Revily, a political research
company that received 0 percent bias rating
by FiveTh irtyEight. Th e ensuing polls
found Ocasio-Cortez to be 43 percent
favorable and 28.9 percent unfavorable
within all registered voters in the district.
From there on, Backer found a new
organization to conduct its polling. It
hired Mobilize the Message, a campaign
consulting fi rm aimed at empowering
young libertarians to run for offi ce.
Th e two resulting polls, which Backer
claims was the result of between 1,000 and
2,000 completed surveys each, show the
majority of voters — and Democrats — in
her district fi nd her unfavorable. Th e most
recent one conducted in August shows 31
percent favorability and 37 percent unfavorability
for the progressive legislator.
“Scam artists gonna scam,” AOC’s
spokesperson told QNS in response to
the fi gures.
Photo via nysenate.gov
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