Conservatives target Ocasio-Cortez's 'Green New Deal' in New York billboards

[March 06, 2019]  By Alex Dobuzinskis

(Reuters) - A pro-business group unveiled two billboards targeting Democratic congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York City on Tuesday, criticizing her proposal for a "Green New Deal" aimed at building a renewable energy economy.

The digital billboards on the side of a skyscraper in Manhattan's Times Square are the latest broadside against the 29-year-old liberal known as "AOC," by the Job Creators Network, founded by billionaire Bernard Marcus, a former chief executive of Home Depot Inc.

Representative Ocasio-Cortez, whose district includes parts of the New York City boroughs of the Bronx and Queens, has sought to push her party to the left on environmental and economic issues. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in November in an upset victory over a more mainstream Democratic incumbent.

Ocasio-Cortez had opposed Amazon.com Inc's plan to create a major New York outpost with nearly $3 billion in city and state incentives. When the company last month scrapped plans to build in New York, she called it a big victory for progressive politicians.

Last month, she teamed up with U.S. Senator Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat, to lay out a plan to eliminate U.S. greenhouse gas emissions within a decade with government-led investments in clean energy and infrastructure.

"Hey AOC, you're the 'boss'?" read one billboard. "WE DON'T THINK SO. The American PEOPLE are the boss," said the other sign, with a link to a website critical of the "Green New Deal."

An electronic billboard unveiled by a pro-business group targeting Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slamming her proposal for a "Green New Deal" aimed at building a renewable energy economy, is seen in Times Square in New York City, New York, U.S., March 5, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Segar

In the last two weeks, the Job Creators Network has erected seven billboards in Times Square aimed at Ocasio-Cortez and her policies, a spokeswoman for the group, Elaine Parker, said in an email.

The group has called the "Green New Deal" an unrealistic and potentially ruinous plan for the U.S. economy that would require massive government spending.

A representative for Ocasio-Cortez did not return emails seeking comment on the billboards.

Last month, Ocasio-Cortez said in a message on Twitter that the billboard campaign demonstrated that her fight against "dark money & anti-worker policies" was gaining traction.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; editing by Matthew Lewis and Grant McCool)

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