Ocasio-Cortez’s chief of staff might have broken campaign finance laws

The most powerful person in Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s office is a tech millionaire with homes in the West Village and Maryland, who is behind a set of inter-related companies raising ethical eyebrows with good-government groups.

Saikat Chakrabarti, 33, is the hard-left freshman’s chief of staff — the brains behind initiatives like the Green New Deal and the founder of a trio of companies that catapulted Ocasio-Cortez into Congress.

But those companies raise red flags with government-watchdog groups who say Chakrabarti may have skirted campaign finance law.

Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign paid Justice Democrats, a Tennessee-based PAC founded by Chakrabarti, a total of $41,108.59 for “campaign services” and “strategic consulting” in 2017 and 2018, Federal Election Commission filings show.

But PACs are not vendors and cannot provide more than $5,000 a year worth of services for any single candidate, according to FEC regulations. If candidates go above this amount, they need to seek advice directly from the FEC.

“They believe their cause is so great that they don’t have to play by the rules,” said Tom Anderson, who heads up the Government Integrity Project at the National Legal and Policy Center in Virginia, a conservative watchdog group. “They believe that they are above campaign finance law.”

“It was payment for services,” Ocasio-Cortez spokesman Corbin Trent told The Post, insisting that both the campaign and the PAC followed FEC rules and that they sought advice from an elections lawyer.

Brand New Congress, another PAC that Chakrabarti founded to support lefty candidates, paid Ocasio-Cortez’s boyfriend $6,000 in 2017, filings show. The payment to Riley Roberts was made at the same time that Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign paid Brand New Congress LLC $18,880 for “strategic consulting.”

Chakrabarti justified the payment last month, saying it was for online fund-raising services, but a conservative watchdog group disagrees.

Full: https://nypost.com/2019/03/02/ocasio-cortezs-chief-of-staff-might-have-broken-campaign-finance-laws/

200 detained immigrants in Texas have mumps, Texas Tribune reports

HOUSTON, Texas (KXAN) — Approximately 200 immigrant detainees residing in detention facilities across Texas are suffering from the mumps, the Texas Tribune reports.

The Tribune reports that the Texas Department of State Health had confirmed 178 cases of the mumps among detainees by Feb. 21. They reported an additional five cases among detention center facility employees.

According to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 76-percent of mumps cases among immigrant detainees nationwide come from Texas detention facilities.

Earlier in February, Health officials reported seven cases of the mumps were confirmed at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Houston.

Mumps is contagious and spreads through coughing and sneezing. Common symptoms are fever, headache, and painfully swollen salivary glands that can cause puffy cheeks. Most people recover within weeks. Outbreaks are rare but have happened in Texas and the Houston region.

https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/200-detained-immigrants-in-texas-have-mumps-texas-tribune-reports/1820418368