New York Socialist Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has continued to use Uber and other ride-hailing apps – but not New York taxi cabs – despite blaming them for a suicide.

Between July and the end of September, Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign spent nearly $4,500 on rides with Uber, Lyft, and Juno, according to the receipts submitted to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

The latest figures still indicate that she remains unashamed of using the services she criticizes for exploitation and leading people to suicide, despite increasing pressure and accusations of hypocrisy.

Ocasio-Cortez has frequently attacked ride-hailing apps for what she sees as underpaying its drivers, decrying their pay as "exploitation” if they don’t get at least $15 an hour, the so-called living wage.

She directly blamed Uber for the suicide death of Doug Schifter, a driver in his 60s, who killed himself with a shotgun amid financial difficulties caused by flooding the streets of New York with alternative and cheaper options of taxis, as detailed in a lengthy Facebook post.

"NYC's fourth driver suicide. Yellow cab drivers are in financial ruin due to the unregulated expansion of Uber. What was a living wage job now pays under minimum,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet.

The new data from the campaign follows previous Fox News’ report that revealed the campaign spent nearly $4,000 on Uber and $2,500 on Juno between April and late June when she won against top Democrat Joe Crowley in a New York Democratic primary

Ocasio-Cortez’ campaign did cut its excessive spending on Uber rides amid scrutiny, spending merely $500 in the last quarter, with fares ranging from $2 to nearly $60.

But the cut was offset by the use of Lyft, another ride-hailing app facing nearly identical criticisms as Uber. The campaign spent over $2,700 on rides with Lyft.

 

Posted by: Jeremy Smith at February 04, 2020 07:55 AM (6r8wJ)

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