'Hey AOC, saw your wack tweet': Conservative business group escalates Times Square billboard feud with Ocasio-Cortez over Amazon HQ2 pullout
- The Job Creators Network, a conservative business group, erected a billboard in Times Square blaming New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Amazon's termination of a deal to build its second headquarters in New York.
- Ocasio-Cortez called that sign "wack" and said it was funded by "billionaire-funded groups" advocating "dark money & anti-worker policies."
- The JCN on Thursday renewed its attack on Thursday by making two more billboards calling Ocasio-Cortez out. One says: "Hey AOC, saw your wack tweet."
The Job Creators Network (JCN), a conservative business advocacy group, escalated its feud with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez by erecting a new billboard in Times Square blaming her for Amazon's canceling its plans to build a second headquarters in New York.
Ocasio-Cortez was a vocal opponent of Amazon's deal with New York to build a new base there, nicknamed HQ2, which would have seen the tech company receive about $3 billion in tax credits over 10 years and create 25,000 jobs at the new headquarters.
Amazon cited the resistance of local politicians in a blog post announcing the cancellation.
The JCN put up a sign on 42nd Street and 8th Avenue on Wednesday appearing to solely blame Ocasio-Cortez for the failure of the deal, saying she had caused "25,000 lost NYC jobs " and "$4 billion in lost wages."
Ocasio-Cortez criticized the billboard on Twitter on Thursday morning. She said it was "wack," pointed out that it was funded by billionaires, and said the group advocates "dark money & anti-worker policies."
The JCN was founded by Bernard Marcus, a billionaire donor to President Donald Trump's campaign, and has also received money from the Mercer Family Foundation, which is run by a billionaire family that has donated to Trump and the right-leaning Breitbart news company.
The JCN on Thursday put up two new billboards in response to Ocasio-Cortez's attacks. The first billboard says: "Hey AOC, saw your wack tweet," in a clear reference to her tweet.
The second sign, located just below the first, says: "Hey AOC, this billboard cost about $4,000. But you cost NY 25,000 jobs and $4,000,000,000 in annual lost wages."
A photo of the new ads sent to Business Insider by representatives of the JCN shows that they are located by the New Victory Theater, located on 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues.
It's not clear how long the second set of billboards will be up in Times Square.
INSIDER has contacted the JCN for comment.
The JCN also created a new web domain - www.ThanksAOC.com - that directly links to its press release criticizing Ocasio.
WhoIs.net, a website that tracks domain names, said ThanksAOC.com was created this Monday.