The Irony Board: AOC's Not Paying Dues?

I love me some good irony, don't you?

And that's just what we have today, with this article from The Hill about how progressive favorite Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC as she's known - the very pro-union AOC -  is apparently going to refuse to do the one thing almost all union members do: pay their dues.

According to The Hill's reporting,

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Friday defended her decision not to pay dues to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) saying she would seek to funnel money directly to Democrats in tough races. 

Asked by The Hill if she intended to pay dues to the House Democratic campaign arm this cycle, Ocasio-Cortez replied, "I don't think so." 

Huh?  How's that again?

Ocasio-Cortez, who "has emerged as one of the Democratic Party's most prolific fundraisers in the House," outraised all other House Dems in Q3 2019, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi. She and the Speaker have clashed in the past, and according to the article, she's had issues with the DCCC as well,

particularly after it began sidelining vendors who work with candidates seeking to challenge incumbent Democrats in primaries. 

Instead of paying the ~$250K dues, she's hoping to raise that money and give it to other candidates - House Dems, and "non-incumbent candidates." And, her behavior is not making other members of her union happy. Rep. Gregory Meeks, also from NY, said this in an interview on Fox.

Sometimes the question comes: 'Do you want to be in a majority or do you want to be in the minority? And do you want to be part of a team?'

An unnamed Dem was, according to Fox, "less diplomatic."

Deadbeat Cortez should pay her bills. She's always whining about people paying their fair share and here she is, leaving her friends with the bill. 

And, of course, helping progressive candidates in battles against incumbents like Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas (who has paid his dues) is not sitting well with her fellow Dems. Cuellar said of AOC supporting his primary opponent,

Certainly, these are new times, which is something that we certainly don't agree with. To have people try to purify the caucus because they don't agree with them - 100%, I certainly don't agree with that. Hopefully we will start to get away from this circular firing squad.

 For her part, AOC says she's "happy to support some incumbents, but it's not just a blanket rule."

And speaking of a 'blanket rule', I always thought that everyone in the union was supposed to pay the dues - even people who disagreed with what the union was doing, right? That doesn't get you a pass - not according to politicians, anyway. Some courts have ruled in favor of the 'don't want to pay' crowd, but you won't find a lot of Democrat pols taking that position.

And I thought that union members didn't attack their own? I get that you can support a different slate of candidates for union leadership roles than the incumbents, for example - free and fair elections being part and parcel of the union construct, and all. But refusing to support your fellow members?  That goes against everything the labor movement and the pro-labor politicians stand for, doesn't it? I always thought it did.

I wonder what would happen if all the folks who are in unions today, or who get all the union jobs proposed under the Green New Deal all the sudden decided that paying dues was for the birds? I'm pretty sure a certain congresswoman would have something to say about that...