New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has slammed Amazon for pulling the plug on plans to set up a headquarters in the city, saying the decision caught him by surprise. (Feb. 14) AP
Politicians on the left and right continued sniping Sunday over who is to blame for Amazon’s shocking decision last week to scuttle plans to build a second headquarters in New York City.
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., castigated New York Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for her repeated criticism of the deal.
“If Joe Crowley was still a congressman, it wouldn’t have happened,” King said in an interview that aired Sunday on AM 970 in New York, according to The Hill. Ocasio-Cortez defeated Crowley, a longtime Queens congressman, in a Democratic primary last year.
“It’s like putting a sign up that you can’t do business in New York,” King said. “Nothing is ever perfect, but in this case, it was as close to it as you’re going to get.”
On “Meet the Press” on Sunday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who helped broker the deal, blamed Amazon for reacting so abruptly to the criticism.
“I have no problem with fellow progressives criticizing a deal or wanting more from Amazon,” he said on the program. “I wanted more from Amazon, too, but the bottom line is, this is an example of an abuse of corporate power.
“Amazon took their ball and went home and what they did was confirm people’s worst fears about corporate America. Here’s the 1 percent dictating to everyone else even though we gave them a fair deal.”
