Lefty NY lawmaker Jessica Ramos blasts AOC as ‘absent,’ out of touch

A progressive state lawmaker from Queens took a shot at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for being “absent” and out of touch — accusing the left-wing icon of blowing off a meeting.

Sen. Jessica Ramos, whose western and central Queens district overlaps with AOC’s congressional district and who has been an ally, unloaded on the congresswoman after a med student complained about her canceling a health care forum.

“A couple of the most highly respected health policy academics recently set up a meeting with AOC’s office to discuss NHS-style healthcare reform,” said the medical student, who uses the Twitter handle @jai_lies.

“They were told bluntly by AOC’s staff, ‘we’re not doing healthcare right now.'”

The health activist added: “So while she’s doing performative resistance art for the cameras she’s ‘not doing healthcare right now. We are in the middle of two pandemics & people are still dying because they lack healthcare. this is not fighting.”

He was referring to AOC getting arrested during an abortion protest and faking that her hands were handcuffed behind her back.

Ramos then began a series of attack tweets on the congresswoman.

“Maybe if you spent more time in your office and with your team you’d know what goes on. Just saying it would be nice if you breathed our air,” Ramos, who chairs the Senate Labor Committee and is backed by the left-leaning Working Families Party, said in a tweet.

“So, as an employer, what happens with the staffer who said this?”

https://twitter.com/jessicaramos/status/1551346904457412611

Ramos didn’t back down when AOC supporters chastised her for the criticism.

“I believe what I see and hear on my streets and in my office building :),” Ramos said.

Asked if she was jealous, Ramos said in another tweet, “Nah. Just want my congressional representative to be around and do their job in the community.”

She continued: “My congressperson being absent is not dirty laundry. It’s never been with any other elected official.”

Ocasio-Cortez responded in a tweet, “I’m really sorry to hear that this happened. It’s not representative of me nor my values.

“If you can connect with details I’d appreciate it. I’ll follow so DMs will be open.”

A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez said they had no record of the supposed meeting.

“Our team has asked for additional information from @jai_lies. Based on what he’s tweeted so far we aren’t able to identify what meeting he’s referencing but we’re continuing to look into it,” said the spokesperson, Lauren Hitt.

According to House records, it appears that AOC spends time away from her DC office as well as the district one.

She’s asked to vote by proxy via a letter to the House clerk 26 times, including on 11 occasions this year and four in May alone.

That’s more than her Democratic colleagues in the New York City congressional delegation who also aren’t facing serious primary contests this election cycle. Rep. Adriano Espaillat has asked to proxy vote 13 times total, including six times in 2022.

Rep. Nydia Velázquez submitted 15 proxy vote requests, while Rep. Hakeem Jeffries requested six total, all of them filed this year.

Many members of the House of Representatives have since spring 2020 cited the “public health emergency” — the fading COVID-19 pandemic — to request to vote while away from the Capitol.

Rep. Mondaire Jones, for example, voted by proxy in summer 2021 while partying in the French Riviera.