Amazon 'burn book' documented New York lawmakers’ negative HQ2 comments: Report
E-commerce giant Amazon was closely watching New York's reaction to its plans to build a new headquarters there.
According to a report from The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, company executives kept a Microsoft Word document detailing insults coming from New York politicians regarding its now-abandoned HQ2 plans in Long Island City. The Journal, which reviewed the document, said it was titled “NY Negative Statements” and had sections for a half-dozen politicians and officials who opposed the deal.
Among the items said to be recorded in the document were the promoted use of the Twitter hashtag “#scamazon” and criticism of a planned helipad.
Comments that reportedly populated the document included one from Sen. Mike Gianaris and New York City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who released a statement saying they were “not elected to serve as Amazon drones.”
In a statement to FOX Business, an Amazon spokesperson said the document was a briefing paper that had public statements about the project to help executives prepare for hearings and "to call it anything more is a gross exaggeration."
Amazon called off plans to build its New York-area HQ2 in February, despite receiving billions of dollars’ worth of incentives. At the time, it said the commitment to build a new homebase “requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local-elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term.”
While New York’s Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo was in favor of the deal – a number of high-profile politicians from the proposed HQ2 were not, including Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She cheered Amazon’s decision to leave New York, saying in a tweet at the time that “every day New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world.”
A spokesperson for Gov. Cuomo did not immediately return FOX Business’ request for comment.
Amazon has not detailed plans to move that facility to another location. Instead, it is moving forward with another HQ2 facility in Northern Virginia.
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