Thread: Interesting Financial Picture of Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi's Wealth

$13 million of Pelosi's fortune comes mostly from real estate and business investments. Her husband, Paul Pelosi, has wide real estate, stock, and bond holdings, including San Francisco condos, a Napa Valley vineyard, a hotel resort in Rutherford, Calif., and at least a $1 million investment in a San Francisco limousine business.

Pelosi's 1996 stock purchases included Compurad Inc., Fritz Companies Inc., Fusion Medical Tech Inc., Hambrecht and Quist Group, Getty Communications, Odwalla Inc., and Vanguard Airlines Inc.

Her spouse cashed in more than $50 million worth of common stock in Container Programs Inc., an equipment leasing company. Her husband owns a cable TV services operating company, a restaurant operating company (illegal aliens work there), and much, much more. She reports joint holdings of at least $10.6 million.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her husband invested between $50,000 and $100,000 in T. Boone Pickens's Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which could benefit from legislation the California Democrat favors to boost U.S. use of natural gas.

The investment is a small fraction of the Pelosis' net worth. But it highlights the unlikely alliance evolving between Mr. Pickens, an oil man with a long history of support for Republican causes, and powerful Democrats who have welcomed Mr. Pickens's recent campaign for developing alternatives to oil.

Drew Hammill, a spokesman for Mrs. Pelosi, said the investment "does not raise any direct conflict-of-interest issues" or violate any ethics rules of the House of Representatives. "The speaker has been an advocate for increasing our country's energy independence and for renewable energy for years, long before this purchase," Mr. Hammill said. He said Mrs. Pelosi was unavailable to comment directly on the issue.

Legal experts say that unless policies promoted by a lawmaker exclusively benefit him or her, no ethics laws are violated. "The ethics rules are so incredibly narrow that unless you are pushing or voting for something that will impact only you, it doesn't count as a conflict," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Asked if the investment could raise the appearance of impropriety, even if it is legal, Mr. Hammill said such a standard would mean the speaker or her spouse wouldn't be able to own shares in any company given the comprehensive nature of her position.

The Pelosis got in on the ground floor at Clean Energy, purchasing shares in an auction when Mr. Pickens publicly launched the company on May 25, 2007. Clean Energy markets compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas as a fuel for motor vehicles. The investment was valued at $50,000 to $100,000 when the shares opened at $12.10 apiece, according to Mrs. Pelosi's financial disclosure forms. These forms list investments only as a range of values. The purchase is listed as stock held by the speaker's husband, successful financier and businessman Paul Pelosi.

The investment rose at the end of 2007, when shares closed at $15.14, to bbetween $100,001 and $250,000. On Friday, the stock closed at $14.23 a share, down from a high of $20.64 in October.

The shares' value represents less than 1% of the Pelosis' total 2007 public and private investment assets, which, not including real estate, are estimated at between $15 million and $52 million, based on the Speaker's disclosure record. Including real-estate and bank account assets, the Pelosis' net asset value is estimated at between $35 million and $156 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Treatment of non-union workers

According to opensecrets.org, nearly half of Nancy Pelosi's assets are tied up in a Napa County, California vineyard called Zinfandel Lane. Capitolnews.com has reported Pelosi only employs non-union laborers and does not provide health coverage for her workers. In addition, it is believed illegal aliens have been exploited by Nancy Pelosi on the work farm, as well as a general question surrounding paying a basic livable wage for many of societies' most vulnerable.

CordeValle Golf Club and Resort

Nancy Pelosi has one of her largest investments in a private golf development partnership called Lions Gate Limited. The Santa Clara County Planning Committee approved a plan for them to build a 275-acre golf course 30 minutes south of San Jose, but only under strict conditions. They agreed to allow 60% public usage of the course and to abide by strict environmental rules, since a number of endangered species were present in the area. The club opened in 2000 and did very well, making $250,000 for each member and $400,000 for corporations.

But then the Planning Commission took at look to see if the guidelines had been followed. First of all, only about a dozen non-members had been actually able to play on the course, a far cry from 60%. CordeValle had also set up obvious anti-public rules, such as requiring people to call seventy-two hours in advance and pay close to $300 for 18 holes. Upon investigation, the Commission learned that nonmembers would be told that the club was "full" and turned away even when the club was relatively empty. There were a series of public hearings on the matter and it was concluded that Lion's Gate was in clear violation of the agreement they had made.

During the hearings, it was learned that Lion's Gate had also ignored many of the environmental regulations they were responsible for. The ponds that they needed to make in order to preserve two species of lizard and turtle were not built. And only one mandatory annual environmental report had been submitted in seven years[38]. In 2004, a county report complained that improperly abandoned wells and urban pollutants from the resort were causing water quality degradation in the area. [39]

In 2003, the Pelosis and the development partnership finally hired some lobbyists and put a few government employees on the pay role. This caused the commission to cave and give up their fraud investigation as long as the course agreed to host a charity golf tournament for children.

Treatment of non-union workers

According to opensecrets.org, nearly half of Nancy Pelosi's assets are tied up in a Napa County, California vineyard called Zinfandel Lane. Capitolnews.com has reported Pelosi only employs non-union laborers and does not provide health coverage for her workers. In addition, it is believed illegal aliens have been exploited by Nancy Pelosi on the work farm, as well as a general question surrounding paying a basic livable wage for many of societies' most vulnerable.

Seems to me a boycott of that winery is in order,in addition to an ICE raid. Wonder how Nancy likes the "card check" legislation Obama is pushing?

What a sleaze she is.

Capitolnews.com has reported Pelosi only employs non-union laborers and does not provide health coverage for her workers. In addition, it is believed illegal aliens have been exploited by Nancy Pelosi on the work farm, as well as a general question surrounding paying a basic livable wage for many of societies' most vulnerable.

IMO, it doesn't seem like this stuff would be hard to prove. Where's a good investigative reporter when you need one?

get an address in the winery and call it into ICE.
lets see if they raid the place of a US sitting congress person

Originally Posted by jamesw62

get an address in the winery and call it into ICE.
lets see if they raid the place of a US sitting congress person

Sweet Idea

We can't even get ICE to go a mile from their office and raid the day labor center.

Pelosi's most outstanding characteristic is her complete hypocrisy.

She's actually one of the poorer members of the oligarchy.

IT is a traitor in an ugly woman's body

Originally Posted by vistalad

Pelosi's most outstanding characteristic is her complete hypocrisy.

And thats her good point!