Difference between revisions of "Nancy Pelosi"

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==Controversy==
 
==Controversy==

Revision as of 13:24, 29 November 2006

File:Nancypelosi.jpg
Nancy Pelosi currently serves the 8th Congressional district of California

Nancy Patricia D'Alesandro Pelosi is the house minority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. A Democrat, she has represented California's 8th District since 1987 (it was numbered the 5th District until 1993).

Bio

Background

Pelosi was born March 26, 1940 in Baltimore, Maryland. Her father, Thomas D'Alesandro, Jr., was a U.S. Congressman from Maryland and also a Mayor of Baltimore.

Pelosi attended Trinity College (now Trinity University) in Washington, DC]]. She married and moved to San Francisco where she became involved in Democratic politics, working her way up to becoming party chairwoman for Northern California. In 1984 she served as the head of the host committee for the Democratic Nation Convention that year. In 1986, the year before she was elected to Congress, Pelosi served as Finance Chair to the successful Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which helped the Democrats win back the Senate.

The Pelosi family has a net worth of over $25 million, mainly investments of husband Paul Pelosi. Besides a San Francisco Bay area large portfolio of jointly owned real estate, he also has millions of dollars worth of shares in publicly traded companies such as Microsoft, Amazon.com and AT&T. [1]

Congressional Career

Pelosi won in a special election to succeed Sala Burton and took office on June 2, 1987. She was elected to a full term in 1988 and has easily held the seat since. She has never faced a credible Republican opponent, which is not surprising since Republicans only make up 13 percent of registered voters in the district.

After the Tiananmen protests of 1989, Pelosi became a supporter of the Chinese democracy movement and vocal critic of the government of the People's Republic of China and sponsored the Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992.

Democratic Party leadership

Minority Whip and Minority Leader Race

In 2001, she defeated Steny Hoyer to become the House Minority Whip, serving as second-in-command to Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri.

After the electoral defeat of 2002, Gephardt decided to run for President in 2004 and bowed out of his Minority Leader position. The leadership election pitted Pelosi against Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Tennessee centrist Harold Ford, Jr. She stated in 2002, "We must draw clear distinctions between our vision of the future and the extreme policies put forward by the Republicans. We cannot allow Republicans to pretend they share our values and then legislate against those values without consequence."[2]

During the run-up to the 2002 mid-term elections Pelosi showcased what her leadership would look like by opposing Gephardt's decision to back President Bush's Iraq war resolution.[3]

After Kaptur dropped out of the race, Pelosi bested Ford in a 177-29 vote. By way of her victory Pelosi made history by becoming the first woman to lead a party in Congress.[4]

Minority Leader

Pelosi has led the Democratic caucus on any number of issues. Despite losing many critical votes, she and her leadership team have been able to bring a unity to the Democratic caucus that hasn't existed for decades.[5] Congressional Quarterly examined over 600 roll call votes from 2005 where "a majority of Republicans voted against a majority of Democrats" and found that Democrats voted unanimously 82 times and on the party line 88 percent of the time. These are the highest numbers since CQ began keeping a tally of roll call votes in 1956.[6] She also worked hard to defeat the 2003 Medicare prescription drug bill, which passed the House after 16 Democrats joined the Republicans in voting "yes". She calls the Medicare vote her biggest disappointment.[7]

Pelosi has often allowed members of the Democratic caucus to showcase positions or pieces of legislation rather than keeping the media coverage for herself. Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.) introduced a resolution challenging President Bush to come back to House and seek an authorization to use military force before invading Iraq, for example. Another example is that of John Murtha's call for a wthidrawal from Iraq. Pelosi coordinated Murtha's call for withdrawal from behind the scenes while trying to appease the part of the party that opposed Murtha's plan.[8]

2006 elections

In 2006, the Republicans nominated Michael A. Denunzio, and the Green Party nominated Krissy Keefer to face Pelosi in her November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006) [9]



Controversy

Views on Israel

Pelosi addressed the 2005 Policy Conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. In her speech she said that the root of the Israel-Palestine conflict is the right of Israel to exist, not the occupation of Palestine, and pledged the protection of the U.S.:

""There are those who contend that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is all about Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. This is absolute nonsense. In truth, the history of the conflict is not over occupation, and never has been: it is over the fundamental right of Israel to exist... The United States will stand with Israel now and forever. Now and forever."[10]

In July 2006, she threatened to boycott the speech by the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malaki to the joint session of congress unless he repudiated his earlier criticism of Israeli aggression against Lebanon. [11]

Beginning August 8, 1991, Nancy Pelosi went on a tour of Israel as part of an Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith congressional mission. The other congressmen on the tour were: Leon Panetta, George Miller and Charles Schumer.

Pelosi has strong ties to a number of Jewish groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee; she is a close friend of Amy Friedkin, a past AIPAC president.[12]

Network neutrality legislation

When Rep. Joe Barton and Sen. Ted Stevens pushed anti-network neutrality legislation in 2006, Pelosi came out in favor of neutrality, angering telecom companies and some fellow Democrats by urging her caucus to fall in line behind her. Roll Call also quoted "insiders" as saying that the damage telecom companies deal to Democrats in retaliation was low because they had already maxed out their campaign contributions to the legal limits until after the 2006 election.[13] Network neutrality has been called the "first amendment of the Internet". [14]

PAC Fined

In 2004 a political action committee (PAC), Team Majority, controlled by Pelosi was fined $21,000 for "for improperly accepting donations over federal limits, according to records and interviews."[15] Pelosi used two PACs, including Team Majority, to raise money for her colleagues during the 2002 election. The fine came from Pelosi's use of multiple PACs to exceed donation limits to other members campaign committees. Two Democratic lawmakers, Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Julie Thomas (D-MD), paid fines of $2,500 each for receiving illegal contributions from Pelosi's PAC. Team Majority ceased operating before the fine was issued.[16]

Earmarks and "pork"

In February of 2003 the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Pelosi had sought a $1 million earmark for an advisor and former campaign treasurer's think tank:[17]

Pelosi's office confirmed Thursday that the San Francisco Democrat, who was elected House minority leader in November, obtained the $1 million for the USF center, without requiring [her longtime adviser and campaign treasurer, former Lt. Gov. Leo T.] McCarthy and USF to go through the normal application process for such grants. But Pelosi said the program got the money on its merits, not because of any political ties to the congresswoman. [18]

A 2005 Washington Times report alleges that Pelosi helped a campaign donor secure funds from a federal agency days after one of her staff members returned from a fact-finding trip to Spain that was funded by the donor.[19]

Pelosi and her office denied any connection between the trip and the money sought by WestStart-CALSTART. Pelosi's spokeswoman stated that Republican staffers also went on the trip to Spain.

Committees and Affiliations

Committees

As the House Democratic leader, Pelosi does not belong to any committees.

Coalitions and Caucuses

  • Co Chair, Democratic National Platform Committee, 1992
  • Chair, Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, 1985
  • Co Chair, AIDS Task Force of the House Democratic Caucus
  • Co Chair, Biomedical Research Caucus
  • Chair, Congressional Working Group on China
  • Vice Chair, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
  • Democratic Homeland Security Task Force
  • Democratic National Committee
  • Chair, Democratic Steering Committee
  • Vice Chair, Executive Committee, Democratic Study Group

Boards and other Affiliations

  • Founder, Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS
  • Board of Trustees, LSB Leakey Foundation.


Articles and Resources

Resources

Local blogs and discussion sites

Articles

Swiftboating Nancy Pelosi

Contact

DC Office:
2371 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-0508
Phone: 202-225-4965
Fax: 202-225-8259
Email: sf.nancy AT mail.house.gov
Web Email
Website

District Office - San Francisco:
450 Golden Gate Avenue, 14th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94102-3460
Phone: 415-556-4862
Fax: 415-861-1670

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