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Pelosi,
Right for the Left
By
Monty Rainey
November
17, 2002
If
the first full day on the job was any indication of what lies ahead
for Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), she’s in for a rough ride. Replacing Dick
Gephardt (D-MO) Friday as the Democrats new House Minority Leader, the
California Democrat found herself facing allegations of campaign
fundraising violations.
Pelosi,
who voted in favor of the McCain – Feingold campaign finance reform
bill, is the subject of a formal complaint from the Federal Elections
Commission, and other election law experts claim she may have broken
the law in her pursuit of raising campaign cash for her fellow House
Democrats. Suspicions have also been raised that by raising large sums
of cash and spreading it among the campaigns of dozens of her
Democratic peers, Pelosi may have effectively bought her new status in
the House. This would certainly qualify Pelosi to head the House
Democrats.
Pelosi
succeeds Gephardt in more ways than one. Over the past several
election cycles, Pelosi has surpassed Gephardt to become one of the
Democrats most prolific fund-raisers. Pelosi also tops the list of
candidate-to-candidate contributions having donated more than $1
million through her personal campaign account to other Democratic
candidates. By comparison, Gephardt contributed a mere $293, 500, and
Pelosi’s half-hearted competition for the open House Leader
position, Harold Ford (D-TN), a paltry $29,000.
Pelosi
has a well earned reputation for bringing in cash. In fact, if she
could have contributed more, she certainly would have. Earlier this
year, she launched a second Political Action Committee, known as Team
Majority (not anymore!!!) to double her financial abilities. The
Federal Election Commission raised some questions about the legality
of Pelosi operating two PAC’s, so Pelosi ceased fund raising with
the second PAC.
Her
fund-raising reputation has also earned her a report entitled
"Buying Leadership: How Money Fueled Nancy Pelosi’s Rise in the
Democratic Ranks," by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP).
Complaints of Pelosi’s fund-raising have also been launched by the
national Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), whose Chairman, Ken Boehm
said of Pelosi, "… has been a strident supporter of campaign
finance reform, yet she has been caught violating the most basic law
of all, the limits on contributions."
According
to the records of the Federal Election Commission, PAC to the Future,
Pelosi’s first PAC, contributed the maximum allowed $5,000 to 26
Democratic candidates. Then, in April of this year, Pelosi’s second
PAC, Team Majority, contributed an additional $127,500 to those same
candidates.
Even
with her $1million plus, this number is really just a part of the
larger picture. This total doesn’t include the nearly $200,000
Pelosi contributed this year to the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee, the main fund-raising source for House Democrats. Add to
that, the more than $6 million Pelosi helped raise at campaign
fund-raisers for her future House voters.
This
should come as little surprise to anyone. I find it rather fitting
that the Democrats should choose as their leader a person who feels
above the law. She should fit right in with Democratic Parties
throughout the land, particularly New Jersey. Laws don’t mean much
to them either. This certainly makes Nancy Pelosi, right for the left.
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