Bio Brief - Nancy Pelosi - Part 1

Nancy Pelosi needs to be slapped down hard (figuratively not literally). I have not seen any man or woman, other than the Obamas, quite so power hungry or so arrogant in a long time. A week ago she went on the air to basically tell President Obama to beware, she will not tolerate him trying to usurp any of her powers as Speaker of the House. This weekend she defended the addition of birth control funding in the stimulus package by saying that “contraceptions will reduce costs to the states and federal government”. In other words, this mother of five wants everyone else to stop having children as they would be a burden on our economy. So who exactly is this woman who is now third in line for the Presidency and how did she get into this very powerful position?

Nancy Pelosi was born in 1940 into a political family. Her father, Thomas D’Alesandro Jr. was a Roosevelt Democrat serving in the Congress from 1939 to 1947 and was the mayor of Baltimore from 1947 to 1950. (Her brother also became the mayor of Baltimore from 1967 to 1971.) After attending a Catholic all girls’ high school, Nancy went to Trinity College in Washington DC where she majored in political science and graduated in 1962. While at Trinity she met Paul Pelosi, a San Francisco native, and they married upon graduation.

OK I am getting extremely frustrated in writing this piece. Finding any information about Nancy’s early life is like pulling teeth and forget trying to get data about her husband, Paul Pelosi. I can understand that he wants to stay in the background as one article stated, but this is ridiculous. The few tidbits I can find make me want to learn more. For example, an article from the San Francisco Chronicle two years ago stated “The family money, along with the many business and social connections Paul Pelosi has brought to their 43-year marriage, gave Nancy Pelosi the financial independence she needed to spend long hours doing unpaid Democratic Party business in the 1970s and 1980s. Since she was elected to Congress in 1987, it has also added a degree of comfort to her life in Washington, where she has a $1 million-plus residence and a lifestyle that doesn't depend on the $212,100 annual salary she will receive as speaker.”

Further on in the article it stated that during Nancy’s first Democrat primary for the district, her husband was investigated by her competition. While little was found that could be used against her, since then her husband has been careful about his investments. But that’s it. I can not find anything else to explain how she became the ninth wealthiest Congressperson. And I am not the only one hitting a brick wall. Ironically, one of the hits from my google on Paul Pelosi returned a blog from someone asking if anyone knows anything about him as she couldn’t find any information! It is also interesting to note that if you google Paul Pelosi you are more likely to get hits on her son by the same name than on her husband, but more on the children later.

Anyway, all I could find from Wekipedia was that after Nancy and Paul were married they first lived in New York City then moved to San Francisco where Paul’s brother Ronald Pelosi was a member of the City and County of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors. The same San Francisco Chronicle article that talked about his wealth also mentioned that Paul Pelosi “was willing to uproot their five children from their home in Presidio Terrace in 1987 and move into a rented place in Pacific Heights, firmly inside the congressional district Nancy Pelosi was set to run for”.

The district Nancy moved her family into had been dominated by the Burton’s. First Phil Burton was the Democratic Congressman from 1964 until his death in 1983. His wife was then elected in 1983 and was Congresswoman until her death in 1987. Both had been political mentors of Nancy and made it known that they wanted Nancy to be next in line for their Congressional seat. With her husband’s money and having been anointed by the Burton’s, Nancy’s win was pretty much a given in this heavily Democratic district. In fact, according to Wekipedia “Pelosi represents one of the safest Democratic districts in the country. Democrats have held the seat since 1949, and Republicans, who currently make up only 13 percent of registered voters in the district, have not made a serious bid for the seat since the early 1960s. Pelosi has kept this tradition going. Since her initial victory in 1987, she has been re-elected 10 times, receiving at least 75% of the vote. She has never participated in candidates' debates.”

So Nancy Pelosi, through her husband’s money, strong democratic support and her own ambition has been reelected 10 times with at least 75% of the votes. Knowing that her seat was secure allowed her to next concentrate on securing power within the House. During the past 20 years, she served on two of the most sought after committees, Appropriations and Intelligence and was the ranking Democrat in the latter committee. She became House Minority Whip in 2001 and in 2002 was elected as the Minority Leader and is the first woman to hold either position. When the Democrats regained control of the House in November 2006, Nancy Pelosi was unanomously elected as the first woman Speaker of the House, a position she still holds today.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is currently one of the most powerful people in the United States. Now that all branches of government are dominated by Democrats, Pelosi’s influence is greater than ever. However, this 68 year old woman’s far left views are already clashing with the new President and with a country which is not nearly as liberal as her San Francisco base. The second part of this Bio Brief will discuss her extreme liberal beliefs and how she could impact the country and you.