A New Pelosi Pigout?
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Tuesday, May 08, 2007 4:20 PM PT
Media: When Dennis Hastert was accused of profiting from congressional earmarks last year, media went into a front-page frenzy over "corruption." With Nancy Pelosi now in the same spot, it's a back-page story.
In case you haven't heard, and maybe you haven't, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slipped in a $25 million provision for San Francisco's waterfront on a $15 billion federal water bill at the last minute. It's pork barrel spending, yes, but more than that.
Republicans are crying foul because the federal cash for port improvements and the bill's provision for Pier 35 cruise ship dockage all benefit a toney area of San Francisco — one where Pelosi's husband just happens to own real estate about a mile away.
His properties are close enough to benefit from the inflow of federal cash to the area — and from the added business the new development will bring. At the very least, the question should be raised because he definitely has friends in high places.
To be fair, Pelosi's earmark is going to a touristy area near Coit Tower, where plenty of San Francisco's movers and shakers could potentially benefit from the trough's offerings, too. Given the small size of San Francisco, maybe it's impossible to avoid conflicts.
But that's just it. When the last House Speaker, Dennis Hastert, made a $2 million profit from selling land almost six miles from a highway project he secured a $200 million earmark for in 2005, the outcry was loud about how he might have served himself.
The media ran front-page stories on it for days and television commentators harrumphed about public corruption — the GOP kind.
Now that Democrat Pelosi has secured an earmark for some land a mere 5,400 feet from her husband's property, there are no front-page stories. But there should be, because this isn't the first time she's been noticeably helpful to her own interests.
A few months ago, Pelosi wrote a provision into a minimum wage law that exempted American Samoa from its costs to businesses. The exemption benefited Starkist, whose Del Monte headquarters is in Pelosi's district. Like this pork issue, that story dropped from the news like a dead fish.
As far as we can tell, only the Associated Press and New York Post have reported the story, and local papers are asleep. Much of the media has tucked the lonely AP story onto their back pages for appearances' sake. But in practical terms, this story will drop from the pier fast and sink without notice.
Maybe Pelosi did something wrong and maybe she didn't. Were phone calls made from Union Street lobbyists, or were deals cut at The Palm? Is there something about the law that makes it impossible to follow? We don't know because the media aren't on it.
The one thing we do know is that the media shows one standard of coverage for charges made against Republicans and another standard for Democrats.
With Pelosi on the hot seat this time, this news probably will get deep-sixed. It shouldn't.
