BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 X-WR-CALNAME:www.indybay.org PRODID:-//indybay/ical// v1.0//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:Indybay-18321490 SEQUENCE:18327546 CREATED:20061019T142600Z DESCRIPTION:Lets Have A Debate Nancy! Press Conference At Noon\nby How About A Debate \nNancy Pelosi, the likely new head of Congress has refused to debate her election opponents\nin San Francisco. Her idea of "democracy" is that no debates are needed since she has\nthe support of the corporate media.\nA press conference of all the other candidates will be held on Thursday to challenge her.\nEndorsements Pelosi\nIn The News\nThe Latest\nPRESS CONFERENCE\nEighth congressional district candidates Krissy Keefer (Green Party), Philip Berg (Libertarian Party), and Mike DeNunzio (Republican Party), hold a joint press conference announcing Nancy Pelosi's response to a debate challenge. Thursday, October 19, 12 noon, in front of the Federal Building on Golden Gate Avenue.\n\nKrissy Keefer brings light to the Fog City Journal.\nCheck out Luke Thomas's coverage of Krissy's editorial board interview with the San Francisco Chronicle at http://www.fogcityjournal.com.\n\n\nhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/10/11/MNGEJLMT8E1.DTL&hw=pelosi&sn=001&sc=1000\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\nBusiness hedges bets by donating to Pelosi\nFirms open wallets in case Democrats take back House\n\n- Edward Epstein, Kimberly Geiger, Chronicle Washington Bureau\n\nWednesday, October 11, 2006\n\n(10-11) 04:00 PDT Washington -- Traditionally Republican big business\ninterests are hedging their electoral bets this year by increasing their\ncampaign contributions to Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi of San\nFrancisco, whose party is given a healthy shot at taking House control\nin the Nov. 7 elections.\n\nBusiness is still overwhelmingly Republican in its donations, accounting\nin part for the big financial advantage that Republicans have in the\nhome stretch as they try to maintain control of the House and the\nSenate. But though the business community disagrees with many of the\npositions Pelosi plans to push if she becomes speaker in January --\nraising the minimum wage, rolling back tax breaks for oil and gas\ncompanies, and allowing Medicare to negotiate price reductions on\nprescription drugs -- corporate America doesn't want to be shut out.\n\n"They probably sense Democrats are doing well," said Rep. Mike Thompson,\nD-St. Helena. "I hope they're giving for more than their selfish\ninterests. I think they recognize they have to deal with Democrats."\n\nPelosi's main campaign committee reported raising more than $1.2\nmillion, including $730,025 from political action committees, for the\n2006 election through June 30, according to the most recent campaign\nfiling reports compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.\n\nThe financial information shows that 54.2 percent of the PAC money --\nmore than $400,000 -- given to Pelosi in the first six months of 2006\ncame from businesses. That's up from $366,000 for the entire 2003-04\nelection cycle, her first as House minority leader, and $207,750 in\n2001-02, according to data from the center.\n\nThe increase is even more pronounced for the Democratic Congressional\nCampaign Committee, the body that raises and dispenses millions of\ndollars for candidates in key House races. The committee received about\n$20.6 million from business interests in the first half of 2006. That's\nup from $19.5 million for all of the 2004 cycle and represents almost 50\npercent of the group's total fundraising.\n\nFor the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the increase was even\nbigger, up 15.8 percent to $31.5 million, a figure that represented 76.8\npercent of the committee's fundraising total.\n\nPelosi has a second fundraising vehicle: her long-standing PAC to the\nFuture, whose treasurer is former Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy of San\nFrancisco. Through Oct. 2, it reported raising $460,105 so far this\nyear, $40,000 of that coming in $1,000 contributions from 40 agents of\nAmerican Income Life Insurance Co., a Waco, Texas-based company\nspecializing in insuring union members.\n\nPelosi uses virtually all of that money to help finance her effort to\nwin majority control of the House and become the nation's first female\nspeaker. Records show that PAC to the Future has contributed $433,500 to\n61 Democratic House members and candidates during the current election\ncycle.\n\nBusiness interests still contribute overwhelmingly to Republicans,\nfigures show. In the first half of 2006, the GOP Senate campaign\ncommittee generated 78.5 percent of its donations from business\ninterests, while the House campaign committee received 70.6 percent of\nits money from business.\n\nEmbattled House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois, Pelosi's counterpart\nin the Republican ranks, received 93 percent of his 2006 PAC donations\nfrom business interests.\n\nThe trend toward more business donations going to Pelosi and other\nDemocrats doesn't surprise Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista (San Diego\nCounty), who made a fortune selling car alarms and is one of the House's\nrichest members.\n\n"Business tends to follow good votes by members but also tends to follow\nperceptions of where the power is going to be," Issa said. "And the\npopular wisdom is that at best we're going to have a closely divided\nCongress." The Democrats need a net gain of 15 seats to take control of\nthe House and six seats to take back the Senate.\n\n"Business will always hedge its bets," Issa said.\n\nThe increase in businesses giving to Pelosi includes some who have not\ngiven her money before, at least in the last few election cycles.\n\nBusinesses aren't allowed to make political donations directly, but\ncontributions can be made by political action committees and employees\nassociated with businesses. Among first-time donors this year to Pelosi\nof $200 or more are the PAC and employees of Los Angeles-based\nOccidental Petroleum, which has given her $17,000; insurer Aflac, which\ncontributed $5,000; Blue Shield of California, $3,500; broadcaster Clear\nChannel, $5,000; cable TV giant Comcast, $10,000; online stock brokerage\nE-Trade, $2,000; South Bay Internet giant eBay, $1,000; insurance giant\nLiberty Mutual, $5,000; employees of phone company MCI, $5,000; the\nNational Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, $10,000; and cell\nphone company T-Mobile, $2,500.\n\nPACs can contribute a maximum of $5,000 per election to individual\ncandidates, while individuals can give $2,100 to candidates and $5,000 to a\n\n\nPAC.\n\nCorporate PACs that gave Pelosi more included those from San Francisco\ninternational engineering giant Bechtel. Donations from the company,\nwhich is located in Pelosi's district, went from $2,000 in the 2003-04\nelection cycle to $5,000 this year.\n\nAT&T's donation went from $5,500 to $12,500 and Microsoft's from $6,000\nto $10,000.\n\nEmployees of the Menlo Park-based venture capital giant Kleiner Perkins\nCaufield & Byers have given Pelosi $10,500 so far this year, up from\n$1,000 in 2004.\n\nBrokerage UBS gave $10,000 to Pelosi's committees in 2003-04 and doubled\nthe donation to $20,000 this year.\n\nThe brokerage firm's political action committee shows exactly how\nbusiness can be a bipartisan giver: Of the almost $1.5 million it has\ncontributed thus far during the current election cycle, 48 percent has\ngone to Democrats and 49 percent to Republicans, data from the Center\nfor Responsive Politics shows.\n\nThompson, former head of the business council of the Democratic\nCongressional Campaign Committee, has worked for years to dispel the\nnotion that the Democrats are anti-business.\n\n"You can be Democrat and understand business. We're working with them,"\nhe said.\n\nSome independent analysts say the increase in business money flowing to\nDemocrats as their electoral prospects increase makes some in the party\nuneasy and raises questions.\n\nLiberal blogger and former Capitol Hill aide David Sirota, who calls\ncorporate campaign contributions "legalized bribery," said, "The\ntroubling question is -- what do these contributions buy?\n\n"Clearly, the Democrats are far more interested in representing ordinary\ncitizens' interests rather than special interests. But it is an open\nquestion as to what a massive influx of corporate cash will do to a\nDemocratic majority," he said.\n\nFred Wertheimer of Democracy 21, a nonprofit group pushing for campaign\nfinance reform, said: "This is investment money, and this is a time when\npeople who are out to influence Congress start hedging their bets."\n\nWertheimer said that if the Democrats take the House, Pelosi will face\nan early test of whether business money is influencing her legislative\npriorities. At issue will be whether she pushes a House Democratic\nmajority to make changes in how business lobbies Congress, changes that\nlanguished under Republican control despite the scandal involving\nlobbyist Jack Abramoff.\n\nIn her election manifesto, "A New Direction for America," Pelosi\noutlines several steps she says will be a top priority if she becomes\nspeaker. These include a ban on lobbyist-paid gifts and travel, tougher\nrules on former House members and their aides going to work for lobbying\nfirms, new disclosure rules for lobbyists' contacts with Congress and an\nend to operations such as the K Street Project, in which Republicans\npressured lobbying firms to hire GOP-affiliated employees.\n\n"What we know is that the Democrats have raised the issue of corruption\nin Congress throughout the last two years, and if they take control, it\nwill be their responsibility to do something about it," Wertheimer said.\n\nPelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider said that the lobbying changes remain\na top priority and that Pelosi will push her economic proposals as well.\n\n"Democratic core values will not change," Crider said.\n\nBut Crider said Pelosi has shown she is willing to work with business\nleaders without regard to their politics. The Democrats devised an\n"Innovation Agenda" after town hall meetings across the country that\nincluded business leaders.\n\nThe agenda includes making the research and development tax credit\npermanent, boosting domestic energy production, developing\nnanotechnology and reining in health care costs.\n\nThompson said fears that Democrats will sell out to corporate interests,\nafter 12 years in the House minority, are "ridiculous."\n\n"Business knows we're not going to be a rubber stamp. We'll be first and\nforemost for the American people and for transparency in government," he\nsaid.\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\nE-mail the writers at eepstein [at] sfchronicle.com\n and kgeiger [at] sfchronicle.com\n.\n\nHedging their bets\n\nHouse Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi\nof San Francisco has received more money from business interests in the first\nsix months of 2006 than ever before as it appears Democrats may win majority\ncontrol of the House in the Nov. 7 midterm congressional election. Here are\nsome of the companies that have donated with their political action committees,\nor individual employees, to Pelosi's campaign committee or leadership political\naction committee and the amount they have given to Republican interests during\nthe 2005-2006 election cycle. The figures, compiled by The Chronicle with data\nfrom the Center for Responsive Politics, cover the most recent reporting period\nthough June 30 for Pelosi's individual committee and through Oct. 2 for her\npolitical action committee.\n\nTo all\nDonor To Pelosi Republicans\nAflac $5,000 $620,890\nAmerican Income Life\nInsurance Co. agents 40,000 0\nAT&T 12,500 1.58 million\nBechtel 5,000 124,800\nBlue Shield of California 3,500 17,101\nClear Channel 5,000 233,730\nComcast 10,000 435,680\nE-Trade 2,000 57,750\nEBay 1,000 59,722\nKleiner Perkins\nCaufield & Byers* 10,500 67,700\nLiberty Mutual 5,000 235,520\nMCI employees 5,000 17,050\nMicrosoft 10,000 334,730\nNational Association of\nReal Estate Investment Trusts 10,000 333,510\nOccidental Petroleum 17,000 279,530\nT&T-Mobile 2,500 76,700\nUBS* 20,000 726,270\n\n* Kleiner Perkins has contributed the bulk of its $341,795 in donations to\nDemocratic candidates and committees; UBS contributed just over $726,270\noverall to Democratic candidates and party committees.\nSources: Center for Responsive Politics; Chronicle staff\nThe Chronicle \n https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/19/18321490.php SUMMARY:SF: Lets Have A Debate Nancy! Nancy's Idea Of Democracy? LOCATION:US Federal Building San Francisco\nGolden Gate Avenue & Polk St. URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/10/19/18321490.php DTSTART:20061019T190000Z DTEND:20061019T200000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR