http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/oct/01/pelosis-pac-pays-bills-for-spouses-firm/ EXCLUSIVE: Pelosi paid husband with PAC funds $99,000 for rent, utilities, accounting fees House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has directed nearly $100,000 from her political action committee to her husband's real estate and investment firm over the past decade, a practice of paying a spouse with political donations that she supported banning last year. Financial Leasing Services Inc. (FLS), owned by Paul F. Pelosi, has received $99,000 in rent, utilities and accounting fees from the speaker's "PAC to the Future" over the PAC's nine-year history. The payments have quadrupled since Mr. Pelosi took over as treasurer of his wife's committee in 2007, Federal Election Commission records show. FLS is on track to take in $48,000 in payments this year alone - eight times as much as it received annually from 2000 to 2005, when the committee was run by another treasurer. Lawmakers' frequent use of campaign donations to pay relatives emerged as an issue in the 2006 election campaigns, when the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal gave Democrats fodder to criticize Republicans such as former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas and Rep. John T. Doolittle of California for putting their wives on their campaign and PAC payrolls for fundraising work. Last year, Mrs. Pelosi supported a bill that would have banned members of Congress from putting spouses on their campaign staffs. The bill - which passed the House in a voice vote but did not get out of a Senate committee - banned not only direct payments by congressional campaign committees and PACs to spouses for services including consulting and fundraising, but also "indirect compensation," such as payments to companies that employ spouses. "Democrats are committed to reforming the way Washington does business," Mrs. Pelosi said in a press release at the time. "Congressman [Adam] Schiff's bill will help us accomplish that goal by increasing transparency in election campaigns and preventing the misuse of funds." Last week, Mrs. Pelosi's office said the payments to her husband's firm were perfectly legal, insisting she is compensating her husband at fair market value for the work his firm has performed for the PAC. But ethical watchdogs said the arrangement sends the wrong message. "It's problematic," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a nonprofit ethics and watchdog group. "From what I understand, Mr. Pelosi doesn't need the money, but this isn't the issue. ... As speaker of the House, it sends the wrong message. She shouldn't be putting family members on the payroll." A senior adviser to Mrs. Pelosi described the payments to FLS as
This is one of the dirty little secrets they don't want you to know about. At least Pelosi's husband is already rich, helped in part by votes to award lucrative contracts to his firm. Funny, the media doesn't seem nearly as interested in those as they did Halliburton. It always amazed me to see these senators living like Donald Trump, when their salaries are relatively low for Washngton and not all of them can have married Teresa Heinz Kerry. Then I found out they can run campaign money through firms "managed" by their relatives. Basically, they can legally skim from their campaign funds. Now for a first term congressman in a contested district, he needs all that dough and more to hang onto his precious seat. Someone with seniority, on an important committee like Banking or Finance and with a safe seat, he can screw tons of money out of lobbyists and skim it. Result? They pocket millions. And taxpayers till give them gold-plated health care, retirement, travel, security, you name it. Pelosi griped about the private jet they gave her. Not big enough for her tastes. Voting them all out, except for Ron Paul, would be a good first step.
If I'm not mistaken it was Gulfstream III. With older pure turbo jet engines which burn fuel by the ton and pollutes like there is no tomorrow. I guess that's OK though for an environmentalist/limousine liberal. Just not the rest of us.
Pelosi wanted the bailout to pass but bitched at the republicans right before the vote. She is on a whole different level of stupidity.