Nancy Pelosi

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Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi, M.C. is the Representative for the 8th Congressional District of California and is the current Speaker of the House(2007-), succeeding J. Dennis Hastert. She is one of the wealthiest members of Congress.

Criticism

CordeValle Golf Club and Resort

Nancy Pelosi has one of her largest investments in a private golf development partnership called Lions Gate Limited. The Santa Clara County Planning Committee approved a plan for them to build a 275-acre golf course 30 minutes south of San Jose, but only under strict conditions. They agreed to allow 60% public usage of the course and to abide by strict environmental rules, since a number of endangered species were present in the area. The club opened in 2000 and did very well, making $250,000 for each member and $400,000 for corporations.

But then the Planning Commission took at look to see if the guidelines had been followed. First of all, only about a dozen non-members had been actually able to play on the course, a far cry from 60%. CordeValle had also set up obvious anti-public rules, such as requiring people to call seventy-two hours in advance and pay close to $300 for 18 holes. Upon investigation, the Commission learned that nonmembers would be told that the club was "full" and turned away even when the club was relatively empty. There were a series of public hearings on the matter and it was concluded that Lion's Gate was in clear violation of the agreement they had made.

During the hearings, it was learned that Lion's Gate had also ignored many of the environmental regulations they were responsible for. The ponds that they needed to make in order to preserve two species of lizard and turtle were not built. And only one mandatory annual environmental report had been submitted in seven years. In 2004, a county report complained that improperly abandoned wells and urban pollutants from the resort were causing water quality degradation in the area.

In 2003, the Pelosis and the development partnership finally hired some lobbyists and put a few government employees on the pay role. This caused the commission to cave and give up their fraud investigation as long as the course agreed to host a charity golf tournament for children.

Boy Scouts

Nancy Pelosi tried to pass legislation making it illegal for Boy Scouts to use public facilities like schools. This move was brought on by her disapproval of the Boy Scouts not allowing homosexuals to lead the children.

Trip to Syria

Despite strong reservations about interfering in sensitive international diplomatic negotiations, and requests not to do so, Pelosi traveled to Damascus, Syria in April 2007 to meet with Syrian Ba'athist leader Bashar Assad. Pelosi indicated at a press conference that she had carried a message from the government of Israel. Pelosi told reporters the meeting "enabled us to communicate a message from Prime Minister Olmert".

The Israeli Prime Minister's office stated Olmert told Pelosi that Israel continued to regard Syria as "part of the axis of evil and a party encouraging terrorism in the entire Middle East." The Jerusalem Post reported sources at the Prime Minister's Office said, "Pelosi took part of the things that were said in the meeting, and used what suited her."

The trip was praised by terrorists as "brave". Members of the Islamic Jihad have said Pelosi aligns to their views about terror much better than Bush and Dr. Condoleezza Rize. Khaled Al-Batch, spokesman for Islamic Jihad, which along with Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades has taken responsibility for every suicide bombing in Israel for the past two years, expressed hope Pelosi and the Democratic Party will pressure Bush to create dialogue with Syria and Middle East "resistance movements" and prompt an American withdrawal from Iraq.