Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is leading the fundraising effort for Democrats’ effort to create new gerrymandered districts in California — while fire victims struggle to find money to rebuild their homes.
Pelosi, now 85, is described by the New York Times as a secret driver force Gov. Gavin Newsom’s effort — giving advice to him and handing him her telephone to close deals with top Democratic Party donors.
Neither Pelosi nor Newsom has shown such alacrity in raising money for tens of thousands of fire victims in California, many of whom may be forced to sell their lots instead of rebuilding because of a lack of cash.
The New York Times reported:
Ms. Pelosi would begin with pleasantries, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss private fund-raising calls made that day. Then she would hand the phone to Mr. Newsom to close the deal. The choreography was partly borne of a mindfulness of tangled federal rules about soliciting outsized checks, and partly out of deference to Mr. Newsom.
…
Mr. Newsom sought her private counsel and support over the summer before plowing ahead with his redistricting measure, named Proposition 50. She was a key sounding board for Eric H. Holder, Jr., the former attorney general, as he decided to abandon his commitment to nonpartisan mapmaking. She counseled some California members of Congress whose districts were being drawn out from under them. And her early endorsement served as a permission slip for lawmakers in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C., to get on board.
Long a top party fund-raiser, Ms. Pelosi is now seen as a linchpin to finance a ballot campaign that could exceed $200 million. And she has already pushed top contributors to activate their networks with uncommon urgency.
By comparison, the FireAid concert raised $100 million — very little of which went directly to fire victims.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Zionist Conspiracy Wants You, now available on Amazon. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
