NHGOP RELEASE: DEMOCRAT ETHICS HYPOCRISY: PELOSI'S PAC PATRONAGE: Cullen Calls on Shea-Porter, Hodes to Denounce Pelosi's Use of

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date:                October 1, 2008

Contact:           Fergus Cullen, Chairman, New Hampshire Republican Party

                        603-225-9341 office, 603-520-5450 cell

DEMOCRAT ETHICS HYPOCRISY: PELOSI’S PAC PATRONAGE

Cullen Calls on Shea-Porter, Hodes to Denounce Pelosi’s Use of Political Money for Personal Gain

CONCORD – Today, the Washington Times reported that Nancy Pelosi’s husband was paid nearly $100,000 from her political action committee for rent and accounting fees. This blatant use of campaign contributions for personal benefit comes from the same person who promised “the most ethical congress in history.”

In fact, Pelosi herself supported a bill that would have banned this practice, saying that “Democrats are committed to reforming the way Washington does business,” and the “bill will help us accomplish that goal by increasing transparency in election campaigns and preventing the misuse of funds.”

The question is will the Pelosi twins, Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes, repudiate their political benefactor for this “misuse of funds.”

“I would hope that Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes have enough backbone to stand up to their leader and make a statement about ethics and transparency,” said Fergus Cullen, Chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party.

“However, we all know it’s unlikely they will buck their party’s leader. Both Shea-Porter and Hodes have benefited from the generosity of their liberal San Francisco patron, taking thousands of dollars in contributions. That’s not reform, that’s just business as usual.”

BACKGROUND

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s PAC has paid entities owned by her husband nearly $100,000.

“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.” (“Pelosi Paid Husband with PAC Funds,” by Jennifer Haberkorn, Washington Times, 10/1/08, http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/oct/01/pelosis-pac-pays-bills-for-spouses-firm/)

However, last year Pelosi supported a bill that would have banned the practice of Members of Congress putting their spouse on campaign payrolls.

The bill passed on a voice vote in the House, but was killed in the Democratically controlled Senate. (HR 2630, passed on Voice Vote, 7/23/07, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR02630:@@@X)

In a press release, Pelosi said the bill “will help us accomplish that goal by increasing transparency in election campaigns and preventing the misuse of funds.”  (http://schiff.house.gov/HoR/CA29/Newsroom/Press+Releases/2007/Schiff+Introduces+Bipartisan+Measure+to+Prevent+the+Spouses+of+Elected+Officials+and+Candidates+from.htm)

Shea-Porter and Hodes have both received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Pelosi and her PACs.

Shea-Porter has received $14,000 from Pelosi and her political action committee in the 2008 cycle. (http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/can_give/2007_H6NH01230)

Hodes has received $21,000 from Pelosi and her political action committee in the in the last two cycles. (http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/can_give/2007_H4NH02175)