The ‘Real' Speaker Pelosi

If the latest Zogby poll is accurate, the Democrats are poised to take control of the House of Representatives. If that were to happen, Nancy Pelosi would likely become Speaker.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is warning that a Democratic victory at the polls on November 7 will turn over the House to "the San Francisco values of would-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi."

Just how dangerous, then, is the House Minority Leader from California to those who hold to traditional conservative values?

Pelosi is one of the most liberal members of the House, receiving a 95 percent "liberal quotient" from the Americans for Democratic Action based on her support for the liberal position in key votes.

She voted against cutting taxes by $70 million, renewing the Patriot Act, reducing the death tax, drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and making it a crime to desecrate the U.S. flag.

She supports gay marriage, and backed legislation allowing overseas military facilities to provide abortions for women in the military and military dependents.

The would-be Speaker also backed a measure calling for a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, supported a bill requiring a 72-hour background check for persons buying weapons at gun shows — and opposed a bill strengthening the enforcement of immigration laws.

Pelosi's Hypocrisy

But a look behind the scenes exposes Pelosi as a Democratic leader who passionately fights for liberal policies, yet goes to great lengths to avoid applying those policies in her personal life.

Best-selling author Peter Schweizer's book "Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy" first revealed the glaring contradictions between Pelosi and other prominent liberals' public stances and their real-life behavior.

Pelosi claims to be a staunch union supporter, and along with her husband has received the Cesar Chavez award from the United Farm Workers Union, notes Schweizer.

Unions are, in her words, "fighting for America's working families" and battling "the union-busting, family-hurting" Bush administration. But Schweizer uncovered that a $25 million Northern California vineyard the Pelosis own is a non-union shop!

Pelosi's hypocrisy doesn't stop there.

The congresswoman is the top recipient among members of Congress in campaign contributions from labor unions, and has received more money from the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union than any other member of Congress in the last several election cycles.

But in addition to the wine business, the Pelosis own a large stake in the exclusive Auberge du Soleil hotel in Rutherford, Calif. The hotel has more than 250 employees, but once again, Schweizer found, it is strictly a non-union shop.

The Pelosis are also partners in a restaurant chain called Piatti, which has 900 employees.

"But a union card is not required to work there bussing tables, washing dishes, serving guests or preparing food," Schweizer wrote in NewsMax Magazine.

"As with Auberge du Soleil, at Piatti the Pelosis' commitment to organized labor ends at the front door."

Pelosi has also demonstrated hypocrisy on the environment. "With us," she proclaims, "the environment is not an issue — it's an ethic. It's a value."

That's what she says. Schweizer exposed what she does: One of her largest investments is a private partnership called Lions Gate Limited, which operates the CordeValle Golf Club and Resort in San Martin, Calif.

To get a permit to build the facility, the partners promised to build a "public course" providing considerable access to non-members, and to abide by several environmental requirements to ensure that there would be minimal ecological damage.

But after the facility opened, the county's Planning Commission found that the golf course was in fact private — and the club had "ignored" many of its permit requirements concerning the environment!

"The reality is that liberals like to preach in moral platitudes," says Schweizer.

"But when it comes to applying those same standards to themselves, liberals are found to be shockingly guilty of hypocrisy."