From Joe Guzzardi at vDare, in a links-rich post:
Who can forget that in 2003 Pelosi went to bat for Mexico, illegal immigrants and Wal-Mart all in one statement? In response to alien round-ups at the retail giant, she said that the “terrorizing raids” would end when workers in all sectors of the economy were legalized.
The kicker: Pelosi delivered her remarks from Mexico. She was there sucking up to President Vicente Fox, along with a team of like-minded Congressional colleagues Representatives: David Hobson (R-OH); Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX), Chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; Sam Farr (D-CA); Hilda Solis (D-CA); and Linda Sanchez (D-CA)!
But the complete Pelosi story is even uglier.
Pelosi sits near the top of the list of wealthy Congressmen. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Pelosi and her husband have amassed a fortune approaching $55 millionâ€â€much of it from real estate development and Napa Valley vineyard ownership. (Take a few moments to peruse the C.R.P. list to find out how much money your local representatives have in the bank.)
And it is a near certainty that part of her and her husband’s wealth is derived from illegal immigrant labor. Their vineyards use non-union labor to pick grapes and sell those grapes to non-union wineries. Read the various Internet blogs on the subjectâ€â€including our friends the Lone Wacko and Flopping Aces.
h/t to politicaldelirium, who provides the following useful context:
Remember Secretary of Homeland Security Bernard Kerik? Me neither, he hired an illegal alien. Bye bye Bernie. Remember Labor Secretary Linda Chavez? Me neither, She hired an illegal alien. Does anyone see a pattern here?
FOR SKEPTICS and vDARE HATERS, IBD has an article on Pelosi’s hiring practices.
I don’t know about Chavez, but this wasn’t the only problem with Kerik.
actus–
What’s your point?
That its not the use of undocumented immigrants in a business you have an interest in that damns you.
Of course not . . . if you’re a Democrat.
There must not be any republican farmers then.
Oh, there are Republican farmers. There are Republican farmers who don’t hire illegal immigrants. There are Republican farmers who do. Those Republican farmers who do aren’t high-profile Congresscritters who grandstand in Mexico about illegal immigration (to play to the Latino vote) while illegally employing illegal immigrants, whom they probably pay considerably less than the minimum wage.
You don’t see a problem with that, counselor?
Not if he’s a Democrat…
About someone wanting to make illegal immigrants legal? No problem at all. It’s the people who want to keep an underclass that I have a problem with.
So, Pelosi ought to be able to break the law with impunity, why? Because her heart’s in the right place?
Counselor, you are an idiot.
#1, i’m not so clear that it is Pelosi doing this hiring. #2, I don’t know how her business is structured, but a big part of corporate law is to isolate owners from liability for what the businesses they own do. Liability stays with management, not the owners.
I see. So what you’re saying is that someone important like Pelosi ought to be insulated against knowing enough about her business that she can’t be blamed for illegal hiring practices, even as she legislates on the issue?
I think actus is still turkey-addled. This is weaker than even his usual efforts.
The biggest problem is an apparent lack of actual evidence to support the accusation. I clicked through (and through, to Lonewacko et al), and this is the firmest evidence I could find:
Oh, and fuck VDARE.
I like my leaders untravelled and, if possible, ignorant of the world outside their domicile state, the state their boarding school is in, and, of course, Kennebunkport, mumsy and pater summers.
Hmmmm. So, a lack of evidence in one case and a PC-violating (and likely wrong) reading of evidence in another.
What did Nancy know, and when did she know it? And if she didn’t know, why didn’t she know? I think this requires a full-scale investigation, don’t you?
All that money,all that intelligence(Well,all that money) and she still can’t get a deceent lift.Just a shame.
Oh, if you want to get into the topic of limited liability of owners, I can go into that. I don’t really like it. I’ve been told its necessary for capitalism. It’s not really Pelosi specific, or specific to how important someone is. You and I can take advantage of it too.
So, assuming it were true, Pelosi’s company’s employment of illegal workers ought to have no political fallout for her?
Political? thats up to people making noise. Which depends on other political considerations, such as what political things we can get from her.
She certainly isn’t legally liable for it—assuming a particular ownership structure, of course. But the legal underpinnings of capitalism don’t make for good guides to political outrages, do they?
[shrug] Sure, why not? Have at it. It’s just weird to treat loose, essentially unsupported speculation as fact.
Don’t get hung up on whether or not I’m afflicted by political correctness, just peruse VDARE’s archives and see what you think of their general perspective. Or buy VDARE’s upcoming scientifically rigorous book, The Decline of the American Empire: Why Negroes are Retards.
An interesting predicament you’ve created for the poor actard-counselor, Dan. Why, s/he may have to define “damned” one of these days…whether morally when used by/on Republicans, or just utterly relative to as many conditions, ploys, and firewalls you can finagle when used by/on the Democrats.
Oops; belay that. I do believe I have my answer. It’s all about opportunity-effect, not the actual Egregious Harm to the Little Guyâ„¢, forced at gunpoint to work fields, construction sites, and factories by evil (Republican?) capitalists.
It just takes me a little longer reading the actard-counselor by its preferred language of politically-sanitized leftist Braille…
Just not Pelosi. Her managers. The sleazy bastards.
I’m sorry, I thought she was pro-legalization?
Legalized is different from legalization.
This arguement is the reason why I enjoy reading your comments actus, your inate ability to talk in circles is truly amazing.. Luv ya damnit!!!!…..
“Just not Pelosi. Her managers. The sleazy bastards.”
This brings back fond memories of the dems major talking points when it come to ultimate accountibility, doesn’t it? Works for us but not for you I guess…As for Pelosi, she hand her hands deep in knowledge of hiring practices actard
So you don’t have an issue with her firm keeping an underclass and her staying a legal generation removed?
In other words, Pelosi ought to be able to
break the lawact with impunity because while her company is possibly breaking the law, any legislation she attempts would morally vindicate her from her company employing this “kept underclass”.If so, then it’s really going to suck when her maybe-legislation passes and the wages Pelosi & Co. pay go up 300% or more. Thank god for benevolent Democrats, training their undocumented workers in poverty prior to paying them actual living wages.
You’re going to have to sort this out, counselor. Nobody else can. All I know is that you’d apparently defend the Party while never actually condemning the consequences of its various member’s actions.
Look if you want to talk about piercing the corporate veil and holding owners accountable for the ills of their businesses, i’m ready. I don’t think you’ll like the result. I don’t think you’re ready to hold everyone accountable for the ills of the businesses they have ownership interests in. Own any stock?
As to her firm, i’d love it if they hired union workers with living wages.
As to her voting, I hope we have immigration reform that gives people in an underclass here pathways to citizenship and regularization and hopefully even unionization.
Since we have lots of legislators with money, or funded by money, we will often have this situation where pro-worker legislation will be against their economic interest. Do I wish that wasn’t the case? Certainly.
You still haven’t answered the question of whether Pelosi ought to be held, perhaps not legally, but certainly politically accountable for having hired illegal workers, should that turn out to be the case.
Well, she hasn’t hired illegal workers. I’d hold her politically accountable for anti-worker things she’d done, and moderate that with what pro-worker things she done. Or how anti-worker the alternative would be.
– Tired of corruption in government? tired of exploitation of the underclass? Vote Democrat. We do political/class crime right. We don’t get caught, and if we do it’s simply unthinkable, so therefore impossible. Simple logic.
Yeah, whatever, actard. Just keep spinning, slipping in and out of moral relativity and possible political ends justifying harsh street-level means at will. Would love to hear you extend that dissembling to say, the entire right.
But then, most of us expect nothing less from The Counselor than throwing meaningless dust in the air. You’re probably here just to practice your shoddy rhetorical tricks for the courtroom but since I see that you believe your own bullshit, you probably even sleep well.
And to think I once suggested that leftism was a disorder…
Hrm. Your nonsense doesn’t compare to whats in a courtroom. I hope to never be in one either. Most people in law aren’t.
Take care, and I hope you enjoy your fight against the liability limitations in business associations. Good luck wiht that. Many a lefty has tried to fight it. But without much luck.
Well, she hasn’t hired illegal workers.
You know this to be true………………..how?
I’d hold her politically accountable for anti-worker things she’d done, and moderate that with what pro-worker things she done. Or how anti-worker the alternative would be.
Just what would be pro or antiworker? I see unions acting more like corporations everyday.Certainly the money wrested from labor as dues isn’t reflected in healthcare or strike wages.
Don’t you find it more than a little absurd that someone who’s worth in the range of 55 million can speak for “workers”? She’s never had to “work” a day in her life.
Cuz as far as it looks like she just owns the company, doesn’t run it.
Well, if you can’t tell, there’s not much i’m going to be able to teach you.
I do. I mentioned above that since money rules this country, we’d always have this problem. Electing democracts is electing the accomodationist wing of the business party, electing republicanst is electing the class war wing.
LOL!!! Now thats a cop-out double standard if there ever was one.You own something, but you’re not responsible for it.So much for the moral high ground.
Oh. I can tell alright. I am sure, at your tender age, you can’t.
Want a crash course in labor rights, economics, etc all in one? Start a business. Make a product. Sell it. Pay employees. Then get back to me. We’ll talk.
As I said before. Economics isn’t just about money. You’re fixated on the wrong thing.Because of that you’re convinced politics is a class struggle.
pfffftt!
I wonder if VDH has ever hired illegals not to mention dozens of other right-leaning growers.
This is a big loser fellas.
I don’t know. Is VDH a powerful multimillionaire legislator?
As far as its being a big loser, we’ll just have to see.