“Nowhere will Nancy Pelosi’s loss of the House speakership be felt more acutely than here in the Bay Area, where her power – and the power of fellow local Democrats in Washington – has been used to help steer hundreds of millions of dollars into infrastructure projects.”
Nancy Pelosi’s clout for Bay Area will be missed [SFGate]
And San Francisco’s Transbay Joint Powers Authority Rolls…A Seven! [SocketSite]
The Day After: November 2 Real Estate Related Election Results [SocketSite]

16 thoughts on “Will Nancy’s Loss Be The Bay’s As Well?”
  1. Surely the pork will cost less in Ohio’s 8th district, so that’s a plus! Plus, everyone in SF works for Salesforce, so no big loss 🙂

  2. I don’t think it’s as dire as all that, she’s still a senior and experienced rep. Being speaker certainly helps get funding, but it’s not the only factor of importance.

  3. dub dub, that’d be a great almost-pun since “Ohio agriculture is a $68 billion industry with one in every six Ohioans working an agriculture-related job”, but I don’t think it rings true.
    I’m no fan of the frequently overtanned current House minority leader, but according to his bio posted at his website:

    John also adopted a personal “no earmarks” policy upon taking office in 1991, a no-pork policy he maintains to this day.

    One of the things that sets him apart is that he’d held on to this personal policy so long.
    I think most of what Pelosi accomplished and is mentioned in the sfgate.com article were under way before she became Speaker.

  4. his bio posted at his website
    Yeah, there’s an unbiased source.
    He says he eschews pork, but he “assists” his district in the allocation of things like federal transportation funds for highway interchanges, etc., etc., etc.
    See, it’s not “pork”, it’s, uh, the other white meat…

  5. at 70, and demoted from the pinnacle of House Speaker, how long do you think Nancy will really stay in office. I would call it a good time to retire, and that will put SF back to square one in terms of seniority.
    So, yes, it will have an impact.

  6. If she retires it will have an impact for sure, but she demolished her opponent, and progressives fared quite well in the election. There’s plenty of speculation, but nobody but her really knows what she will do.

  7. “how long do you think Nancy will really stay in office”
    Pretty hard to step down from Speaker of the House perks. Can’t fly the family out to Washington with you on the post-9/11 private jet from Travis AFB or SFO any more. Expect retirement soon to spend more time with the grandkids.
    “a no-pork policy he maintains to this day.”
    Translation: “The Speaker-Elect prefers to do his pork barrel-spending in less public ways, such as back room deals, rather than earmarks.” If you think he hasn’t been bringing home the bacon, I think you’re mistaken.
    “I think most of what Pelosi accomplished and is mentioned in the sfgate.com article were under way before she became Speaker.”
    I agree. As a side note, as mentioned in the article, the tech industry still has Jackie Speier, Mike Honda, Anna Eshoo, and Zoe Lofgren on its side. We’ll have to see what happens when the district lines change, but the latter two’s seniority is decent.

  8. @ inclinejj,
    Mayor of SF? So that she can answer to Chiu and the Board of Stupidvisors, and sit through their idiotic questions and sniping once per month (thanks to Prop C)? I don’t see it happening.

  9. I think she’d be more likely to move to Salt Lake City than become Mayor of SF.
    The reality is that she’d be more valuable as an Obama advisor than mayor, but who knows, she could be plotting her return as speaker.

  10. Her clout will be missed?? How about her famous quotes like “we have to pass the bill in order to find out what’s in it..” She will be missed.. NOT!!!!

  11. “Mayor of SF? So that she can answer to Chiu and the Board of Stupidvisors, and sit through their idiotic questions and sniping once per month (thanks to Prop C)?”
    Yeah, that’s a step down in status even compared to jobs that are well below the rank of Speaker of the House.

  12. tipster wrote:

    …but who knows, she could be plotting her return as speaker.

    Tipster for the win. From sfgate.com’s Politics blog, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stays: running for Minority Leader:

    After calling each member of the remaining 187 Democrats left in the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco will remain in the House, seeking election as minority leader…Pelosi, 70, decided to accept a demotion and rally her troops for the next battle in 2010 and fend off Republican attacks on her key legislative accomplishments, including health care, rather than step down following the path of GOP predecessors.

    Nobody sane and ambitious in a higher office would run for Mayor of this ungovernable city unless they were term limited out of said higher office.

  13. From the Los Angeles Times, earlier today:

    Nancy Pelosi will continue leading Democrats in the House of Representatives during the 112th Congress, winning a vote of her caucus, 150-46, on Wednesday.
    Pelosi, who represents San Francisco, has lead the Democratic caucus for eight years, including the past four as the speaker of the House.

    Since the Republicans are making noises about eliminating earmarks, it remains to be seen if Pelosi being House minority leader will continue helping to “steer hundreds of millions of dollars into infrastructure projects” to the Bay Area. Granted, there are other ways than earmarks to steer federal dollars.

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