Well, Lookie Here… Paul Pelosi Is "Primary" Del Monte Investor!

*** BIG UPDATES BELOW! ***
This post was bumped up.

Big Hat Tip to Lanie
Something Smells Like Rotten Fish in San Fransisco!

Photo by Bronco at EGriz who is on the story.

Today Nancy Pelosi and democrats did a favor for Del Monte in American Samoa…

Guess who is a “primary” Del Monte investor?

The Washington Times reported today that Speaker Pelosi is exempting hometown companies from minimum wage increasing by passing legislation excludes American Samoa. Del Monte Foods based in San Francisco has tuna plants in American Samoa:

House Republicans yesterday declared “something fishy” about the major Starkist tuna company in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco district being exempted from the minimum-wage increase that Democrats approved this week.

“I am shocked,” said Rep. Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican and his party’s chief deputy whip, noting that Mrs. Pelosi campaigned heavily on promises of honest government. “Now we find out that she is exempting hometown companies from minimum wage. This is exactly the hypocrisy and double talk that we have come to expect from the Democrats.”

On Wednesday, the House voted to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour.
(American Samoa Minimum Wage Rate HERE, via Free Republic)

The bill also extends for the first time the federal minimum wage to the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands. However, it exempts American Samoa, another Pacific island territory that would become the only U.S. territory not subject to federal minimum-wage laws.

One of the biggest opponents of the federal minimum wage in Samoa is StarKist Tuna, which owns one of the two packing plants that together employ more than 5,000 Samoans, or nearly 75 percent of the island’s work force. StarKist’s parent company, Del Monte Corp., has headquarters in San Francisco, which is represented by Mrs. Pelosi. The other plant belongs to California-based Chicken of the Sea.

NewsBuckit has more. including this:

So for the House, led by Nancy Pelosi, to exempt anyone from the minimum wage hike is not only philosophically disingenuous but, most importantly, an affront to small business owners everywhere who bear the brunt of this increase.

But, the story doesn’t end there…
Lookie here:

Majority Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul Pelosi is a primary Del Monte investor, with $17 million in shares!

Unbelieveable!
It looks like there’s something flopping in the mud of that drained swamp!

UPDATE: (Saturday AM) Tom Blumer at NewsBusters was on this story, yesterday.
Hat Tip to Troublemaker (below)

Also… Cornhusker points this out- The Pelosi Connection:

StarKist’s new parent corporation is now Del Monte Foods. Del Monte’s base of operations? Thats right, San Fransisco, California.

Billionaire owner of Snapple, Arby’s, and TJ cinnimon, Nelson Peltz is currently locked into a proxy battle with H.J. Heinz Corporations board of directors. When Heinz sold StarKist to Del Monte, the terms resulted in Heinz stockholders becoming 74.5% owners of the new Del Monte. Peltz, H.J. Heinz’ principle non-family shareholder, is attempting to increase his influence within the company by obtaining another proxy seat.

To better his cause, Peltz has enlisted the help of business/real estate investor Paul Pelosi, Nancy’s husband. Paul Pelosi’s portfiolio includes 3 huge Napa Valley properties in addition to a 17 million dollar position in the H.J. Heinz corporation… for what it is worth.

Free Republic is also on the tuna connection.

UPDATE 2: (Saturday Later AM) There are rumors that Speaker Pelosi had altered this controversial minimum wage legislation passed on Wednesday…

However, there has been no other votes on the minimum wage attempted since January 10, 2007.

Update 3: RedState has several updates including this from Andy’s Angle:

This may be even more unreliable that the Wikipedia entry, but I found this random message board where a discussion of the evils of the tuna industry led to a discussion of StarKist. One of the commenters in late November mentions the $17 million figure in reference to billionaire Nelson Peltz’s storied proxy battle with Heinz last year. Peltz and a group of dissident shareholders wrangled a couple of seats on the board, and this particular post claims he did it with Paul Pelosi’s help. Sounds possible if not plausible. Again, probably raises more questions than answers and isn’t any more verifiable now than before, but the figure was out there prior to the Samoan Exception.

Updates:
Tunagate: Today’s Catch
Tunagate Update: Barney Frank Freaks on Floor

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

You can email Jim Hoft here, and read more of Jim Hoft's articles here.

 

Thanks for sharing!