Major Pelosi Donors Set to Receive $200,000,000 in tax dollars

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pelosi-donors-san-francisco-park-district-200-million


Major Pelosi donors sitting on SF park board in her district set to receive $200 million from taxpayers




House Democrats' proposed $3.5 trillion spending bill includes $200 million earmarked for the Presidio national park, which has drawn sharp criticism from Republicans.

The Presidio Trust in San Francisco oversees the national park and, per the legislation that established the trust, it must be financially self-sustainable.

The trust's board includes several Democratic donors who have cumulatively given hundreds of thousands of dollars to pro-Pelosi efforts over the years.

Drew Hammill, a spokesperson for Pelosi, told Fox News in a Thursday phone call that the park predates the current board members and that the Presidio national park has been a legislative hallmark of the speaker’s congressional career.

Hammill also blasted the idea that the donors being on the board had anything to do with the proposal for the park to receive $200 million in taxpayer dollars, calling it a "made-up silly thing out of disinformation" and noting Pelosi is "known for preserving the Presidio" in her life in public service.

Several of the park board members have given to Pelosi’s campaign, with Lynne Benioff, the chair of the trust, having given Pelosi almost $80,000 in cumulative campaign and PAC donations, according to FEC filings reviewed by Fox News.

Over $69,000 of Benioff's donations have gone to the Nancy Pelosi Victory Fund and $10,400 has gone to Pelosi's campaign.

Additionally, George Marcus — another trust board member — has given Democrat campaigns and candidates a total of $33.6 million, with a cumulative $723,000 going specifically to Pelosi's campaign and the Nancy Pelosi Victory Fund.

Marcus gave Pelosi's campaign $50,700 going back to 1988 and has donated a lifetime total of $672,300 to the Nancy Pelosi Victory Fund.

Furthermore, a former board member who left in 2015, John Keker, was reported in 2010 as Pelosi’s largest individual donor, and the trust’s first employee and former executive director Craig Middleton formerly worked as the speaker’s press secretary and appropriations staffer.

Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) executive director Kendra Arnold told Fox News in a Thursday email that lawmakers cherry-picking projects can lead to "corruption" on the taxpayer's dime.

Arnold also said that Pelosi’s political relationship with board members shoots up some red flags.