Friday, January 12, 2007

The Stench of Tuna May Unite Pelosi AND John Kerry....

Our good friend Bizzyblog has done some additional research into the whole TunaStench controversy we covered earlier today on WMD. It seems that Nancy's husband is heavily invested in DelMonte/Starkist.
From Bizzy:
Doing my own research, however, I’ve discovered that the impropriety is much deeper. Speaker Pelosi’s husband Paul, it turns out, owns something to the order of $17 million in Del Monte stock (noted in Wikipedia and not otherwise verified — Ed.)! I wonder if he stands to benefit should StarKist avoid an additional $2 hike in hourly wages… (actually, for the Samoans, it would be a $3.99 hike from $3.26 to $7.25 — Ed.)

Follow the money trail a little further and Speaker Pelosi may have a sympathetic accomplice in the US Senate. It turns out that the H.J. Heinz Company owns nearly 75% of Del Monte’s stock. Heinz, of course, is the company owned in large part by the H.J. Heinz family of whom Teresa Heinz is a major heir as the widow of H.J. Heinz the III, the late Senator from Pennsylvania. And who did Mrs. Heinz marry shortly after her late husband’s passing? Senator John Forbes Kerry of Massachussetts!


So, in other words, Nancy was being totally self-serving, seeking to give a firm she invests in a competitive advantage in terms of not having to pay minimum wage increases. And John Kerry's wifemeal ticket might be a huge benefactor if such a thing went unnoticed. Of course, thanks to bloggers, as well as some who still have integrity in the media, this has been outed and Pelosi has said she will see to it that the proviso she had added in will be removed and Samoa will see the same rate as the rest of the US.

However, doesn't this smell of a culture of corruption? I think so. Regardless of whether it actually went through, this is unethical behavior and should be reprimanded. I demand an investigation! Lie after lie after lie...Big Tuna (and no, I wasn't talking about the stench from Hillary's pantsuit).....Big Ketchup!