The Auberge du Soleil, a five-star hillside hotel and spa with a panoramic view overlooking the vineyards of Napa Valley, appears to be first-rate in all ways but one. While the glamorous resort, an hour’s drive from San Francisco, fills rooms that routinely go for $2,000 a night with A-list celebrities and tech titans, financial records suggest it did not provide much of a return to at least two of its investors – Rep. Nancy Pelosi and her husband, Paul. That changed when it received millions in congressionally authorized COVID-19 relief in 2020 and 2021.
The Auberge du Soleil investment, held for decades by Paul Pelosi, has rarely turned a significant profit, according to Nancy’s financial disclosure forms. In some years, he has recorded a loss or a profit of between $50,000 to $100,000. But the year of the bailout money stands apart. In 2021, Pelosi’s ethics forms show that her family’s income from the resort surged to a range of $1 million to $5 million.
The French Riviera-themed resort may not be most people’s idea of a struggling business in need of a government bailout, yet the Auberge du Soleil – which shuttered briefly at the outset of the pandemic before swiftly rebounding – received about $9 million from a series of special taxpayer-funded emergency relief programs.
The previously unreported windfall is among several COVID bailouts that flowed to Pelosi-backed restaurants, hotels, and properties, including several Courtyard Marriott hotels.
A RealClearInvestigations analysis found that Pelosi’s profits spiked from a variety of holdings that won significant government rescue funds – which amounted to $28 million, a total more than previously known. For their family’s stake in the Auberge du Soleil, the Pelosis received more income in 2021, when bailout funds channeled to the resort, than any other time over the last 10 years.
Pelosi is hardly alone among lawmakers whose businesses reaped awards from pandemic-era financial programs designed for small businesses. Rep. Greg Pence, the brother of the former vice president, received $79,441. Rep. Dean Phillips, who briefly campaigned in the Democratic presidential primary, is an investor in a small event production company, Geniecast, that received two forgivable loans that totaled $373,185. Other members with investments in car dealerships and restaurant companies also received scrutiny over COVID rescue funds.
When is enough, enough. I am totally tired of seeing my tax dollars funneled to the wealthy through government, bailouts, grants, and loopholes.
That’s no surprise, been happening for years
Been happening for years don’t make it right. This corruption must stop and punishment must be doled out