A chat with Nancy Pelosi

Neil — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:16:03 +0000

When Nancy Pelosi visited San Francisco a few weeks ago, she asked 12 SF business owners to sit in a roundtable discussion with her. I was one of the lucky few invited. She gave her opening remarks, which I found hilarious: “Opening up a business is the bravest thing you could do, actually second– marriage is the bravest…. well, who knows, they both have an enormous failure rate.” Then, we each had the opportunity to tell her and the other 11 about our business, and what we would want her to tell Congress on our behalf. Mostly, people talked about how hard it is to acquire loans, because essentially, banks only lend to businesses that already have money. When it came to me, I told her the same thing, but in lingo perhaps too raw for the occasion: I told her she should tell congress to stop subsidizing corporations and banks and to start subsidizing small local sustainable businesses. Needless to say, we moved on to the next business owner rather quickly. At that moment I could not help but feel that my invitation to sit in was not really so that I could speak my mind, but rather so their could be a token Latina “representing” small businesses.

However ignored I felt, I still am ever appreciative of the opportunity Small Business Majority gave me. Meeting the rest of the business owners and witnessing Nancy Pelosi’s honesty and willingness to meet with us was special.

-Alejandra Maciel

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A chat with Nancy Pelosi