By Zachary Coile
San Francisco Chronicle
December 19, 2006

(12-19) 04:00 PST Washington -- All eyes in the capital are fixed on Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco as she prepares to be sworn in Jan. 4 as the nation's first female House speaker. But less notice has been paid to the lawmakers, lobbyists, aides, business leaders and friends who will be whispering in her ear as she leads a new Democratic Congress.

Among the group: a pioneering Silicon Valley investment banker; a San Francisco politician with a penchant for expressing himself in four-letter words; and a 32-year veteran of Congress from the East Bay whom President Bush dubbed "Big George."

Financier Bill Hambrecht, former state Senate leader John Burton and Democratic Rep. George Miller of Martinez are just a few of the insiders who make up House Speaker-to-be Pelosi's circle of advisers and confidants.

Not surprisingly, the list includes many of the Bay Area's best-known power brokers, from former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to California Sen. Barbara Boxer to Rep. Anna Eshoo of Palo Alto, who is one of Pelosi's closest friends in Congress.

"We've known each other for 30 years," said Eshoo, who met Pelosi at a party fundraiser at the Atherton home of Madeleine Haas Russell. "It was long before either of us were elected to Congress. ... We were mothers; we were both involved in the community and in the Democratic Party. We had many commonalities."

Pelosi's circle is filled with Silicon Valley heavyweights. She has long-standing ties to investment banker Sandy Robertson and venture capitalists Tom Perkins and John Doerr. More recently, she befriended Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as well as Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers, an ally and major donor to Republican President Bush.

Her friends say no list of advisers is complete without including her family. Her husband, Paul, eschews a public role, but is a key counselor and confidant. Her older brother, Thomas D'Alesandro III, a former Baltimore mayor, acts as a sounding board.

Her daughter Christine, a former chief of staff to Massachusetts Rep. John Tierney and an elected member of the Democratic National Committee, often travels with Pelosi and offers strategic advice. Pelosi's daughter Alexandra, who covered Bush for an HBO documentary in the 2000 campaign, gives practical advice on handling the media. And son Paul and two other daughters, Nancy Corinne and Jacqueline, and their families also provide a deep well of emotional support.

"It's such a close family," said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who has long been tight with the Pelosi clan. "Her daughters are remarkably influential with her, and so is Paul -- the son and the husband.''

Christine Pelosi, Newsom added, "is a great tactician. Her commitment to her mother is remarkable.''

Pelosi also relies heavily on her staff -- longtime aides and the many new staffers who were hired from the offices of other top Democrats when she stepped into her role as the party's House minority leader in 2002.

Pelosi is well-known for placing a premium on loyalty. The lawmakers in Washington who are closest to her are those who have served with her since she was first elected in 1987 -- especially those who have proved their allegiance by backing her campaigns for a top spot in the Democratic leadership.

Many inside the Beltway were surprised when Pelosi supported Rep. John Murtha, an ex-Marine from Pennsylvania, last month in his failed bid for Democratic majority leader, the second-most-powerful position in the House. But Murtha had managed Pelosi's successful campaigns for House Democratic whip in 2001 and for minority leader in 2002. Her support was aimed at repaying him for his loyalty.

Her top lieutenant in Congress is Miller, who used his clout to help her win a spot in the leadership and remains one of her most trusted advisers. She installed him as co-chair of the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, which shapes the party's agenda. Some Democrats say he persuaded Pelosi to throw her weight behind Murtha, though Miller denies he has such influence.

"To say that is to not understand Ms. Pelosi," he said in an interview last week. "She makes her own decisions."

But many lawmakers have felt Miller's bear-claw grip on their shoulders during key votes on the House floor, reminding them that Pelosi needs their support.

"George is immensely influential with Nancy, and vice versa," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Walnut Creek. "Many people go to George because of the fact that Nancy has tremendous time constraints on her. They use George as a conduit to her."

Many of Pelosi's friendships in Washington were forged over Tuesday night dinners with a small clique of fellow lawmakers. Tom Downey, a former congressman from Long Island who is now a lobbyist in Washington, hosted many of the meals at his row house on D Street on Capitol Hill. Those meals included Pelosi, Miller and several House members -- Boxer, Dick Durbin of Illinois and Chuck Schumer of New York -- who are now senators.

Over bottles of California wine, ravioli and antipasti, the group talked politics and shared stories about their families. Other Californians -- including Eshoo, former Rep. Leon Panetta of Monterey and Rep. Sam Farr of Carmel -- sometimes joined in. Boxer and Pelosi were at one of the dinners when the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake hit.

"Nancy and Barbara were naturally worried because their husbands and family members were all at the (World Series) game," Downey recalled. "I had a big satellite dish at the time, and we were able to get the San Francisco news feeds to see what was going on."

The Tuesday night dinner gang still gets together -- Boxer organizes it every month or so, often at the restaurant Marty's American Bar & Grill on Capitol Hill -- and its members remain close Pelosi advisers: Marty Russo, a former Illinois lawmaker who now heads the powerhouse lobbying firm Cassidy & Associates, and Sam Gejdenson, a former Connecticut lawmaker. Boxer is Pelosi's fiercest defender and supporter in the Senate.

In San Francisco, Pelosi's friends and allies concede that one adviser stands head and shoulders above the rest: John Burton, the tart-tongued liberal famous for championing the cause of the poor, elderly and homeless in Sacramento and as a House member in Washington. His sister-in-law, the late Rep. Sala Burton, wife of legendary San Francisco Rep. Phil Burton, summoned Pelosi to her deathbed to urge her to run for Congress.

Burton downplays his influence with the future speaker. "When she comes back home, she'll call and we'll go to lunch and just chat. If I've got something to say, I'll call her," he said.

"Sometimes I'll have an idea -- just an idea about something -- so I might say, 'What do you think about this?' But trust me, she knows what the hell she's doing. It's in her blood."

Pelosi's political network in the Bay Area reaches far and wide, including former Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy, the treasurer of her political action committee who has been seriously ill recently, her longtime political consultant Mary Hughes and veteran Democratic activist Roz Wyman. She remains close with much of the state's Democratic establishment from her days as party chairwoman in the early 1980s.

Her Rolodex of personal friends also is peppered with top donors to the Democratic Party, including Susie Tompkins Buell, co-founder of the Esprit clothing company; former ambassador to Luxembourg James Hormel; Bay Area attorneys John Keker and Joe Cotchett; financier Warren Hellman; and members of the Haas, Fisher, Getty and Swig families. Her well-heeled fundraising base has helped propel her to power.

The reality, according to Burton, is that Pelosi has too many friends and allies in the Bay Area to name. A recent holiday party Pelosi hosted in San Francisco to thank her supporters and celebrate her rise in Congress started with a guest list of 400. More than 1,000 people showed up.

"She doesn't have a close circle, she has an ever-widening circle," Burton said. "Her friends go from the cream of the crop down to the average working stiffs. She covers the whole gamut."