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For Silicon Valley venture capitalists eager to weaken the corporate governance law known as Sarbanes-Oxley, Representative Nancy Pelosi may prove to be a useful ally.

Pelosi, a Democrat, already has identified revising the law as a priority when she becomes the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in January.

Venture capital firms have been lobbying the White House, legislators and regulators for months to water down the law, arguing that higher auditing and legal fees were driving companies to take initial public offerings overseas. This year, Pelosi has received more campaign money from partners at Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, which helped get Google and Amazon.com started, than she got from the labor federation AFL-CIO.

“Pelosi has stated several times that there need to be changes to Sarbanes- Oxley, particularly for smaller, emerging growth companies,” said Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association in Arlington, Virginia. “There is a real possibility that there will be changes.”

IHT:Venture firms bank on Pelosi to relax Sarbanes-Oxley rules