They’re still buzzing up in the Wine Country over House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi’s VIP ride — complete with flashing lights — to a swank St. Helena shoe boutique.

As local businessman Thomas “Paul” Smith first described in a letter to the hometown St. Helena Star, he was chatting with friends on Main Street on a recent Saturday afternoon when he spotted “a large, perfectly polished and gleaming black SUV” approaching from a side street.

“The big black SUV then darts out across both lanes of traffic with (red and blue lights) flashing in both front and rear windows,” Smith wrote. “It goes directly into the red zone/fire hydrant area” and stops in front of Footcandy — a shoe store frequented by the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Victoria Beckham, where a pair of shoes can set you back anywhere from $100 to more than $1,000.

The VIP stunt maneuver was also witnessed by a passing St. Helena police officer who was “shaking his arm and hollering at the driver of the SUV,” Smith said.

Unfazed, the SUV’s driver helped a woman from the passenger’s side of the vehicle. The woman turned out to be Pelosi, who dashed into Footcandy while the driver waited by the SUV in the red zone, Smith said.

Smith soon walked up the street to take a closer look.

“As I approach Footcandy, Nancy Pelosi comes out with her shopping bags and the man assists her into the awaiting SUV,” he wrote. The VIP SUV then burst back into southbound traffic with lights flashing, Smith said.

“I understand people like that need security,” Smith told us, “but this didn’t look like any official business to me.”

Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill confirmed that his boss was in Napa County on the weekend in question, but insisted that Smith had gotten it wrong. “This is not at all an accurate account,” he said without elaborating. “The security detail always complies with appropriate laws and regulations.”

Asked by the town’s paper to weigh in, St. Helena Police Chief Bill Imboden wrote that his hands were tied because the U.S. Capitol Police and the Secret Service provide dignitary protection for certain high-ranking members of the government, “and the protection comes with the discretion to violate some state and local laws under the guise of providing the best possible protection.”

Imboden told us that Pelosi visits St. Helena a lot — she and her husband have a winery just outside town — and that her security detail at times plays fast and loose with the traffic laws. But Pelosi’s isn’t the only one, he said — it happens with other VIPs as well.

“Typically, they turn where they want to, or double park, or park in red zones ... and in front of fire hydrants,” the chief said. “But I’ve never seen them in a handicapped zone.”

These antics “happen occasionally, and it makes us cringe a little,” Imboden said. “It’s not something we would do, but it’s not something we can stop them from doing.”

Tents versus tech: The looming showdown at San Francisco City Hall over a tech tax and tent takedowns is just the opening salvo of a broader war between moderates and progressives that will be fought on election day in November.

On one side is Mayor Ed Lee and his moderate allies on the Board of Supervisors.

On the other are a pair of termed-out progressive supervisors, David Campos and Eric Mar, aided by Supervisor Aaron Peskin.

The prize: control of the Board of Supervisors and control of the District 11 state Senate seat, a race that looks like it will be neck-and-neck till election day between progressive Supervisor Jane Kim and moderate Supervisor Scott Wiener.

The first shot rang out when Wiener and Supervisors Mark Farrell, Malia Cohen and Katy Tang put an initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot to ban homeless tent encampments in the city. If approved, the initiative would authorize the city to take the camps down after giving 24-hour notice, as long as there were shelter beds for the campers.

A June poll by EMC Research found that 70 percent of the 403 likely voters surveyed were ready to say “yes” to such a measure.

In other words, not only did the moderates have a winner, but they also had an issue that could clearly distinguish their side’s candidates like Wiener from the more tent-friendly progressives like Kim.

Enter Mar, Campos and Peskin and their tables-turning call for a ballot measure to impose a 1.5 percent payroll tax on tech companies.

The argument: The money would help with affordable housing and homeless services. And who better to pay for helping the homeless than the mayor’s friends in tech?

Add in that many San Francisco voters see tech as the evil engine behind the city’s skyrocketing rents and evictions, and you have a defining issue that could put the moderates on the hot seat as well.

Whether the progressives have three more votes on the board to put their tech-tax attack before the electorate remains to be seen. But if they don’t, look for them to complicate things for the moderates by putting their own tent takedown measure on the ballot.

That way, everyone can be for it — just some more than others.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX-TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross