The Empire Strikes Back: Feinstein quits committee under war-profiteer cloud

[133724]

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has abruptly walked away from her responsibilities with the Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee after a report linked her votes to the financial well-being of her husband's companies, which received billions of dollars worth of military construction contracts she approved.

As reported in Metroactive, an online report from the Silicon Valley, Feinstein's resignation followed six years of subcommittee work during which time her alleged conflict of interest stemmed from her husband Richard C. Blum's ownership of Perini Corp. and URS Corp.

Feinstein, chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee, regularly reviewed and accepted contracts from her husband's companies for not only construction work for military bases, but also addressing "quality of life" issues for the veterans of the United States military services.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54932

[sce56]

1. Good she needs to walk away from conflicts of interest! If only we could do the same to * & hisBFEE!

[Junkdrawer]

2. More than a few of us believe that would be "The Empire Turns on Itself"...

DiFi has, at best, been a mixed bag for progressives.

[PreacherCasey]

3. She has lost my support.

:puke:

[Selatius]

4. Isn't this common in congress nowadays? Massive conflicts of interest?

How many politicians become lobbyists when they leave public life?

[The Backlash Cometh]

13. Yup. And notice how she walked away AFTER THE WORD WAS ON

THE STREET.

[KittyWampus]

22. How many GOP'er walk away? How many GOP'ers doing same/worse are covered by Mediawhores?

DU'ers think they are so freaking smart and they get played for fools by the mediawhores and end up doing the GOP's work FOR THEM.

This article you and other DU'ers happily lap up (btw, did you even READ THE WHOLE PIECE?) accuses DiFi of causing the Walter Reed Scandal.

[The Backlash Cometh]

24. Six years.

We have been talking about the culture of corruption for the last two or three years. I don't expect every Democrat in office to be picture perfect, but there are some old rules of engagement which need to be dispensed with immediately. Conflicts of interest, patronage, cronyism, negotiations which sell out your federal vote for pork barrel state benes, these things have got to go for Republicans, as well as Democrats.

And I am praying intently, that the rules that the Dems will pass, will make sure that no party can ever jeopardize our justice system, because that's the only way that the ordinary citizen can feel safe in passing on information that might actually help the public good.

Sorry if Feinstein got caught in a game of musical chairs. I forgave Kennedy when he stopped selling his federal votes, I'll forgive Feinstein in time too.

[entanglement]

26. "At least we're better than the GOP" is setting the bar really, really low...

JMHO

[KittyWampus]

27. Did you read the article? It accuses DiFi of causing Walter Reed

[Lasher]

15. Even worse, how many current members of Congress have spouses who are lobbyists?

It's all perfectly legal of course. I had hoped Democrats would ban that when they won the majority but I think they backed away from that.

[earth mom]

5. Have to say it...I told you so. nt

[walldude]

8. Yep.. I got flamed a few times for taking her to task

for these shady deals involving her husband.

on edit: Although I'm sorry that it has to be WND reporting this, I hate them more than I hate what she did.

[earth mom]

23. Me too.

I didn't notice who reported the story. Guess that's why there are so few posts on this thread. :shrug:

But...IMO...the corruption has to stop on both sides of the fence.

[tjwash]

25. me three.

I have refused to vote for her for years now because of she is married to the military-industrial complex.

[Jcrowley]

6. I wish they would stop

calling this stuff "conflict of interest." Billions of taxpayer dollars getting funnelled into the coffers of military profiteers by paid off politicians. Anyone else sick of this?

As chairperson and ranking member of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON) from 2001 through the end of 2005, Feinstein supervised the appropriation of billions of dollars a year for specific military construction projects. Two defense contractors whose interests were largely controlled by her husband, financier Richard C. Blum, benefited from decisions made by Feinstein as leader of this powerful subcommittee.

Each year, MILCON's members decide which military construction projects will be funded from a roster proposed by the Department of Defense. Contracts to build these specific projects are subsequently awarded to such major defense contractors as Halliburton, Fluor, Parsons, Louis Berger, URS Corporation and Perini Corporation. From 1997 through the end of 2005, with Feinstein's knowledge, Blum was a majority owner of both URS Corp. and Perini Corp.

While setting MILCON agendas for many years, Feinstein, 73, supervised her own staff of military construction experts as they carefully examined the details of each proposal. She lobbied Pentagon officials in public hearings to support defense projects that she favored, some of which already were or subsequently became URS or Perini contracts. From 2001 to 2005, URS earned $792 million from military construction and environmental cleanup projects approved by MILCON; Perini earned $759 million from such MILCON projects.

In her annual Public Financial Disclosure Reports, Feinstein records a sizeable family income from large investments in Perini, which is based in Framingham, Mass., and in URS, headquartered in San Francisco. But she has not publicly acknowledged the conflict of interest between her job as a congressional appropriator and her husband's longtime control of Perini and URS--and that omission has called her ethical standards into question, say the experts.

http://www.metroactive.com/feinstein/

[Thothmes]

17. Contracts

Once the subcommittee approves the list, it still must pass committee muster, Senate vote, then if the House version differs, joint committee then back to both houses, if approved, then to the President for signature. Then the contracts are awarded. Lot of hoops to jump through even after Senator Feinstein gets a cut at it.

[Tom Joad]

7. Isn't US Senator and War-profiteer just redundant terms?

[cali]

21. Why, no. My two Senators are neither

as can be seen by their personal finances and campaign contributions. Do you really think that Pat Leahy and Bernie Sanders are war profiteers? Inquiring minds and all that.

[loudsue]

9. Then, what's good for the goose....

The Dems need to take her before the ethics committee. If we don't keep our own house in order, we sure don't have any credibility in pursuing the many crimes of the dictator-tot.

I think Californians need to find themselves a new, and this time truly progressive, Dem senator.

:kick::kick::kick:

[Kelly Rupert]

10. Haul her ass before the ethics committee.

This shit ain't kosher for a Dem or a Pub.

[The Doctor.]

14. A-MEN!

Get to the bottom of it, and if there is malfeasance, punish it.

[ComerPerro]

11. of course, this will get reported because she walked away. But no Repig will,

and the media will continue to ignore the massive amounts of profiteering done by BushCo

[EVDebs]

12. Hmm. The CIA wanted to 'strike' preemptively since Di Fi knows about the Lam investigations

"It's all part of a growing ongoing investigation into corruption in defense and intelligence contracts, which already has sent former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham to prison and, legal sources say, may threaten others in Congress and the CIA."

FBI probes Watergate prostitution allegations
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12634250 /

"...Cunningham is now cooperating with the FBI, raising the stakes for former partners and colleagues."

Let's hope the entire scope of the CIA/GOP funding pipeline is fully investigated, huh ? Maybe that's why Berenson's client Sampson is willing to give up Gonzo...in order to 'save' the Big Enchilada in the WH.

[Lasher]

16. If not Perini/URS then it's Halliburton

Isn't there a single defense contractor out there somewhere that doesn't have questionable relationships with government?

[ThomWV]

18. Committtes Do Not " Review and Approve" contracts

That is pure and simple bullshit.

They may have reviewed and approved funding for programs but that is not the same thing - not by a very long shot - as reviewing and approving any contract. The Contracts are let by Agencys which are part of the Executive. Think about it.

[KittyWampus]

20. This is a bullshit article intentinally published to drag Democrats into the Walter Reed Scandal

DU'ers can be such easily led tools.

[KittyWampus]

19. Dragging Democrats into the Walter Reed Scandal & Gullible DU'ers blindly take the bait

If DU'ers put their prejudice against DiFi aside, read the article, they'd see where this is headed.

Bet most people posting in this thread didn't even read the fucking article.

The companies in question, are medical equipement. And the article goes on to pretty much state DiFi is responsible for the Walter Reed scandal.

Now I also have a problem with elected Dem's doing the back scratching to the tune of million of dollars into their own or relatives pockets. But are DU'er prepared to accuse DiFi of causing Walter Reed's troubles?

BTW, how does medical equipment "wage global warfare" as the article accuses her?

.........................


"three corporations in which Blum's financial entities own a total of $1 billion in stock won considerable favor from the budgets of the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs:


*Boston Scientific Corporation: $17.8 million for medical equipment and supplies; 85 percent of contracts awarded without benefit of competition.
*Kinetic Concepts Inc.: $12 million, medical equipment and supplies; 28 percent noncompetitively awarded.
*CB Richard Ellis: The Blum-controlled international real estate firm holds congressionally funded contracts to lease office space to the Department of Veterans Affairs. It also is involved in redeveloping military bases turned over to the private sector." End quote

You would think that, considering all the money Feinstein's family has pocketed by waging global warfare while ignoring the plight of wounded American soldiers, she would show a smidgeon of shame and resign from the entire Senate, not just a subcommittee. Conversely, you'd think she might stick around MILCON to try and fix the medical-care disaster she helped to engineer for the vets who were suckered into fighting her and Bush's panoply of unjust wars." End quote