Democrat Caught Profiting Millions from War; Steps Down. Media says NOTHING.

[JuanDenver]

Yet another case of bias...

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.

"As MILCON leader, Feinstein relished the details of military construction, even micromanaging one project at the level of its sewer design," wrote Peter Byrne in the report. "She regularly took junkets to military bases around the world to inspect construction projects, some of which were contracted to her husband's companies, Perini Corp. and URS Corp."

He suggested perhaps Feinstein resigned "because she could not take the heat generated by metro's expose of her ethics? Or was her work on the subcommittee finished because Blum divested ownership of his military construction and advanced weapons manufacturing firms in late 2005?"

The writer also noted another reason could be that since that subcommittee is responsible for veterans' "quality of life" issues, perhaps she was trying to distance herself from the military's failure to provide decent medical care for wounded servicemembers.

"Feinstein abandoned MILCON as her ethical problems were surfacing in the media, and as it was becoming clear that her subcommittee left grievously wounded veterans to rot while her family was profiting from the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. It turns out that Blum also holds large investments in companies that were selling medical equipment and supplies and real estate leases ? often without the benefit of competitive bidding ? to the Department of Veterans Affairs, even as the system of medical care for veterans collapsed on his wife's watch," he wrote.

The Metroactive report, based on research partly funded by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute, noted that as of the end of 2006, federal documents showed three companies in which Blum's financial entities owned a total of $1 billion in stock got $17.8 million for medical equipment and supplies (Boston Scientific Corp.), $12 million for medical supplies and equipment (Kinetic Concepts Inc.), and additional funding through lease contracts (CB Richard Ellis).

(Story continues below)

"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," Byrne wrote. "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."

Byrne earlier had documented the connections between the dollars Feinstein voted on and the revenue for Blum's companies.

From 1997 through 2005 Blum, with Feinstein's knowledge, was a majority owner in both URS Corp. and Perini Corp., both of which were regularly among the companies awarded major military contracts proposed by the Department of Defense.

According to those reports, from 2001 to 2005, URS earned $792 million from military construction and environmental cleanup work approved by MILCON, while Perini collected $759 million for the same.

Feinstein's annual Public Financial Disclosure Reports record sizeable family income from investments in the Framingham, Mass.-based Perini and the San Francisco-located URS. But there was no acknowledgment of any conflict of interest, according to Metroactive, a "Northern California meta-site" that specializes in arts and entertainment information from area publications: Metro, Silicon Valley's Weekly Newspaper; Metro Santa Cruz; and the North Bay Bohemian.

Byrne also reported Michael R. Klein, an adviser to Feinstein and business partner with Blum, said that starting in 1997 he routinely told Feinstein about federal projects coming before her in which Perini had a stake, in order for her to avoid those votes and as such, a conflict of interest.

However, instead of withholding a vote, she did act on those pieces of legislation, Byrne reported. Ultimately, "the Congressional Record shows that as chairperson and ranking member of MILCON, Feinstein was often involved in supervising the legislative details of military construction projects that directly affected Blum's defense-contracting firms," Byrne's report said.

"Sen. Feinstein has had a serious conflict of interest, a serious insensitivity to ethical considerations," Wendell Rawls, of the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, told Metroactive. "The very least she should have done is to recuse herself from having conversations, debates, voting or any other kind of legislative activity that involved either Perini Corp. or URS Corp. or any other business activity where her husband's financial were involved."

One example was that in 2005, MILCON approved a Pentagon plan to fund "overhead coverage force protection" for Iraq to reinforce the roofs of U.S. Army barracks. About three months later, Perini announced an award of a $185 million contract to provide "overhead coverage force protection to the Army in Iraq."

Byrne noted when Blum divested ownership of URS and Perini in 2005, the conflict of interest was resolved. "But Feinstein's ethical dilemma arose from the fact that, for five years, the interests of Perini and URS and CB Richard Ellis were inextricably entwined with her leadership of MILCON ... ."

The investigation examined thousands of pages of documents, including transcripts of hearings in Congress, filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and reports and government audits as well as corporate press releases.

The result? "The paper trails showing Sen. Feinstein's conflict of interest is irrefutable," according to Danielle Brian, of the Project on Government Oversight.

"Because of the amount of money involved," said Melanie Sloan, of the Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington, "Feinstein's conflict of interest is an order of magnitude greater than [other] conflicts [involving U.S. Rep. John T. Doolittle, former Speaker Dennis Hastert and others]."

In 2005, Roll Call calculated Feinstein's wealth at $40 million, up $10 million from just a year earlier. Reports show her family earned between $500,000 and $5 million from capital gains on URS and Perini stock. From CB Richard Ellis, her husband earned from $1.3 million to $4 million.

Public records show Blum's company paid $4 a share for controlling interest in Perini, and later sold about three million shares for $23.75 each.

The report also showed URS' military construction work in 2000 was only $24 million, but the next year, when Feinstein took over as MILCON chair, military construction earned URS $185 million. Additionally, its military construction architectural and engineering revenue rose from $108,000 in 2000 to $142 million in 2001, a thousand-fold increase.

In late 2005, Blum sold 5.5 million URS shares, worth $220 million, the report said.


http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/ar...TICLE_ID=54932

[Germanic]

Sigh...

[NuggzTheNinja]

Diane Feinstein is truly a crooked wench. She's a huge proponent of gun control, whilst being one of two people in her county with a concealed carry permit.

The most basic human need, that of safety, she denies others while ensuring her own. Absolutely disgusting.

[The-Stig]

Cliffs plz.

[efini84]

politicians are corrupt?! you don't say!

[Fidelis]

Media says nothing? Not a surprise. The media is strangely silent about many scandals on both sides of the aisle.

[Boxman]

The US military industrial complex is a cancer that reaches into every level of our government, Republican and Democrat alike. I've been saying this for a long time. Both parties are beholden to this corporate-military beast we've created over 60+ years.

The only difference is a matter of degree. Republicans are more closely intertwined with corporate-military-energy interests and thus have produced more scandals but truly, the Democrats aren't far behind. This report surprises me not at all.

[Aarakis]

Originally Posted by Fidelis

Media says nothing? Not a surprise. The media is strangely silent about many scandals on both sides of the aisle.

I disagree. The media is MUCH more likely to publish and announce percieved or real scandals involving republicans. Look how they're going on and on and on and on about the Gonzales bull****, but ignore this war profiteering b*tch.

[Julie5150]

I heard about this on the news.
My media said something.

[JuanDenver]

Originally Posted by Boxman

The US military industrial complex is a cancer that reaches into every level of our government, Republican and Democrat alike. I've been saying this for a long time. Both parties are beholden to this corporate-military beast we've created over 60+ years.

The only difference is a matter of degree. Republicans are more closely intertwined with corporate-military-energy interests and thus have produced more scandals but truly, the Democrats aren't far behind. This report surprises me not at all.

Actually, theres a Dem by the name of Murtha who is doing the same thing as this one is. Both of them are Dems. I havent heard of any Rep senators doing this of yet.

[JuanDenver]

Originally Posted by Julie5150

I heard about this on the news.
My media said something.

Theres a difference between saying "something" and having wall to wall coverage.

If she had an "R" next to her name, this story would be plastered on the front of every newspaper in the country and dominate every news station for at least a week. There was a rep senator from california who accepted an old rolls royce and a few thousand dollars and it was everywhere.

[Jonathon]

Maybe it's because of her last name, feinstein.


Everybody knows the media is owned by the jews.


No doubt nuggz will say something about this.

[lanzo]

Originally Posted by NuggzTheNinja

Diane Feinstein is truly a crooked wench. She's a huge proponent of gun control, whilst being one of two people in her county with a concealed carry permit.

The most basic human need, that of safety, she denies others while ensuring her own. Absolutely disgusting.

I agree.

[illriginalized]

Democrats are not the only people who profit from this war... that's the point of war, war, and more war... for profit. Just like the romans did... it's how they build the economy.. err their pockets.

Go learn a few things from Mumia Abu Jamal, or Malcolm X. It's not hard to figure out.

[Itchy Nads]

Originally Posted by Jonathon

Maybe it's because of her last name, feinstein.


Everybody knows the media is owned by the jews.


No doubt nuggz will say something about this.

So when there are no Republicans to blame, it's the Jews.

[run213]

Originally Posted by Danny23

Democrats are not the only people who profit from this war... that's the point of war, war, and more war... for profit. Just like the romans did... it's how they build the economy.. err their pockets.

Go learn a few things from Mumia Abu Jamal, or Malcolm X. It's not hard to figure out.

What would you like me to learn from Mumia Abu Jamal, how to gun down a police officer in cold blood?

[illriginalized]

Originally Posted by run213

What would you like me to learn from Mumia Abu Jamal, how to gun down a police officer in cold blood?

oh **** off... he didn't even have a damn weapon, go learn the facts moron. I already smell racism.

Just by that post alone Mumia's philosophy would be too much for you to even fathom. Go learn how to hunt deer and cut down trees

[xer0xed]

...wow

[drjjg]

Originally Posted by Boxman

The US military industrial complex is a cancer that reaches into every level of our government, Republican and Democrat alike. I've been saying this for a long time. Both parties are beholden to this corporate-military beast we've created over 60+ years.

The only difference is a matter of degree. Republicans are more closely intertwined with corporate-military-energy interests and thus have produced more scandals but truly, the Democrats aren't far behind. This report surprises me not at all.

agreed

[pheny]

Yes because she is the ONLY war profiteer.




You say nothing about the others.

[Fidelis]

Originally Posted by Aarakis

I disagree. The media is MUCH more likely to publish and announce percieved or real scandals involving republicans. Look how they're going on and on and on and on about the Gonzales bull****, but ignore this war profiteering b*tch.

The Gonzales scandal is not "bull****" in any sense. It's the Department of Justice we're talking about, and if it's as rotten as it looks then we citizens have a major cause for concern.

I've had the opposite perspective during the past elections--I've thought that the media was biased in support of Republicans.

The point is that pretty much everyone sees media bias, but no one agrees on which direction the media is biased toward. I think we tend to focus on when the media fails to represent our personal interests (like when they put Anna Nicole Smith as the lead story instead of the Gonzales stuff, despite ANS still being dead a month after the fact). That would give the impression of a bias in favor of the administration to someone who is prone to interpret things that way (like me who wants the Gonzales issue to be heavily reported).

You might focus on how this story is being underreported but see that the Gonzales case is finally getting a lot of attention--as it should. You might not care about it, but it's rather important to the system of checks and balances and to government oversight. There is a lot more to that story than is being reported, I think. It's not just one scandal, it's a fist full.

I argue that we perceive media bias because of our own biased expectations and desires from the media. Whether bias actually exists or not isn't resolved by this, it just means we can't see the truth very easily.

[NuggzTheNinja]

Originally Posted by Jonathon

Maybe it's because of her last name, feinstein.


Everybody knows the media is owned by the jews.


No doubt nuggz will say something about this.

Feinswine is a democrat.

Obviously not part of the "Invade Iraq, smash Iran" crowd.

You 14/88s have no consistency in your stupidity.

[JuanDenver]

Originally Posted by Danny23

Democrats are not the only people who profit from this war... that's the point of war, war, and more war... for profit. Just like the romans did... it's how they build the economy.. err their pockets.

Go learn a few things from Mumia Abu Jamal, or Malcolm X. It's not hard to figure out.

Thats not the point really. Everyone profits from war one way or another and most of them do a damn good job at covering their tracks.

The point here is that there is blatant evidence of someone doing it and to boot having to quit because they knew they got caught. Then on top of that, the media is ignoring this while they are on the cutting edge of of scandals those who have and R next to their name. Its been proven that Murtha is doing the same exact thing.

[catmando]

Originally Posted by Boxman

The US military industrial complex is a cancer that reaches into every level of our government, Republican and Democrat alike. I've been saying this for a long time. Both parties are beholden to this corporate-military beast we've created over 60+ years.

The only difference is a matter of degree. Republicans are more closely intertwined with corporate-military-energy interests and thus have produced more scandals but truly, the Democrats aren't far behind. This report surprises me not at all.

Just like Ike warned about in his farewell speech to Congress. His warning was ignored of course.

[catmando]

Originally Posted by SeniorDiscount

...Its been proven that Murtha is doing the same exact thing.

I put a google on Murtha and didn't find anything but I did find this about Republican Curt Weldon;

http://www.alternet.org/story/43780/

[resurrected]

Noose tightens on Murtha
Pg. 1, Washington Post: ?Nonprofit Connects Murtha, Lobbyists?
Dec. 25, 2006? Rep. John Murtha?s lifelong political corruption is coming to an end. VFTT Boot Murtha and other large groups have set their sights on exposing the lies and political manipulations of Murtha -- even the liberal Washington Post has found Murtha?s past corrupt practices too much to bear.

When your friends are doing you in, you know you?re at the end of your rope.

The nonprofit group PAID (Pennsylvania Association for Individuals with Disabilities) and its money trail to Murtha is the focus of a page 1 article in today?s Washington Post. PAID was set up in 2001 by Murtha for his long-time aide, Carmen Scialabba.

[EXCERPTS:]

?to some watchdogs, including Taxpayers for Common Sense, Democracy 21 and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, PAID looks a lot like the cozy nexus between lawmakers, lobbyists and business interests that Democrats railed against in the midterm campaigns.

Its board of directors includes Scialabba and five government contractors who have received millions of federal dollars through appropriations measures obtained by Murtha. Its advisory council includes three lobbyists from KSA Consulting, which employs Scialabba and employed Murtha's brother, Kit. Its honorary board members include still more defense contractors.

In turn, the lobbyists and businesses associated with PAID have become supporters of Murtha's campaigns, contributing a total of nearly $125,000 in the past three election cycles, when Murtha raised a total of $7.2 million, according to campaign records. And those same players have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at three lobbying shops with close Murtha ties: the PMA Group, Scialabba's KSA Consulting and Ervin Technical Associates


I know it is from a biased site but...
www.bootmurtha.com

[illriginalized]

Originally Posted by SeniorDiscount

Thats not the point really. Everyone profits from war one way or another and most of them do a damn good job at covering their tracks.

The point here is that there is blatant evidence of someone doing it and to boot having to quit because they knew they got caught. Then on top of that, the media is ignoring this while they are on the cutting edge of of scandals those who have and R next to their name. Its been proven that Murtha is doing the same exact thing.

Guys... look at the White House... they're just as guilty, they're doing the same exact thing.

Heh.. then again, it does go by if there is no physical proof of the scam, then there's nothing that can be done.

[JuanDenver]

Originally Posted by Danny23

Guys... look at the White House... they're just as guilty, they're doing the same exact thing.

Heh.. then again, it does go by if there is no physical proof of the scam, then there's nothing that can be done.

ya.

Theres no doubt imo that Bush/Cheny is in some way profiting from the war in one way or another. I think that Haliburton is involved some how. No bid contracts? I mean come on lol. True; I dont think there is I direct link to B/C as there is with this woman and Murtha.

[Aarakis]

Originally Posted by Fidelis

The Gonzales scandal is not "bull****" in any sense. It's the Department of Justice we're talking about, and if it's as rotten as it looks then we citizens have a major cause for concern.

Bulllllll****! The miedia had almost zero to say when Clinton fired over 90 of them AND while he was being investigated. So don't even TRY to convince me this is nothing more than a political withch hunt.

[Jonathon]

Originally Posted by NuggzTheNinja

Feinswine is a democrat.

Obviously not part of the "Invade Iraq, smash Iran" crowd.

You 14/88s have no consistency in your stupidity.

She doesn't have to be part of that crowd to benefit from it.

"You would think that, considering all the money Feinstein's family has pocketed by waging global warfare..."