Feinstein Takes Her Cut And Runs

Where is the investigation and the rebuke to follow?

Billions in Military Contracts to Husband's Firms Were Approved by Sen. Feinstein's Committee, Metro Newspapers Investigation Reports

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 25, 2007 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband was a major beneficiary of military appropriations blessed by a subcommittee that she headed, Metro Newspapers reports this week.

Feinstein (D-Calif.) acted in apparent conflict of interest while approving billions of dollars in military construction expenditures, according to an investigative story by award-winning journalist Peter Byrne. The story was published jointly in the North Bay Bohemian and Metro Silicon Valley weekly newspapers this week.

Following Feinstein's participation at the legislative level, large contracts were awarded to two firms -- URS Corporation and Perini Corporation -- that were controlled by an investment group headed by the senator's spouse, financier Richard C. Blum.

Byrne's investigation reveals the following details about Feinstein's service as a member of the United States Senate's Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON):

-- From 1997 through the end of 2005, with Feinstein's knowledge, her husband's group held a majority interest in two defense contractors active in Iraq and U.S. military bases.

-- While setting MILCON agendas, Feinstein supervised her own staff of military construction experts and lobbied Pentagon officials in public hearings.

-- From 2001 to 2005, URS earned $792 million from military construction and environmental cleanup projects approved by MILCON; Perini secured $759 million from MILCON projects.

-- Attorney Michael R. Klein, a Feinstein legal adviser and long-time Blum business partner, also served as vice-chairman of Perini's board of directors. In an interview with Byrne in September, Klein stated that, beginning in 1997, he routinely informed Feinstein about specific federal projects coming before her in which Perini had a stake. The insider information, Klein said, was intended to help the senator avoid conflicts of interest. Although Klein's admission was intended to defuse the issue of Feinstein's conflict of interest, it instead exacerbated it, and Sen. Feinstein did in fact vote on legislation that affected Perini and URS.

The story published in Metro Silicon Valley and the North Bay Bohemian examines the many ways in which Sen. Feinstein committed repeated breaches of ethics as MILCON's chairperson from 2001-2005.

Also see here here and here.

Comments

[Phoenix]

This from your last link: "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." (Read it all.)

What a repulsive human unit this woman is.

[bloodrage bob]

can't see how this differs any from the kind of corruption that sent ol' duke cunningham to prison.

except the sheer scale, of course: based on the dollar amounts, difi is MUCH more filthy, stinking, dirty corrupt. MUCH more. HUNDREDS of times dirtier.

to prison with the foul bitch!! to prison!!!

[Purple Avenger]

Nothing to see here, just move along...

[ConserView]

This is beyond sickening. And they have the nerve to talk about the "Republican culture of corruption"? This hypocritical bitch should be in an orange jumpsuit. We'll see if the main stream media (i.e. liberal media) pick up on this. Now if it were a Republican senator . . .

[Buzzy]

Time for a musical interlude from BTO...

You ain't seen nothin' yet
B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen nothin' yet
Here's something that you never gonna forget
B-B-B-Baby, you just ain't seen nothin' yet

...

You ain't seen corruption till you've seen Democrats at the trough.

[vetter]

The post has been up for hours and still none of the usual defending from the lib hordes? Come on, guys...

[benrand]

Look, it's alright for liberals to be total, complete, lying hypocritical sacks of greedy shit.

The hardcore leftists will, in the end, suck it up and betray their once golden philosophies of non-materialism and altruism, because they have to, it's called making a living.

I have met some liberals who were the most greedy, possessive, back stabbing assholes, I have never met any conservatives as nasty.

[Capitalist Infidel]

Don't worry, the libs will be screaming Halliburton again before long

[southdakotaboy]

Wow the silence from the left is just deafening. Is it just me or is does it feel alot less crowded with moonbats today. Just wondering.

[okie]

"Where is the investigation and the rebuke to follow?"

This is a rhetorical question, right?? I mean, we are talking about a high ranking Democrat government official. The best we can hope for is a silly joke reference from the President at another black tie dinner.

[Fred Beloit]

Where is Legalize? Legal's too busy trying to make it a crime for a boss to fire employees who won't work on the boss's priorities.

[Gary Maxwell]

Wow Danny take notes. Not a single thread luse shows up. More posts like this please. Seems like Pelosi was right, there is a culture of corruption in Washington. Centered on the Democrat Party.

[BobinLondon]

Wow, an ethics problem not related to the GOP. Truly shocking. Dick Cheney would be proud. Surge on, brave heros!!

[benrand]

WHen they think they have a "gotcha" they swarm to this site like Rosie O' to an unopened jar of sour cream...

But prove some liberal hypocrisy, they jump ship, not even bothering to try to change the subject away from a liberal taking a dump on the American flag.

IIRC, Cheney gave up his shares in Halliburton...

Maybe if he had a carbon offset mutual fund, no one would bleat...

[Fred Beloit]

"I was for making big dough from the war, before BooinBridgeport was against it." Your Senator, B Feinstein

[southdakotaboy]

I for one think she needs to be frog marched out of there in cuffs. Thats the Dem's base answer for everything isn't it.
Whats up with that anyway? I have never in my life seen a frog march. I don't think that frogs are to into the whole social thing. I've never seen more than two or three frogs in anyone place and they seem more interested in hopping than marching. And by the way isn't marching like way to millitary for good libs. Maybe she could be cuffed and sauntered out, yes that's it lets saunter on out with her.

[benrand]

What's the deal?

Are they having a sit-in praying for Tony Snow's death or something?

[BobinLondon]

Who cares about Tony Snow? If you heros want to pray for your shill thats your problem. Just a reminder that the SURGE is WORKING. It will be Mission Accomplished all over again soon. Be sure to Tivo to capture your leader in his flightsuit costume again. Very inspiring stuff.

[Zifnab]

"Feinstein is chanting the mantra of endless terrorism and war without end in tandem with the neoconservative Heritage Foundation, which calls for increasing military spending until domestic programs for the poor are deader than an Iraqi baby run over by a Humvee filled with Halliburton engineers."

I'm shocked, Dan. Shocked that you would turn to a terrorist loving hippie to provide your arguements against Feinstein. Of course, its amazing that the Republicans tolerated her since '97 and only now seem to object to her ethics violations AFTER she's resigned.

And especially after Feinstein has gone so far out of her way to support the war on terror:

"You can reposition men in Kuwait; we need more in Afghanistan where the Taliban has a resurgence. We know there are problems in the horn of Africa, and we know that Southeast Asia remains a place for terrorists and a place for insurgents. . . . There are terror cells operating in this country and in some 60 countries, so we are going to be fighting this war for some time to come."

Once again, its the grass roots liberal reporter bringing us the real truth on our Senators, while the right-wing blogosphere can only whine about it.

To read more of Peter Byrne's excellent work, I suggest you pick up his other articles:
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/09.21.05/orleans-0538.html
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/02/15/arnold/
http://www.sfweekly.com/issues/2003-02-05/news/bayview.html

[Fred Beloit]

Boob is, if we are to believe his new moniker, now in the UK. (I'm going to pretend I didn't notice.) I'm not worried though. The fog in the air won't help him clear up his foggy thinking. Perhaps he'll even stay a while, which would be nice. I suppose while there he will go to the Lake District to ponder the Romantic period in English literature and the great poets who beheld and sang the wonders of nature there.........Nah.

[Dan Riehl]

To paraphrase Dean Wormer, fat, dishonest and skanky is no way to go through life. Unfortunately, though, maybe it is, given her millions. And the MSM just ignores it. Pathetic.

[Fred Beloit]

Great Zif. The first article, from 9/05, tries to blame every problem from The New Orleans hurricane on Bush. The Mayor and the Governor of this Leftist paradise had nothing to do with them. The second article (2/05) tries to make the case that Ahnold is governing California as a Conservative. Ha Ha Ha Ha. The third (2/05) drags out the old shirt that Iraqis oppose the US troops being there. Old, tired, Lefty BS. Common, Zif, at least how about some new Leftist BS? You might be more successful in changing the subject.

[Zifnab]

Hey, this is the exact same reporter who made the allegations against Feinstein. He's either a credible source or he isn't. You can't have it both ways Fred.

[Fred Beloit]

Have what both ways Zif? I was remarking on the old essays you referred us to.

[moosenose]

Speaking of "fat, dishonest and skanky".

http://exposetheleft.com/images/danriehl.JPG

[Hard Right]

Typical Zif tactic. Caught red handed? Can't win the debate? Change the subject.

[Zifnab]

"Feinstein (D-Calif.) acted in apparent conflict of interest while approving billions of dollars in military construction expenditures, according to an investigative story by award-winning journalist Peter Byrne."

Byrne, the awardwinning journalist who broke the Feinstein story, is the author of the three stories in my original post.

Thus, either Byrne is a credible journalist who's work you can trust - ergo, we give all his excellent pieces of journalism credit - or Byrne is a non-credible journalist we can't trust, and we should disregard what is clearly a hit-piece on Feinstein, the noble Senator from California who supported the Iraq War for years.

Which is it Fred?

[bloodrage bob]

watch closely, class: as we learned in an earlier lesson, see how the contemptible liberals line up lemminglike to defend one of their own. see - as we discussed before - see how what crime the bad liberal committed, in this case stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from the USG, see how it makes no difference at all. see them frantically try & change the subject: "tony snow" "that reporter guy", etc etc ad nauseum.

again, class: who's the bigger asshole? the foully filthy feinstein, or the dishonest braindead robots lining up to defend her?

discuss.

[southdakotaboy]

Bush needs to tell Gonzales to arrest her husband on insider tradeing charges and then let the games begin. He would sell out all the other dems to save his own skin. I can't wait for this to get rolling, the dems will come apart faster than frog in a blender and it will be just as messy. Or maybe a frog in a microwave.

[Zifnab]

Wow, wow Bob. With all the talk I've heard about the "liberal MSM" and "biased media", I just want to be certain that Peter Byrne is a trusted and respected journalist, someone you will all acknowledge as honest, believable.

I have no trouble throwing Feinstein under the bus. You're absolutely right. She was money-whoring off the Iraq debacle as hard as any Republican, and for that I hope she sees a stiff competition in her Democratic primary or an honest Republican contender in the general. Until then, I wouldn't mind seeing ethics violations filed against her. I'd like to see her receive the same treatment as Bob Ney and Duke Cunningham, the same prosecutorial vigor as Scooter Libby. It's important that all our elected representatives be held accountable by their constituents. And I'm proud of the San Fransisco beat reporter who took the girl to task.

[Fred Beloit]

Surely you don't believe in a binary world, Zif, especially when it comes to human activities. Isn't it true that an actor, for example, can be good in one role but bad in another? Are all of your comments or mine up to personal standards? Besides I'm not in a position to state that everything said in this article is true or false. I don't know if the Senator is guilty of the charges in the article. I hope this will come out. I do hope, though, this matter will not be pushed under the MSM rug or left in the freezer like the Congressman's cash. But it was fun to give BobnowinLondon the needle.

[Jon G]

If Feinstein broke the law, used her position for financial gain, etc. then she should be investigated, prosecuted, etc. I'm a liberal and everyone in government - Republican, Democrat, Independenat - should follow the law or face the consequences.

And I certainly hope conservatives on this board believe the same applies for members of the Republican party.

[southdakotaboy]

Well Jon, Cunningham and Ney are in jail and conservatives said good ridence (sp). Jefferds and now Fienstein are right there infront of you. If they aren't investigated and if found guilty put in jail well we will know once and for all the there are two sets of rules. One that says no matter what Republicans go to Jail and the other that says Dems skate.

[Legalize]

"Bush needs to tell Gonzales to arrest her husband on insider tradeing charges and then let the games begin."

You know that the AG doesn't "arrest" people, and that the SEC prosecutes insider trading - a crime that isn't implicated here - right? Carry on.

[Fred Beloit]

Yea. Or as Dean would put it YYYYYYEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH. I never thought I would agree w/Jon on anything. But i agree w/him above.There you see Zif.

[Phoenix]

Thanks, Fred, and Ben for the laugh-out-loud remarks. Great..... and a treat to read on this blog, for sure!

Legalize,

Aren't you going to condemn Feinstein's actions? Proven or not - what do you think?

[Zifnab]

"Isn't it true that an actor, for example, can be good in one role but bad in another? Are all of your comments or mine up to personal standards? Besides I'm not in a position to state that everything said in this article is true or false. I don't know if the Senator is guilty of the charges in the article."

So the journalist is an actor? I'm confused by your metaphor, Fred. I'm just trying to verify whether Byrne is a trusted source. Byrne has been a very outspoken anti-war voice and his investigation of Feinstein seems to support his personal views. This story suggests that money was misappropriated and misspent, not on a war against terrorism but on a war to fatten political pocketbooks.

Feinstein's actions are disgraceful, as were the actions of the MILCON committee which failed to provide proper oversight. The war has been a travesty of corruption, now apparently on both sides of the aisle, and I look forward to seeing it come to an end. Now, within a year, it will.

[Fred Beloit]

Zif asks, "So a journalist is an actor?" Well, that wasn't the point I was attempting to make, but now you mention it there are a few I can think of who are very bad actors indeed. Let me take another stab at it. Journalists, left right or middle, sometimes do better or worse than the job we have come to expect from them or write a piece that is more or less objective than we have come to expect. I can't imagine you have a list of those whom you always believe every word of and a list of those whom you never believe. Am I right?

[Zifnab]

"I can't imagine you have a list of those whom you always believe every word of and a list of those whom you never believe. Am I right?"

I certainly have a list of people I trust and people I don't trust and as journalism is predicated on trust, I have my trusted news sources and those sources I am skeptical of. For instance, I don't trust anything I read in the Onion, Nation, or the Washington Times, because they are humorous publications not ment to be taken seriously. And I don't trust various news anchors - like Tom Brochaw or Brit Hume - because they have a history of telling stories that are factually untrue.

However, Diane Priest of the Washington Post has never done me wrong, so when she prints stories about Walter Reed, I trust her.

But one of the foundations of a discussion or debate is an agreed-upon news source. If you quoted the Enquirer about a story from Iraq, I would not believe it. If I quoted the NYT about a statistic on the war, you would not believe it.

I am simply trying to determine whether Byran is one of your "trusted" news sources and whether I can reference him in the future without you crying "that's just Byran, a notorious liberal media biased liar".

[templar knight]

Ziffy, I wouldn't trust the guy as far as I could throw him, that is why the story should be investigated. See, that's how things work. If the guy has hard evidence, then the evidence can be checked and verified, if not, then the story will die. Does that make sense to you, Nabby?

[Zifnab]

"Ziffy, I wouldn't trust the guy as far as I could throw him, that is why the story should be investigated."

So Dan posts a story by a guy you don't trust and you want to investigate the story because... you don't trust him?

If you don't trust him, then that implies you don't believe Feinstein broke the law. So you would be conducting an investigation on what grounds exactly? Why would you be investigating a story reported by a person you don't believe? That defies all common sense!

[Buzzy]

Impeach Finestein, she must be investigated, convene a grand jury and look into her family business dealings for the next two years. The subpoenas shall flow. Democrats are the culture of corruption.

What goes around, comes around.

[Ralph]

One wonders why the Republicans don't pounce all over this. We tend to say they won't because they're too nice or some such. We see the foreign enemy in purely human terms. The Iranians see weakness and they pounce. I believe it. What about us Americans. We're human too. Why don't the Republicans pounce? I'm thinking they might have some skeletons too. It's either that or they are just too wussified to make some hay out of this. Either way it's time for some real leaders. Somebody not afraid of the NYT and somebody without questionable connections.

[Phoenix]

" Either way it's time for some real leaders. Somebody not afraid of the NYT and somebody without questionable connections."

No kidding. What I wouldn't give for Bush to do just one FU to the whole world. I did like his dig to Webb, though. Didn't do much for events, but it shows he's still got some balls. Someone should slip some testosterone into his breakfast.

I still have faith he'll pull it off, though.

[benrand]

Soooo.

Did DiFi do anything wrong here?

Can we expect a thorough investigation of DiFi and her Military-Industrial Complex fortune?

I guess it's not important, Democrats get a free pass cuz they help everybody and try to end poverty.

DiFi was just putting an end to her poverty, just like Bill C was when he pardoned Marc Rich.

It is for the children.

[Fred Beloit]

Zif, I can accept a statistic from the NYT. The problem I have with them is how they select some statistics and ignore others. I also have a lot of trouble with the bias of the words around facts, most especially the adverbs and adjectives. The problem of mind set, a mind set, well, like yours.