Dianne Feinstein Getting Rich Off Iraq War?

[BPSCG]

Link

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California silently resigned from her post on the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON) late last week as her ethical limbo with war contracts began to surface in the media, including an excellent investigative report written by Peter Byrne for Metro in January. MILCON has supervised the appropriations of billions of dollars in reconstruction contracts since the Bush wars began.

Feinstein, who served as chairperson and ranking member for the committee from 2001-2005, came under fire early last year in these pages for profiting by way of her husband Richard Blum who, until 2005, held large stakes in two defense contracting companies. Both businesses, URS and Perini, have scored lucrative contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last four years, and Blum has personally pocketed tens of millions of dollars off the deals his wife, along with her colleagues, so graciously approved.

Here's a brief rundown of the Feinstein family's blatant war profiteering. In April 2003, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave $500 million to Perini to provide services for Iraq's Central Command. A month earlier in March 2003, Perini was awarded $25 million to design and construct a facility to support the Afghan National Army near Kabul. And in March 2004, Perini was awarded a hefty contract worth up to $500 million for "electrical power distribution and transmission" in southern Iraq.

But it is not just Perini that has made Feinstein and Blum wealthy. Blum also held over 111,000 shares of stock in URS Corporation, which is now one of the top defense contractors in the United States. Blum was an acting director of URS, which bought EG&G, a leading provider of technical services and management to the U.S. military, from the neocon packed Carlyle Group back in 2002.

"As part of EG&G's sale price," reports the San Francisco Chronicle, "Carlyle acquired a 21.74 percent stake in URS -- second only to the 23.7 percent of shares controlled by Blum Capital."

URS and Blum have since banked on the war in Iraq, attaining a $600 million contract through EG&G, which Sen. Feinstein permitted. As a result, URS has seen its stock price more than triple since the war began in March of 2003. Blum has cashed in over $2 million on this venture alone and another $100 million for his investment firm.

Remember the front-page accusations that Bill Frist was profiting from insider trading while in the Senate? He's been exonerated (you'll find that story next to the classifieds...).

Meanwhile, the MSM seems to be ignoring this story.

 

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Link

Remember the front-page accusations that Bill Frist was profiting from insider trading while in the Senate? He's been exonerated (you'll find that story next to the classifieds...).

Meanwhile, the MSM seems to be ignoring this story.

It's all just a wacky misunderstanding.

 

[frank462]

A little matter of an ethics violation? What would you expect from her.

Dianne_Feinstein

As mayor of San Francisco:
In 1985, at a press conference, she revealed details about the hunt for Richard Ramírez, otherwise known as the Night Stalker, and in so doing angered detectives by giving away details of his crimes, including displaying actual evidence at the press conference. These revelations subverted their investigation and Ramirez left the San Francisco area to commit another murder before he was finally captured in the Los Angeles area.

In 1990, Feinstein made an unsuccessful bid for Governor of California, losing to Republican Senator Pete Wilson, who vacated his seat in the Senate to assume the governorship. In 1992, she was fined $190,000 for failure to properly report campaign contributions and expenditures associated with that campaign.

She is opposed by gun rights organizations, who say that her proposals on gun control are unconstitutional and that Feinstein herself is hypocritical for making such proposals despite having had a concealed carry permit—difficult to obtain in San Francisco—during her tenure as a San Francisco politician.

Besides, don't you know by now, it is only "evil" conservatives who do unethical things.

 

[Steven Howard]

I'm no fan of my state's senior senator, but this bit here is just plain false:

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California silently resigned from her post on the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON) late last week as her ethical limbo with war contracts began to surface in the media, including an excellent investigative report written by Peter Byrne for Metro in January.

The Senate announced the new appropriations subcommittee memberships on January 10, two weeks before Byrne's first article appeared.

 

[Mephisto]

She needs the extra money to buy more guns.

 

[thinkingaboutit]

I thought it was every American politician's right to be a war profiteer?

 

[BPSCG]

The Senate announced the new appropriations subcommittee memberships on January 10

What a strange link. I'm not questioning the story's accuracy, but what a strange kind of web site to have a detailed story about Senate committee assignments.

Anyway, now she's chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration committee, which, according to her web site, "is responsible for issues that include election, campaign finance and ethics reform."

 

[frank462]

Anyway, now she's chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration committee, which, according to her web site, "is responsible for issues that include election, campaign finance and ethics reform."

That's totally irrelevant. Ethics rules don't apply to rich elitists like her anyway.