Feinstein's Fury - Up Against The Big Media Spin Machine

[Robson]

I found this article very interesting although it is frankly not complimentary to Senator Feinstein. Read it with an open, inquiring and non-partisan mind. I'm not familiar with the reporter but he sounds honest and credible and non-partisan. When it comes to war profiteering we should work to expose anyone regardless of party.

http://www.metroactive.com/metro/08.08.07/dianne-feinstein-0732.html

Feinstein's Fury
Up against the big media spin machine

By Peter Byrne

I AM PLEASED to announce that my national exposé of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's conflict of interest has been selected as one of the 25 most underreported stories of 2007 by Project Censored, headquartered at Sonoma State University. I cherish this award because it means I am doing my job as an investigative reporter. Stories that the mainstream media ignore often reveal truths about our system of governance that editors at corporate daily newspapers work overtime to cover up. In this case, the cover-up was abetted by the editor and publisher of The Nation, Katrina vanden Heuvel, after The Nation's nonprofit investigative fund bankrolled my investigation of Feinstein. The story was headed for the cover of that weekly magazine shortly before the 2006 elections when vanden Heuvel, a wealthy Democratic Party partisan, spiked it. Subsequently, vanden Heuvel wrote an editorial praising women leaders of the newly empowered Democratic Party, mentioning Feinstein on a positive note.

In the kill memo, The Nation's investigative editor, Bob Moser, who had worked closely with me on the project, wrote that I had done a "solid job," but that the magazine liked to have a political "impact" and since Feinstein was "not facing a strong challenge for re-election," they were not going to print the story. Moser claimed the story had no "smoking gun," which totally amazes me, since I had reported that Michael R. Klein, the vice chairman of Perini Corp., a company owned by Feinstein's husband, Richard C. Blum, regularly gave Feinstein lists of Perini projects impacted by Senate legislation. As chairwoman of the MILCON appropriations subcommittee, Feinstein regularly vetted and approved Perini's military construction projects. That gun wasn't smoking, it was on fire!

Fortunately, Metro and its sister papers had the guts to print the Feinstein story. I wrote three follow-ups: a look at her husband Richard C. Blum's war-contracting business partner, Michael R. Klein and the nonprofit Sunlight Foundation he set up last year with a $3.5 million donation; an exposé of Blum's conflict of interest as a regent of the University of California; and a news column on the senator's abrupt resignation from the Appropriations Military Construction subcommittee, where she committed her unethical behavior. In March, left- and right-wing bloggers by the thousands started calling for a congressional investigation of Feinstein. Michael Savage and Rush Limbaugh did radio segments on my findings. Because I do not associate with demagogues, I declined to appear on their shows. Fox's Bill O'Reilly invited me to talk about Feinstein on his show, but disinvited me after I promised that the first sentence out of my mouth would cast Feinstein as a neoconservative war-profiteer just like him and his boss, Rupert Murdoch.


Snipped-

http://www.projectcensored.org/

[msongs]

1. he hardly sounds "non-partisan" nt

[jgraz]

2. You don't have to be partisan to realize that Fein$tein is a disgrace

Read the original piece. http://www.metroactive.com/feinstein

The woman is completely corrupt and has been since she was on the SF Board of Supervisors.

[Robson]

3. Opposed an office of public integrity watchdog

From the link you posted. I think it is a disgrace that any US Senator from any party would oppose strengthening ethics laws.

"Last week, the Senate voted to close some significant loopholes in its ethics rules. But it stopped short of creating an office of public integrity, which would independently monitor lobbyists and members of congress for ethical compliance. Setting her own limits on the extent of reform she will countenance, Feinstein says she is opposed to the creation of an independent congressional ethics watchdog. "If the law is clear and precise, members will follow it," she assured the New York Times on Nov. 18, 2006.

The problem with the existing rules governing congressional ethics is that they are neither clear nor precise, and neither are they effective. Senate rules governing conflicts of interest are so vaguely worded, say government watchdogs, that short of stashing cash bribes in the refrigerator, the line between serving constituents and serving oneself is often blurred. The public record shows that Feinstein has a history of crossing that blurry line."

[VP505]

6. Ethics and ethics reform

is a really tough issue for todays politicos. They want the voting public to think they are for tough ethics legislation, have high personal standards while still wining, dining and pocket lining with the lobbyist's.

[Robson]

16. Democrats must lead by example

I agree it might be tough road to hoe for politicos more interested in being reelected, than ethically and honestly serving their constituents and the American people. My own opinion is that Democrats should not tolerate even the appearance of impropriety, and definitely not war profiteering by the spouse.

Republicans have shown themselves to be unable, due to partisanship, to enforce ethical behavior on Congress. The Democratic Party must lead by example and when they do the voters will reward them with reelection and much improved standings of respect.

[Igel]

4. This particular story was 'hot' in the conservative press in '06.

Maybe even earlier. Their counterpoint to the dem "culture of corruption" campgaign.

[jgraz]

8. It's only one Dem, but yeah, she's a one-woman culture of corruption

[RufusTFirefly]

14. Amen! I'm sorry that Cindy Sheehan isn't running against Dianne!

I love Barbara Boxer (even though I don't always agree with her), but I can't stand Dianne (even though I sometimes do agree with her). Feinstein has totally figured out how to game the system, earning the points that make her seem like more of a liberal than she actually is, but making the statements and casting the votes that undermine liberal efforts. Boxer is a politician; don't get me wrong. But she knows when to lead and to stand on her own, such as when she sponsored Stephanie Tubbs Jones in questioning the certification of the Ohio vote. Feinstein, on the other hand, is basically a DINO, which is especially objectionable here in the Bay Area.

[KoKo]

9. Well...would the "Nation" hire a conservative Republican to write an article

about a Democratic Senator? I would hope they would hire a good investigative reporter and not a partisan of either stripe. The article points out alot of things that don't smell very good about Feinstein and the company she keeps.

[defendandprotect]

5. Supposed to be a hearing on "warprofiteering" and I think anyone . . ..

holding elected office and profiting from war should have to come clean on that --

I only knew because Sen. Barbara Mikulski took a crack at Feinstein during one of the hearings -- !!!!

Something about $5 million invested in Iraq war???

Feinstein is certainly no liberal -- !!!!

[truedelphi]

13. Not $ 5 million - her husband received contract(s) worth $ 27 million just a short time after

Feinstein voted for IWR

[partylessinOhio]

7. Another corrupt politico who keep filling her pockets with our money.

She needs to go along with the Squeaker.

:thumbsdown:

[AntiFascist]

10. Kudos....

several of us were trying to point this out back when she was defending her position of support for the Iraq invasion by claiming that she held a different "world view". Perhaps the world view that she shares with the Bush Administration is colored by profiteering.

[EFerrari]

11. K&R.

[RufusTFirefly]

12. Not complimentary toward DiFi???????

If you're an actual Democrat in California who happens to have a pulse, this is nothing new.

[Robson]

17. Not from California

I did a search on Sen Feinstein on DU and was surprised I could not find previous threads discussing this subject, at least in the more recent past, before I posted this article. I was hoping that the subject was not considered as too sensitive to discuss. BTW I'm not from California.

[The Doctor.]

15. THIS, and this alone... is why I've thrown my lot in with the 'Dems' and 'Liberals' lately.

I am disgusted with partisan-shit when anyone abuses their office in ANY way.

The "Right" is in lock-step. They will defend any and every member of their team no matter how badly they play. They are a recipe for disaster.

The "Left" understands social philosophy and the importance of holding all of our leaders responsible. You people are everything Democracy hopes for (for humans anyway).

It may be a temporary weakness to seek unequivocal justice, but it is an eternal strength.

I don't know if she's violated ethics, but I'm certain that the Dems will hold their own accountable as evidenced daily here on DU.

Now let's keep calling Waxman about Sibel... I did just a week ago, now it's your turn.

[leftchick]

18. which reminds me: "The Mansion The WAR Bought"

http://www.counterpunch.org/frank02282006.html


<snip>

The Democrats aren't just letting the Republicans get away with murder, however, some of them are also reaping the benefits of the Bush wars. We constantly hear about Dick Cheney's ties to Halliburton and how his ex-company is making bundles off US contracts in Iraq. But what we don't hear about is how Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein and her husband are also making tons of money off the "war on terror".

The wishy-washy senator now claims Bush misled her leading up to the invasion of Iraq. I don't think she's being honest with us though, there may have been other reasons she helped sell Bush's lies. According to The Center for Public Integrity, Senator Feinstein's husband Richard Blum has racked in millions of dollars from Perini, a civil infrastructure construction company, of which the billionaire investor wheels 75 percent of the voting share.

In April 2003 the US Army Corps of Engineers dived out $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 the southern Iraq.

Senator Feinstein, who sits on the Appropriations Committee as well as the Select Committee on Intelligence, is reaping the benefits of her husband's investments. The Democratic royal family recently purchased a 16.5 million dollar mansion in the flush Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. It's a disgusting display of war profiteering and the leading Democrat, just like Cheney, should be called out for her offense.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

19. Her resignation from the appropriations committee speaks volumes

It is naive to believe that a culture of corruption does not ensnare Democrats as well as Republicans. I am just as willing to throw out Democrats who behave with elastic ethics and a sense of entitlement when it comes to enriching themselves and their familes at the public's expense as I am any Republican. It speaks well for us if we will do our own housecleaning as an example. I am suspicious of ANY member of Congress who attempt to derail ethical oversight.

[leftchick]

20. I agree completely

naive indeed.

[bvar22]

21. Diane Feinstein vs Kay Bailey Hutcheson

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HA! Trick Question!
They are both Sell Outs to BIG MONEY!

[bvar22]

22. Too bad she was re elected in 2006.

Otherwise those of us on The Looney Left could target her for The Lieberman Treatment.