One of the things that bothers me about Iraq is the billions of dollars wasted on no-bid U.S. contracts and the shabby contract work we've seen on television (wires hanging from ceilings, broken plumbing, etc.).

Today on The Hill I came across another such story. Diane Feinstein chaired the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee from 2001 to 2005 and "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." Her husband, Richard C. Blum, was a "majority owner of both URS Corp. and Perini Corp".


CREW: Senator Feinstein's Iraq Conflict, Jan 25, 2007
The Hill: Feinstein’s Cardinal shenanigans, April 30, 2007

Should Congress and/or the FBI investigate Feinstein?

Should Feinstein resign as chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee?

What should be done to stop nepotism between congresswo/men and their families? To stop kickbacks between congresswo/men and campaign contributors?

I posted this story elsewhere a week ago to little response. We love to hammer Halliburton or Wolf getting the raise for his girlfriend but when one of the darlings on the left – Feinstein gets caught in what should be a HUGE scandal the press is largely quite. After all its only a few BILLION $$.

Certainly she should be investigated along with her husbands companies. I would love to review all the bids and see if there was competition. She should resign or be impeached – now.

ON CAPITOL HILL
Feinstein quits committee under war-profiteer cloud
Report documents military contracts for firms owned by senator's husband
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article....RTICLE_ID=54932
________________________________________
"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. "

Ted,

Please try to get it right.

United States Senators are not impeached.

The Senate sets its own rules. They can discipline Feinstein. They can remove her by a 2/3s vote.

http://www.senate.gov/civics/constitution_...onstitution.htm

California has a recall provision, but it only applies to state and local officials.

http://www.igs.berkeley.edu/library/htRecall2003.html

I'm pretty sure Ted was giving us some hyperbole there BoF,
at least that is what I saw it as. I was wondering if you had an opinion on the debate questions posed by Lesly?

This looks pretty damn well incriminating on the surface, but should indeed be investigated.

This quote from The Hill made me think of somethings:


What happened to that no more culture of corruption Mrs Pelosi?

It's amazing how having a (D) behind your name can shield you from investigative reporting these days.

Sleeper,

What in hell does Nancy Pelosi have to do with this? Pelois in the House where there is no jurisdiction over Senators. Did the Senate get involved when Tom Delay, Duke Cunningham, Mark Foley and other House members got in trouble? I don't think so. Do you, like Ted, need a primer on Congressional discipline on this or is this just more hyperbole? Nice try at guilt by association.

It would be nice if someone answered all my questions and gave the liberal media bias theme a rest.

Should Congress and/or the FBI investigate Feinstein?
Either one. Both carrying out independent investigations will do.

Should Feinstein resign as chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee?
Yes.

What should be done to stop nepotism between congresswo/men and their families? To stop kickbacks between congresswo/men and campaign contributors?
Introduce a rule for each legislature barring members with business/family interests in a given industry from chairing or being a member of a committee they will benefit from. This may ruffle the egos of senior senators and congresswo/men, but it’s for the best; their prestige be damned.

I didn't know the culture of corruption comments only applied to the House. I guess Pelosi meant it was ok for the Senate to be corrupt. Thanks for clarifying that for me BoF.

Lesly my media comment came from he portion you chose to quote.



That one line says a lot about the media, don't you think?

As to answer the last two debate questions. Of course I think she should resign. Not only as chairwoman but also as a senator.

And for the last question I have always had a problem with this. Whether Dem. or Repub. It's just bad business in my opinion.

No, Sleeper, it doesn't say anything about the media. What it does say is David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, thinks there is a liberal media conspiracy. David Keene does not back up his opinion with proof; he anecdotally points to a lack of coverage on Fenstein's shenanigans. Repeating Keene's "observation" doesn't make anecdotal evidence more compelling.

Make a joke of it if you want Sleeper, but Nancy Pelosi has no jurisdiction in the U. S. Senate. That's fact, reality - deal with it.

In fact, the years Feinstein was engaged in this activity were well before the "culture of corruption" statement.

Form one of Lesly's original links:



http://thehill.com/david-keene/feinsteins-...2007-04-30.html

I think it would be bad protocol for Pelosi or any House member to make a statement on Senate business. I will again call this what it is - an attempt to use guilt by association. Sorry, but that doesn't work.

Should Congress and/or the FBI investigate Feinstein?

Possibly, but I don't think that's going to happen. This kind of thing might open too many cans of worms on both sides of the aisle.

Should Feinstein resign as chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee?

Possibly, but some of the more right oriented members of the board wish, figuratively at least, to lynch Feinsteing. "Impeachment," passed off as hyperbole when i called for what it is, resignation any thing to make it look like Democrats (not Dems Ted, I give Republicans the the courtesy of calling them that, and you should do likewise) look bad. There's nothing like mob mentality run amuck.

Gee let me guess that if this was a Republican Senator you would have him drawn and quartered at dawn. When its one of the darlings on the left all you can say is “possibly”.

Is there anything more unethical than what she has done? Add this to the fact that the work done by her husbands companies was shoddy and you have the basis IMO for removal (recall) and maybe prosecution.

While we are desperately subpoenaing documents to hang Gonzales who is looking into Diane? I missed the NYT headline on this one.

"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. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article....RTICLE_ID=54932

Ted,

I thought I posted a link to the California recall law that indicated it was only applicable to state and local officials.

Oh wait, I did.

http://www.igs.berkeley.edu/library/htRecall2003.html

Now prosecution is another matter. As best I remember, Alberto Gonzales and the Department of Justice (duh...the Bush adminsitration) are in charge of that sort of thing. So, I guess this element falls back on Republicans.

Aren't publications the media?

Wow BoF, you've done your absolute best to attack Ted and Sleeper, and to weasel-word around the topic's questions. Within the sense of the topic what does it matter whether Feinstein is "impeached", "booted", "recalled", "voluntarily resigns", "forcibly resigned" or "given the bum's rush"? The last, we all know, is only applied by bouncers to bums, not by anybody to Senator's, so of course, such terminology would be absolutely incorrect and worthy of your attack.

It appears that you are dedicated to diversion and avoidance.

Should Congress and/or the FBI investigate Feinstein?
as somebody else said...
"Either one. Both carrying out independent investigations will do."

Should Feinstein resign as chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee?
"Yes." ,errrr, maybe, probably not, at least not as long as she maintains "innocence."

What should be done to stop nepotism between congresswo/men and their families?
Full disclosure is the first and most important aspect regarding the nepotism. The question is, what constitutes an "interest" and how far afield in the family tree do we venture? thorny questions that deserve consideration.

To stop kickbacks between congresswo/men and campaign contributors?
Well, defining kickbacks becomes challenging. Perhaps the best way to minimize these is to minimize the scope of gov't activities. Beyond that, there's little that will be effective aside from full disclosure and gettin' the voters riled up.

Geez Bikerdad, I don't know.

Maybe I have a fetish for precision.

Maybe I don't want Nancy Pelosi dragged (down here in Texas the yokels, Bubbas and Bubbisses say "drug," but dragged is the correct past tense ) into something she has no control or no jurisdiction over.

I notice you didn't address the fact that potential prosecution lies within the Bush Administration's Department of Justice. Could it be that Gonzales is so busy with the U. S. Department of CYA that he doesn't have time to check into Feinstein's activities?

Should Congress and/or the FBI investigate Feinstein?

What really shocks me is how little we hear about this issue in the MEDIA. The FBI should be all over this and IMO will have a lot to work with. How DF thought she could get away with this is beyond me.

And let’s also remember that one of here husbands companies Perini, is neck deep in the shoddy work and cost over runs of the 15 billion $$ Big Dig in Boston. BIG DIG

Assuming you are correct Ted, the FBI (as I've said before) is part of the executive branch, the Justice Department - the Bush Administration. Again, my guess is that there is so much of this type thing on both sides of the aisle, that few people want to open that partiular can of worms.

Few of the current witch hunts involve the kind of money we are talking of here. This should be big but I will bet she gets away with it because Bush is reluctant to point out any bad work in Iraq. He has enough trouble as it is and certainly the Dems in control (appropriations committee etc.) will be happy to let it disappear.