Posted on 03/29/2007 9:47:17 PM PDT by Mo1
Hmmmm. What was that about the “culture of corruption?”
SEN. Dianne Feinstein has resigned from the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee. As previously and extensively reviewed in these pages, Feinstein was chairperson and ranking member of MILCON for six years, during which time she had a conflict of interest due to her husband Richard C. Blum’s ownership of two major defense contractors, who were awarded billions of dollars for military construction projects approved by Feinstein.
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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.
As of December 2006, according to SEC filings and www.fedspending.org, three corporations in which Blum’s financial entities own a total of $1 billion in stock won considerable favor from the budgets of the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs:
# Boston Scientific Corporation: $17.8 million for medical equipment and supplies; 85 percent of contracts awarded without benefit of competition.
# Kinetic Concepts Inc.: $12 million, medical equipment and supplies; 28 percent noncompetitively awarded.
# CB Richard Ellis: The Blum-controlled international real estate firm holds congressionally funded contracts to lease office space to the Department of Veterans Affairs. It also is involved in redeveloping military bases turned over to the private sector.
Dr. Rusty has a few questions related to this story, and an observation:
This is genuine news. Political corruption on a scale as big as Duke Cunningham, and the mainstream press is worried about 8 US attorneys losing their jobs in a completely legal hard-ball political axing-session.
The Culture of Corruption has ‘returned’ - bigger and better than ever before!
Actually, the “culture of corruption” never left.
Is the Pope German?
FYI Ping
"Is DiFi dirty?"
Dirty Dirty girl!
Of course she is; she's a Dimmycrap.
Don't count on Keith Overbite to bring this to anyone's
attention as last night he and was still talking about
Plame being thrown "under the bus".
The Dems won the election through sheer media propaganda.
....JJ61
Amazing how this story has completely crowded out all other stories in the news, huh? ;)
But since it's a bigwig democrat, there will only be a chorus of crickets from the MSM, and the pansy ass pubbies.
If you don't believe me, look up Sandy Berger.
That about sums it up
I guess we're going to have to get used to the double standard because I don't see one bit of activism going on around FR with regard to issues like this. For that matter, I don't see activism or any PR going on with Congressional Republicans.
I dunno...let's ask the guy who launched her political career the day he shot Harvey Milk.
This was my favorite part of Michelle's post yesterday:
"The NYTimes is demanding an investigation. Arianna Huffington has launched ads lambasting Feinstein. The left-wing blogosphere is an uproar over Feinstein's war profiteering.
Kidding."
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