Posted on 03/31/2007 7:21:09 AM PDT by DBCJR
Founded more than a century ago in Massachusetts as a civil infrastructure contractor, Perini is known today for its hospitality and gaming industry projects, and for its corrections, health care, sports, entertainment and educational expertise. It is the largest casino and hotel builder in the United States. It also builds hospitals, prisons and public buildings. In addition, Perini is a major player in civil infrastructure construction, working on everything from bridges and highways to subways and airports.
Chairman and CEO Ronald Tutor and billionaire investor Richard Blum, who together own investment groups that hold 75 percent of Perini's voting stock, control the company. Blum is the husband of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
In addition to Perini, Tutor and Blum conduct a great deal of business through another company called Tutor-Saliba. Among that company's largest projects is the Los Angeles subway system.
Iraq contracts (see below)
(Excerpt) Read more at publicintegrity.org ...
In late September 2003, the Army Corps of Engineers issued additional task orders totaling $278 million on the three individual contracts and the Corps decided to raise the contract ceiling from $100 million to $500 million.
Perini will repair electrical infrastructure in southern Iraq, while Fluor and Washington Group International will perform similar work in central and northern Iraq. Afghanistan contracts
In March 2003, Perini was awarded a contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Transatlantic Programs Center, for the design and construction of facilities to support the First Brigade of the Afghan National Army, located near Kabul.
Perini is the prime contractor for this $25 million, fast-track project, providing overall program management, design management, construction management and supervision, and quality control. The Perini team includes Tetra Tech, Azad Architects, and POWER Engineers.
The project consists of three phases, with occupancy of some facilities to begin in May 2003 and a final completion date of August 2003. It is unclear if the work has been completed. The facilities consist of barracks, dining facilities, a power plant, a water treatment facility and a wastewater treatment plant. Construction was started on January 19, 2003.
On April 4, 2003, the Army Corps of Engineers' Transatlantic Programs Center announced that it had awarded three contracts "to rapidly execute design and construction services as needed anywhere" in the area of operations for the U.S. military's Central Command (CENTCOM). The one-year contracts, awarded to Fluor Intercontinental, Perini Corporation and Washington Group International, are indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contracts with a guaranteed minimum value of $500,000 and a maximum of $100 million. However, in late September 2003, the Army Corps of Engineers issued additional task orders totaling $278 million on the three contracts and the Corps decided to raise the contract ceiling from $100 million to $500 million.
According to the Pentagon: Perini, alongside Fluor Intercontinental and Washington Group International, will remove and rebuild damaged roads and replace a destroyed bridge in Afghanistan as part of their individual IDIQ contracts to support CENTCOM. Government ties
Principal shareholder Richard Blum, who co-owns 75 percent of Perini's voting shares, is the husband of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California who serves on the Appropriations Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence. Legal Action/Investigations
Perini entered into a contract worth roughly $41 million with the City of New York to upgrade and expand the structures and equipment at the Coney Island Water Pollution Plant. During performance of the contract, the city issued several change orders that increased the time required to complete the contract and caused Perini to incur extra costs. Perini notified the city that it had incurred or would incur damages as a result of the change orders. Perini and the city were unable to resolve the issue, so Perini sued. The federal courts ultimately ruled in the city's favor. Updates
As of May 20, 2004 On March 12, 2004, the Program Management Office awarded Perini a contract with a ceiling of $500,000,000 for "electrical power distribution and transmission" in the southern region of Iraq.
Wikepedia includes:
Conflict of Interest with Wife in Congress
Blum's high-profile wife, Senator Dianne Feinstein, has received scrutiny for husband Richard Blum's extensive business dealings with China and her past votes on trade issues with the country. The Center for Public Integrity has reported that Blum and Feinstein are making millions of dollars from Iraq and Afghanistan contracts through his company, Perini. [1] Critics have also argued that Feinstein's support of policies that are friendly to the Chinese government are because of her husband's extensive China-related business holdings.[citation needed]
In 2003, Feinstein was ranked the fifth wealthiest senator, with an estimated net worth of $26 million. [1] By 2005 her net worth had increased to between $43 million and $99 million dollars [2]. Her financial disclosure statement[3] -- nearly the size of a phonebook -- draws clear lines between her assets and those of her husband. Many of her assets are in blind trusts.
On March 29, 2007, she resigned from the Senate Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee. 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.
According to the suburban online source metroactive, Feinstein abandoned MILCON as her ethical problems were surfacing in the media. Her subcommittee left grievously wounded veterans to rot while her family was "profiting from the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan". 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.
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:
While the often reviled Haliburton has won few contracts in a no bid situation, over 50 percent of Blum's contracts were awarded on a no-bid basis.
......cue crickets
I remember when two Italians, Louie and Charlie owned Perini Constuction.
Italians eh....cue moussolini end game
Perini is an excellent contractor, and Ron Tutor is a hell of a guy.
Once again, the MSM does its job for the Democrats by refusing to cover this story.
"I got your money on my mind
And my mind on your money..."
That SOB Lou Perini moved the Braves out of Boston! (spit!)
Casinos, Italians & Jews in partnership, government contracts, big bucks. That recipe reminds me of the JFK days. Don't get me wrong, some of my best friends are Italians and Jews. I just get nervous when I see them in partnership around casinos & government contracts. That's not necessarilly a bad thing. Aggressive business practices are often needed for innovation and risk-taking that takes things to a new level. But then some aggressive business practices annihalate competiton and yield unfair advantage. Some are criminal. Some ethnic partnerships have repeatedly crossed that line over the years.
at least this major news is now being allowed on FreeRepublic!!! the thread was removed yesterday and the day before and I was really getting spooked!!!
Couldn't get the Feinstein Resigns link to work. Is this what you were linking to?
http://www.metroactive.com/feinstein/feinstein-resigns.html
PING!!
Not sure if you've got these, so here.
He sold them to Milwaukee in '52 or 53, wasn't it?
That's it. Not sure why the link broke...
I can understand why the MSM doesn't give this story any play, but for the life of me, I just can't understand FReepers. Only 9 Freepers replied and one of them is the poster. SHEEESH!!!
Only 9 Freepers replied and one of them is the poster. SHEEESH!!!
......................................................Sorry to say, but this is Old News...maybe to most of us....?
Well, I hit all the keywords here and found a small handfull of posts. One had 99 replies, the others barely made double figures. In the last few months I've brought up the name Perini and it's tie to Difi on many occassions and seldom if ever was any interest shown. So it may be Old News to some, but I'd bet it is Unknown News to a heck of a lot more.
Broke my father's heart. He grew up halfway between Fenway Park and Braves Field and saw all the great Braves and Red Sox teams from the teens on up. He was the only guy I ever met that saw the Sox win the Series in 1918. He died in '02, two years before they finally did it again.
But he was a Braves guy until the end.
Hay Carry_Okie! You been talkin about this old hag's corruption for years on FR!
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