[Winona Online Democracy]
Here is just one more in a long list of Democrat party double standards. It
never ceases to amaze me how low they will stoop and how many lies they will
tell to retain/regain power...
The left endlessly complains about Haliburton and "no-bid" contracts. Where
was the outrage as US Sen. Feinstein's husbands companies made millions on
those same "no-bid" contracts???
Feinstein Resigns
>From Metroactive News
Senator exits MILCON following Metro exposé, vet-care scandal
By Peter Byrne
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.
As MILCON leader, Feinstein relished the details of military construction,
even micromanaging one project at the level of its sewer design. She
regularly took junkets to military bases around the world to inspect
construction projects, some of which were contracted to her husband's
companies, Perini Corp. and URS Corp.
Perhaps she resigned from MILCON because she could not take the heat
generated by Metro's expose of her ethics (which was partially funded by the
Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute). Or was her work on the
subcommittee finished because Blum divested ownership of his military
construction and advanced weapons manufacturing firms in late 2005?
The MILCON subcommittee is not only in charge of supervising military
construction, it also oversees "quality of life" issues for veterans, which
includes building housing for military families and operating hospitals and
clinics for wounded soldiers. Perhaps Feinstein is trying to disassociate
herself from MILCON's incredible failure to provide decent medical care for
wounded soldiers.
Two years ago, before the Washington Post became belatedly involved, the
online magazine Salon.com exposed the horrors of deficient medical care for
Iraq war veterans. While leading MILCON, Feinstein had ample warning of the
medical-care meltdown. But she was not proactive on veteran's affairs.
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.
You would think that, considering all the money Feinstein's family has
pocketed by waging global warfare while ignoring the plight of wounded
American soldiers, she would show a smidgeon of shame and resign from the
entire Senate, not just a subcommittee. Conversely, you'd think she might
stick around MILCON to try and fix the medical-care disaster she helped to
engineer for the vets.
---------------------------------
Get your own web address.
Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business.
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