Sen. Diane Feinstein (D., Ca.) is embroiled in an expanding controversy over her introduction of legislation to give $25 billion to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp that awarded a highly generous contract to her husband. Feinstein is notably not on any committee with jurisdiction in this area and this legislation was unusual for her. The scandal, once again, shows the calculated decision of Senators to preserve loopholes that allow them to invest or have interests in areas where they legislate and vote.
I have written repeatedly about how members of Congress have made themselves rich by investing in areas where they vote or legislate, click here. In this case, Feinstein suddenly decided to send $25 billion to the FDIC after her husband’s real estate firm was given a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties. She offered the measure on Oct. 30th only days after the agency gave the CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE) – the firm headed by her husband Richard Blum.
For civil libertarians, the week has been something of a windfall. Jane Harman and Feinstein are blamed for blocking efforts to investigate unlawful surveillance and torture –programs that they reportedly knew about for years before made public. Now, Harman is facing a potential criminal allegation and Feinstein is tied up in a financial scandal.
Feinstein has a legitimate argument under the ethics rules in the Senate which were written to clear Senators rather than deter Senators from conflicts of interests. While there is an obvious appearance of a conflict of interest, the toothless standard could not gum a Senator engaged in the both flagrant acts of self-dealing.
For the full story, click here.
Where the hell do I sign up. Let me see, if I donate the Maxim of 3,400 I can get How much in Return. Man, I need this gig.
Senator Feinstein has not been a shining light of probity within the Congress. We’ve known her predilections, now we know her price.
At the risk of sounding ignorant what is the MSM other than an aids drug or a file extension from Microsoft?
AY,
Sorry, Main Stream Media.
MSM = mainstream media… took me a while to figure that one out, too
Feinstein keeps popping up in Greenwald’s columns in not the most positive light…
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/09/23/feinstein/
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/11/10/feinstein/index.html?source=rss&aim=/opinion/greenwald
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/12/04/feinstein/
Or, more generally, http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS306US308&q=site%3Asalon.com++inurl%3Agreenwald+feinstein&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=
Feinstein,
One of the gang of two democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee who voted to confirm the nomination of Mr. “waterboarding is not torture I think” Muckasey as AG following Gonzales.
She and Shumer lost my confidence because without their vote Muckasey would not have been confirmed.
She is corrupt and must go. Who can oppose her in the next primary?
Should the Senator be asked about this and she starts with the normal I have done nothing wrong and starts pounding a table this is why:
When the law’s on your side, pound the law. When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. And when neither is on your side, pound the table. – Unknown
I will stipulate that Sen. Feinstein (D-Ca.) is one of the primary reasons I think both parties suck.
It is time to vote for term limits! We have people that start out with good intentions and then allow greed and power to overcome them,this must stop! We have a congress that is suppose to represent the people and they are not representin! The People of the UNITED States of America are the ones that were delegated power in our Bill of Rights, we MUST take this power back or loose our country! Stop allowin Faux and other msm from dividing our UNITED States!
The American People Must Demand Trickle-Down Prosecutions!
IBETT
logout,
I know it’s counter intuitive, but there is some evidence that term limits have actually bolstered lobby’s ability to manipulate process. It’s sounds like a good idea, I confess, but let’s look at the problem systemically. When you remove seasoned Senators and Representatives who know how the process works, that leaves the outlying parasites who don’t have term limits knowing how the system works better than the newly elected and inexperienced officials who DO report to We the People. If corruption and malfeasance is the issue, wouldn’t the best way to limit it be lobby reform? Or my personal preference, banning lobby as practiced right now outright since they aren’t fooling anyone – it has become institutionalized graft. The Right to Petition should be easily available to ANY and ALL Americans, not just those willing to pay some K St. scumbag for the access that is theirs already by Constitutional Right? It should be a form you can get at the library or post office and corporations, a legal fiction, shouldn’t be able to submit the forms for legislative consideration period. This is OUR government, not Halliburton or Raytheon or any other fiction, bad actors or not. So maybe, just maybe, the solution is not to throw out the tools in Washington, but keep the Weasels who abuse the tools from playing with them.
Oh the Termed elected people. Why does not someone call John Engler and ask him what he thinks of term Limits.
More special interests are in control. No one but a few people have the knowledge to know what has happened so the Quid Pro Quo does not get listed for lack of a better word.
It does not work, people are more concerned about getting reelected than they are with doing the job that they were elected to do to start with.
Alright, I have heard of people turning water into wine and other things like that. I have read the principals of alchemy, but how do I turn 3,400 oh heck 5,000 into 25 Billion?
Please someone share the secret before it becomes an Info Commercial.
So this was to be the “most ethical congress in history”?
It appears this Congress is going to go down in history as the most corrupt ever by far!
Feinstein’s personal fortune is in the hundreds of millions and odds are most of it represents ill-gotten tax payer money.
And everybody looks the other way because she is a Democrat, like Murtha, like Rangel, like Jeffers, like Frank, like Dodd, like Reed, like Pelosi, like etc. etc. etc.
Graft is bipartisan. When does she get her medal of freedom?
k. mansfield blows this off as graft being bipartisan. i rather doubt it. this last two years and this election have shown to me my father & mother & most of my relatives were always right – the party i thought was a responsible one, the democrats, is the most crooked of any of them.
Well Former Dem.
If they are guilty as charged, then, Off with ether Heads. I have already had my cake.
GOD BLESS MS. California.
Perez Hilton is an evil clown.
Hey would I be guilty if I donated the max of 5K? and Got 25 Billion in return? I like that interest rate, where shall I sign up Sally?
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I’m trying to determine if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog.
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