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May 08, 2007
Culture of Corruption
A Trail of Two Ladies
by Tina Grazier
It’s a republican "culture of corruption” declared House Speaker Pelosi as she plotted to deliver a democrat congressional takeover in 2006. As we all know, the lady did indeed deliver on that promise, but now it appears she may have taken personal control of the “culture of corruption” as well. Turns out she is joined by another lady from the great state of California, Senator Diane Feinstein. Theirs are two stories worth noting but few in the media are bothering even though the charges are quite serious.
As we know the “seriousness of the charge” is the democrat standard for guilt (Clarence Thomas). A standard so defined would easily invoke the phrase “culture of corruption” for republicans...but it won't in this case, so let us apply it liberally here to these two fine ladies of the democrat leadership.
We begin with Speaker Pelosi. A recent New York Post piece by Geoff Earle, “Her $an Fran Treat” reveals a conflict that has raised a few eyebrows, the same kind of brow lifting that democrats so gleefully raised at Speaker Hastert:
Pelosi got House members to authorize $25 million to improve the Embarcadero port area, clearing the way for cruise-ship-dock development and other improvements to aid the neighborhood's comeback.
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) was criticized for getting more than $200 million earmarked for a highway near Illinois property he owned.
The charges against Senator Feinstein are a bit more complex and most likely a lot more serious. As Peter Byrne reports in his excellent article “Senator Feinstein's Iraq Conflict,” the senator is, since 2006, the chairman of the Senate Rules Committee and chairwoman of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies subcommittee. However for six years she held a very powerful position that afforded her, shall we say, certain opportunities:
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) chairs the Senate Rules Committee, but she’s also a Cardinal. She is currently chairwoman of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies subcommittee, but until last year was for six years the top Democrat on the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (or “Milcon”) sub-committee, where she may have directed more than $1 billion to companies controlled by her husband. **** If the inferences finally coming out about what she did while on Milcon prove true, she may be on the way to morphing from a respected senior Democrat into another poster child for congressional corruption. **** The problems stem from her subcommittee activities from 2001 to late 2005, when she quit. During that period the public record suggests she knowingly took part in decisions that eventually put millions of dollars into her husband’s pocket — the classic conflict of interest that exploited her position and power to channel money to her husband’s companies. **** In other words, it appears Sen. Feinstein was up to her ears in the same sort of shenanigans that landed California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R) in the slammer. Indeed, it may be that the primary difference between the two is basically that Cunningham was a minor leaguer and a lot dumber than his state’s senior senator.
Another good article, “Feinstein’s Cardinal shenanigans” by David Keene can be found HERE.
During this period the two companies, URS of San Francisco and the Perini Corporation of Framingham, Mass., were controlled by Feinstein’s husband, Richard C. Blum, and were awarded a combined total of over $1.5 billion in government business thanks in large measure to her subcommittee. That’s a lot of money even here in Washington. **** Interestingly, she left the subcommittee in late 2005 at about the same time her husband sold his stake in both companies. Their combined net worth increased that year with the sale of the two companies by some 25 percent, to more than $40 million. **** In spite of the blatant appearance of corruption, no major publication has picked up on the story, the Senate Ethics Committee has reportedly let her slip by, and she is now chairing the Senate Rules Committee, which puts her in charge of making sure her colleagues act ethically and avoid the sorts of conflicts of interest with which she is personally and so obviously familiar.
We cannot expect representation that is relatively free of corruption if we fail to hold our representatives equally accountable regardless of party or standing. The trail of possible corruption left by these two ladies should be followed with the same vigor that was visited upon Speaker Hastert and Duke Cunningham…and oh, by the way, if you are one of those who demonizes Halliburton, you might as well go ahead and demonize URS and Perini as well.
Posted by Post Scripts at May 8, 2007 10:20 PM