Senator Feinstein’s War Profiteering
Senator Feinstein’s War Profiteering
The Democrats' Blood Money
by Joshua Frank
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California silently resigned from her post on the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON) late last week as her ethical limbo with war contracts began to surface in the media, including an excellent investigative report written by Peter Byrne for Metro in January. MILCON has supervised the appropriations of billions of dollars in reconstruction contracts since the Bush wars began.
Feinstein, who served as chairperson for the committee from 2001-2005, came under fire early last year in these pages for profiting byway of her husband Richard Blum who holds large stakes in two defense contracting companies. Both businesses, URS and Perini, have scored lucrative contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan in the last four years, and Blum has personally pocketed tens of millions of dollars off the deals his wife, along with her colleagues, so graciously approved.
Here’s a brief rundown of the Feinstein family’s blatant war profiteering. In April 2003, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave $500 million to Perini to provide services for Iraq's Central Command. A month earlier in March 2003, Perini was awarded $25 million to design and construct a facility to support the Afghan National Army near Kabul. And in March 2004, Perini was awarded a hefty contract worth up to $500 million for "electrical power distribution and transmission" in southern Iraq.
But it is not just Perini that has made Feinstein and Blum wealthy.
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
April 04, 2007
Lucas:
"Kenneth Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center...said Tuesday it was disingenuous for Feinstein's office to claim she had no role in awarding contracts.
'The Pentagon does award contracts, but when the Pentagon wants money it goes to the appropriation subcommittees in the House and Senate for money,' Boehm noted. 'It's hard to imagine a more textbook example of a major financial conflict of interest.'
When the Pentagon or any federal agency submits its wish list to Congress, Boehm explained, the appropriations committee members select which programs and projects are funded and often have knowledge of what companies might be suited for the project based on geography, specialization and other factors.
This is well known on Capitol Hill, he said.
'To say she didn't actually do the contract is fall-down-laughing material,' Boehm said."
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