Travis and the Senator

As we start another week of Hometown Radio, a couple of notes. First, word is getting around town over the sudden, unexpected death of Andy Cone. Poor guy was only 56. Dropped dead of a heart attack on Easter morning. Andy was a CPA in SLO for thirty years, very active in the community through SESLOC, his church and Kiwanis. Heck of a nice guy and so sad to hear this news.

Also, we’ve had lots of response to our Friday show about the Oceano Dunes. We will follow up next Friday at 5 and hear from the other side. Christine Mullholland joins us on Thursday. Atascadero city councilmember Mike Brennler returns on Tuesday, April 17th. Many of you political junkies are familiar with the name Sam Harris — I’ve asked Chris Ahrend to prepare a special presentation on the man and his thinking. That show will be on the 18th.

Now, to the issue at hand. Travis from SLO has been persistent lately in his criticism of Senator Feinstein and reports of serious ethics conflicts. Apparently she just resigned from the Military Construction Appropriations committee. Part of the original article Travis sent me is posted below. I do find it curious that there is no mention of this story in any MSM web sites or papers that I can find.

The cynic in me wonders if anyone should be surprised that an elected official uses his or her office for personal gain. That’s the way the game is played. I’m glad Travis brought this to our attention and I’m not goiong to defend Feinstein, but nor will I let Travis try to suggest that this is on the same level as Mark Foley or Alberto Gonzales. We could devote an entire week to discussing how certain Bush cronies have profited immensely from the war and the BILLIONS in dollars that are lost or somehow unaccounted for in Iraq. That part bothers me. The Feinstein stuff merely disappoints me.

So thanks Travis. Bloggers, what do you think?

“In the November 2006 election, the voters demanded congressional ethics reform. And so, the newly appointed chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is now duly in charge of regulating the ethical behavior of her colleagues. But for many years, Feinstein has been beset by her own ethical conflict of interest, say congressional ethics experts.

As chairperson and ranking member of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON) from 2001 through the end of 2005, Feinstein supervised the appropriation of billions of dollars a year for specific military construction projects. Two defense contractors whose interests were largely controlled by her husband, financier Richard C. Blum, benefited from decisions made by Feinstein as leader of this powerful subcommittee.

Each year, MILCON’s members decide which military construction projects will be funded from a roster proposed by the Department of Defense. Contracts to build these specific projects are subsequently awarded to such major defense contractors as Halliburton, Fluor, Parsons, Louis Berger, URS Corporation and Perini Corporation. From 1997 through the end of 2005, with Feinstein’s knowledge, Blum was a majority owner of both URS Corp. and Perini Corp.

While setting MILCON agendas for many years, Feinstein, 73, supervised her own staff of military construction experts as they carefully examined the details of each proposal. She lobbied Pentagon officials in public hearings to support defense projects that she favored, some of which already were or subsequently became URS or Perini contracts. From 2001 to 2005, URS earned $792 million from military construction and environmental cleanup projects approved by MILCON; Perini earned $759 million from such MILCON projects.

In her annual Public Financial Disclosure Reports, Feinstein records a sizeable family income from large investments in Perini, which is based in Framingham, Mass., and in URS, headquartered in San Francisco. But she has not publicly acknowledged the conflict of interest between her job as a congressional appropriator and her husband’s longtime control of Perini and URS–and that omission has called her ethical standards into question, say the experts.”