More corrupt dealings from the Democrats:

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.

But, hey, at least she took the moral high road and resigned in the face of her corruption…

…or was there another reason for her stepping down?

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?

I guess it’s just a matter of nuance.

This is corruption of the worst kind. Think the Democrats will investigate? Think the MSM will cover this story?

Don’t be silly.

UPDATE:
Bryan points out information in the Metroactive article that may tie Feinstein’s scandal to the VA story.

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.

Michelle sees that the San Fransisco Chronicle’s priorities are focused on baseball, not some corrupt Democrat in their district.

Rusty contrasts the coverage of this corruption to the coverage given to the Duke Cunningham story. It’s amazing how changing an (R) to a (D) will do for media coverage and calls for Congressional investigations.

UPDATE 2:
Michelle wonders whether Feinstein will also resign from the Senate Rules Committee also. You know, the committee responsible for issues like ETHICS REFORM.

I would add… where is Nancy Pelosi and her swamp-draining boots?

1. […] Following up on my post about Dianne Feinstein’s apparent conflict of interest while serving on the Senate Committee that approved billions in government contracts to her husband’s companies, several people (myself included) have emailed Feinstein’s hometown newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle. […]

   Pingback by Texas Rainmaker » The DiFi Hotspot — 2:38 pm
   

2. […] And I guess William Jefferson just has a fondness for using freezers as piggy banks and Dianne Feinstein just has a fondness for appropriating government funds through her husband’s checking account. And the most ethical Congress ever just has a fondness for taking money from lobbyists. […]

   Pingback by Texas Rainmaker » Pelosi’s Swamp Protects Another One of Its Own — 9:16 pm
   

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