"Now, isn't that speshul?" With Americans hurting, and especially Californians, our Senator jumps into action to line her own pocket!
Posted on 04/20/2009 11:28:40 PM PDT by Big_Monkey
On the day the new Congress convened this year, Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to route $25 billion in taxpayer money to a government agency that had just awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms.
Mrs. Feinstein's intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn't a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid insurance payments - not direct federal dollars.
Documents reviewed by The Washington Times show Mrs. Feinstein first offered Oct. 30 to help the FDIC secure money for its effort to stem the rise of home foreclosures. Her letter was sent just days before the agency determined that CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE) - the commercial real estate firm that her husband Richard Blum heads as board chairman - had won the competitive bidding for a contract to sell foreclosed properties that FDIC had inherited from failed banks.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
"Now, isn't that speshul?" With Americans hurting, and especially Californians, our Senator jumps into action to line her own pocket!
Oh, how nice for the Feinsteins.
Nothing new here. The stories of their conflicts go way back to the early 90s. Most of the stuff is not even hard to uncover. But the press is never interested. The two are coated in teflon.
to answer your question ... yes!
You're right. But the magnitude of this is breathtaking. $25 billion in real estate with commissions ranging from 6% to most residential, but in some instances up to 30% for the lower priced properties.
We're talking about hundreds of millions in potential income for Blum's company and his clients - and as the principle, I would think tens of millions to Blum and his wife directly. Even fro DC, that has to be some kind of record boondoggle.
S.O.P. for self-interested, self-dealing P.O.S. Congressional ho's...
People seem to forget his/her involvement with defense contracts...
wow...I had no idea her husband was Chairman of CB Richard Ellis, I’ve done business with them.
i knew he was prosperous and she had done some shady stuff for him...but never connected the two
This is sickening!
She should be in jail along with many, many others who have homesteaded in DC and brought along the entire family to live off the taxpayers for years and years and years!
There needs to be a house cleaning and soon!!!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2233978/posts
Senate Husband’s Firm Cashes In On Crisis [This is Criminal!!!]
Washington Times ^ | April 20, 2009
Posted on Monday, April 20, 2009 8:12:39 PM by Steelfish
I figure Feinstein just stole $1 Billion for herself.
One trillion dollars and counting in fake “stimulus” money in the hands of an organized organized crime cartel.
And no on on earth will ever know, outside of the handful of humans who read Free Republic or the Washington Times.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW: “Even if there is no actual conflict of interest, it often has the appearance of a conflict.”
Careful! Someone might get mad when you hold her accountable like that.
Complete media blackout of the collective biggest theft in human history, as the democrat party feasts on the vast “Stimulus” loot.
Some of them, like Feinstein, will become billionaires.
Well the ruling class has to make a living somehow.
“Mrs. Feinstein first offered Oct. 30 to help the FDIC secure money for its effort to stem the rise of home foreclosures. “
They’re giving away days of the year now? Dibs on September 9th!
I see Bella Pelosi there, but where is Dingy Harry? Is Feinswine Senate Majority Leader now?
That photo reminds me of Stalin's synchophants - everyone in the party knew who was "in" and who was "out" based on how close they were to him in photographs and during public appearances.
Moreover, try being a lowly government worker or a member of the military - and do anything that can be seen as a conflict of interest with a business for financial gain. The investigators would be all over that person in a nanosecond.
I guess if you are a fat, feminist, liberal, Democrat woman Senator - you can do anything you damn well please.
Bush’s fault! Republican culture of corruption! Halliburton / Cheney! Did I leave out any of those nifty lefty catch phrases?
Oh, you mean just like the 20% commissions he got for the feds "buying" worthless rights of way from railroad companies? Just like swiping $14 BILLION in gold in the Desert Protection Act? THAT Chi-Fi Blum duo?
This is just a lot more of the same.
Her husband made a lot of $$$ off the war in Iraq.
conflict of interest AND insider trading!
And they won’t even get a slap on the wrist!
Pardon me while I yawn.
He’s the chairman of URL. They got IDIQ DoD contract for about $600 Million.
I was puzzled why I didn't realize someone had posted this earlier. I searched (as I always do) for the title, but nothing came up. Then, I realized that the title wrong was misquoted in the earlier post. It was written as "Senate" instead of "Senator".
well, pretty obvious Blum is damned talented even with his wife’s handouts notwithstnding
“Nothing new here. The stories of their conflicts go way back to the early 90s. Most of the stuff is not even hard to uncover. But the press is never interested. The two are coated in teflon.”
You are so right about that ElkGroveDan. Mr. Blum is also a big arms dealers, even supplied some in the Iraq war. I recall about 10 years ago that he got a waiver to import ‘assault rifles’ from China from the Clinton administration....this while his wife is clamoring for more gun control for us.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has abruptly walked away from her responsibilities with the Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee after a report linked her votes to the financial well-being of her husband's companies, which received billions of dollars worth of military construction contracts she approved.
Bears repeating.
I was wondering why this wasn't broken by a California paper as she is our Senator.
So I looked on the front page of the SF Chron's website, nada.
Went to the news page, zilch.
Searched the site for any recent articles, no dice.
Rush said this afternoon (when speaking about this topic) that Fienstein sat for an interview late in the morning today. I believe he said it was MSNBC, but I could have misheard. In any event, in the 42 minutes that she was interviewed today, the reporter/anchor didn't ask one question about the story in the Washington Times. The absolute failure of our media is unbelievable.
I sent an email to all the political reporters / editors at the SF Chronicle. I’ll share any reply I get.
My theory is that there is no room for scandal in the “Hope and Change” White House.
My other theory is that they are building a house of cards that will come down hard.
So many of Obama’s screwups - bowing to the prince, Iran, Chavez, the $100 mil fake cut, TARP scandals - are like cards set on edge. You can only build so high.
No problem. When I post crosslinks it is mostly to let people read more comments, if they are interested.
I didn’t mean to be dinging you.
I didn't think you were. But it would have been well deserved if you had. I hate it when people double post. It takes up space and expensive bandwidth.
Sen. Feinstein’s Husband Cashes In on Crisis (Contractual Kickback )
Fox | Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Posted on 04/21/2009 12:37:31 PM PDT by Red Steel
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2234553/posts
If I was a Wall Streeter, this would be called insider trading which is very illegal and they always catch hell for it.
THAT is an excellent analogy and a very clever and clear way to look at this situation. Kudos!
Is it, that people in office, consider themselves above the law and just don't give a damn??
They ARE above the law! Take John al-Murthawi, for instance. Or William Jefferson, DEMONRAT, LA or Charlie Rangel, or Nazi Pelousy, or Franks and Dodd, Jamie Gorelick, Franklin Raines, Uncle Teddy K or either of the K'Toons. If you or I had done half the stuff any one of them have done, we would have been long gone never to be heard from again.
Then again, it is only republicans that do nothing, but are crucified by the enemedia and off to jail, or at least out of CONgre$$ they go like Tom DeLay. Some are more equal than others.
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