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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Stunning accusations that a top California Democratic campaign treasurer looted the war chests of her big-name clients have left candidates across the state scrambling to raise more money as election season looms. Kinde Durkee, who controlled the funds of roughly 400 candidates and groups, ranging from Senator Dianne Feinstein to local Democratic youth clubs, was arrested in September and charged with fraud. While the extent of the losses isn't yet clear, the coffers of dozens of Democratic politicians have been frozen, prompting the crippled campaigns to ask the California Fair Political Practices Commission to permit further...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein's re-election campaign estimated on Friday that she is missing nearly $4.7 million because of unauthorized disbursements by her former campaign treasurer, Kinde Durkee. The campaign filed its first report with the Federal Election Commission since Durkee's arrest last month, providing the first official glimpse of the potential financial toll on candidates who employed the longtime Democratic campaign treasurer. Feinstein's campaign reported that it has nearly $6 million in the bank, but that's mostly due to a $5 million loan Feinstein injected into the account after the embezzlement case broke. The campaign believed it had...

Some 200 California Democrat clients have fallen victim to a Madoff in their midst. Could it turn the state light blue? It's said that word-of-mouth advertising is the best kind. It certainly worked for Ms. Kinde Durkee for more than 12 years. It would still be working if she hadn't helped herself to some of her clients' bank accounts once too often. Durkee's nearly 200 clients weren't stores and small factories. They were California Democratic office holders, candidates, and committees. For all those years she was the go-to person to be treasurer for any Democrat's campaign accounts. Campaign treasurers serve...

Oh, no! Another Democratic senator in possible election trouble for 2012. And from California already? A new Field Poll just released this morning brings news that California's Sen. Dianne Feinstein is -- how can we put this in a liberal kind of way? -- approved by 41% of voters who want to see her reelected next year. Unfortunately for her, more voters (fully 44%) disapprove of her continued employment in the U.S. Senate after 2012. In blue California that makes for about a magnitude 5.2 quake. The same poll finds that only 41% approve of Feinstein's job in Washington, while...

Dianne Feinstein told Politico that her campaign was "wiped out" by Democratic political operative Kinde Durkee, whom the FBI arrested last week. DiFi explained that Durkee worked on her 1992, 1994 and 2006 campaign. And: "I trusted her implicitly." Worse: Feinstein said she and her campaign staff have been unable to access all their bank records at this point because Durkee alone controlled access to the account, which has made it difficult for them to assess how much money is gone. Two other similarly dissatisfied clients are California Democratic Reps. Susan Davis, who called Durkee "the Bernie Madoff of campaign...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she was “wiped out� by Kinde Durkee, a well-connected California Democratic political operative who served as treasurer for hundreds of state, local and federal campaign committees.Durkee was arrested by the FBI on Sept. 2 on allegations of fraud surrounding the diversion of more than $670,000 from the reelection committee for a California state assemblyman, and a growing list of California Democrats, including Feinstein and Reps. Susan Davis and Loretta Sanchez, now appear to victims as well.“I was wiped out too, we don’t know how much,� said Feinstein, indicating the losses in campaign funds could run...

Okay, here is a weekend fun challenge: Guess how much of Dianne Feinstein's campaign cash was stolen via embezzlement by her treasurer Kinde Durkee. We already know that Durkee WIPED OUT the campaign cash of Loretta Sanchez so it is hard to believe that she wouldn't have touched at least some of the $5 million of Di-Fi cash. This little BLURB from the L.A. Weekly doesn't make it look too good for Di-Fi: Feinstein's re-election campaign had about $5 million in the bank as of June 30, according to the disclosure forms Durkee submitted. Durkee has been accused of filing...

"I don't need to see those pictures, and no one needs to see them," Sen. Dianne Feinstein said after viewing the kill photos of Osama bin Laden on Friday. The morning trip to the CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., capped a five-month nail-biter that began in December when Feinstein, as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was briefed by the CIA that bin Laden had been tracked to a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. On April 30, a day before the Navy SEALs raid on the compound, the California Democrat got a classified call from CIA headquarters alerting her that the...

WASHINGTON – Nayely Arreola was a high school junior when a U.S. senator first protected her from deportation. The year: 2003. Nayely is now 25, newly married and a graduate of Fresno Pacific University. She and her family still remain protected, thanks to special bills that need not pass to exert influence. "Perhaps the greatest hardship to this family, if forced to return to Mexico, will be (Nayely's) lost opportunity to realize her dreams and further contribute to her community and this country," Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein declared. As she has regularly since 2003, Feinstein in March re-introduced a so-called...

A new poll from California shows Dianne Feinstein falling below 50% in re-elect support, a rating than in any other state might mean something. McClatchy sends up the red flag from the latest Harris Poll, which gives the four-term Senator only a +4 on support for a fifth term, hitting below 50%: Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein remains more popular among California voters than her colleague Barbara Boxer, a new Field Poll shows.But Feinstein can’t rest easy as she prepares for another re-election bid next year. For the first time since her initial 1992 election, less than half of the Californians...

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who made her first foray into politics with a bid for California governor last year, said that after losing that race, she’s probably out of politics for good. “I doubt it,” she said Wednesday on Fox Business Network when asked whether she’d run for elected office again. Some had speculated that Whitman, who lost to Democrat Jerry Brown by 13 points in November, might consider a run for Senate. Last month, she said she was “definitely not” plotting a 2012 Senate bid challenging Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

A month before the massive salmonella outbreak in eggs was discovered, one Democratic politician was warning another Democrat of the inherent dangers of holding up the "Food Safety Enhancement Act," legislation which very well could have reduced the harm of such an outbreak. A recall on eggs nationwide was announced after hundreds of people were sickened by salmonella that was found on the shells of the eggs. One benefit of the Food Safety Enhancement Act is that it will allow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to order a mandatory recall of foods that are suspected to be tainted. Currently,...

What a week it's been in California politics, with insiders and oddsmakers having a field day. But beware. Things may not be as they seem. First up, you'd better keep Dianne Feinstein's name on the list of possible candidates for governor. I've known Dianne for years, and the role of chief executive is a much better fit for her than being one of 100 senators. I can also tell you from the meetings I have had with her that she is very serious about California's budget troubles, water troubles and other troubles. She is also serious when she says that...

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein told the San Francisco Chronicle: “I just find that if you’re going to remake a sixth of the American economy, it’s very difficult at this time of great economic angst.” She is actually with Republicans in wanting to open up insurance. Currently, states control health insurance. Under the Interstate Commerce Clause, congress could indeed open insurance competition across state lines. Now just think about that a moment. Universal health care has been the liberal wet dream of the past 97 years. They finally have the president, they have the Congress and they have the Great Depression...

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...

California senator sought $25 billion for a government agency that had awarded her husband's real estate firm a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties. 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, the Washington Times reported on Tuesday. Mrs. Feinstein's intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn't a member of the...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A senior U.S. lawmaker said Thursday that unmanned CIA Predator aircraft operating in Pakistan are flown from an airbase inside that country, a revelation likely to embarrass the Pakistani government and complicate its counterterrorism collaboration with the United States. The disclosure by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, marked the first time a U.S. official had publicly commented on where the Predator aircraft patrolling Pakistan take off and land. At a hearing, Feinstein expressed surprise at Pakistani opposition to the ongoing campaign of Predator-launched CIA missile strikes against Al Qaeda targets along...

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is in line to become the first female chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The opening was created Friday amid a chairmanship shuffle sparked by the announcement that Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia was stepping down as head of the Senate Appropriations Committee. A number of gavels will change hands as a result, sending the current Intelligence Committee chairman, Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., to the Commerce Committee, and opening up the powerful Intelligence Committee post for Feinstein, according to a former Hill aide who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deliberations were ongoing. Feinstein,...

The rumor mill about whether Dianne Feinstein, the popular Democratic senator, will run for governor heats up every now and again. It began to simmer last week, after the San Francisco Chronicle's Matier and Ross published a private poll showing her beating another would-be Democratic candidate, Attorney General Jerry Brown, 50 to 24 percent. Brown, who served two terms as governor before term limits were enacted, has been the early frontrunner among the politcal chattering class. In fact, in that same published poll, Brown was the top choice when Feinstein wasn't included, besting San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Los...

SACRAMENTO -- A new water bond has risen from the ruins of two weeks of backbiting and false hope. Good thing too. U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, an influential Democrat, has sent a letter accusing Democrat leaders of blocking progress on negotiations over how to respond to California's water crisis and subtly threatening to back a GOP/pro-business bond if they don't get their act together. State Sen. Mike Machado, a Linden Democrat who has been actively pursuing a deal and working with Republicans regularly, submitted a $6.8 billion compromise Thursday. Significantly, Machado's announcement included words of encouragement from Sen. Dave Cogdill,...

The new Democratic-led Congress has a 16 percent approval rating - no better than the rating of the Republican-led Congress a year ago - no doubt because voters see members clamoring to score points in the never-ending game of partisan gotcha instead of working to do what is best for the country. When a politician does try to do what is right, there is too often more downside than upside. Consider the cheap shots that have come the way of Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein of California and Chuck Schumer of New York because they voted to confirm the nomination of...

Any U.S. Senator will get unhappy visitors now and again, but Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has had a tough couple of days. Everyone knew she would take heat for announcing Friday that she’ll give former judge Michael Mukasey a crucial Democratic vote in the Judiciary Committee for his confirmation as Attorney General. (Read her rationale for the vote here.) Sure enough, CodePink protestors went to Feinstein’s home in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights on Sunday with a simulated waterboarding device so people could try it out and decide for themselves whether or not the interrogation technique amounts to torture. Several Democrats including...

A proposed ballot initiative being circulated to change how California awards its presidential electoral votes is so irksome to Sen. Dianne Feinstein that she is vowing to change the U.S. Constitution. Democrats say the so-called Presidential Electoral Reform Act -- which would throw out the Golden State's winner-take-all system -- is nothing but a ruse to win the Republicans the White House by assuring them at least 20 of California's 55 electoral votes. "I think this effort to essentially skew the presidential system ... would directly change the election," Feinstein said in an interview. So California's senior senator said she...

The temperature could get a little warm at the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce's annual 49ers booster luncheon today, as Sen. Dianne Feinstein takes the stage with a call for team owners John and Denise York to keep the Niners in the city. Feinstein, a big Niners fan and equally big critic of the Yorks' proposed move to Santa Clara, tells us she plans to use the event at the Hyatt Regency to urge the 49er Faithful to break their silence, "rally forth and convince Mr. York that San Francisco is the place to be.""I feel strongly that the 49ers...

Today I would like to discuss the proposed reintroduction of the Fairness Doctrine in a way no one else has. First let me say there is another name for government regulating political speech to determine what is fit and proper and ensuring all sides of an issue are heard. It's called censorship. And it is not only anathema to all we hold dear in America, it is unconstitutional, totally at odds with the First Amendment and the founders' idea that there should be no bounds on political speech. Yet, there is a more practical objection to re-instituting the Fairness Doctrine...

RUSH: I was going to call in to the show on Friday and do some minor gloating and take a little credit here for the immigration bill being pulled, but right about the time I hit my third birdie on the front nine I said, "To hell with it, I'm going to keep playing golf." Besides, in all candor, it's not dead. It's still on life support. The president's going to meet with some people: Congress, GOP, probably Ted Kennedy, too, sometime tomorrow. It may even go up to the Capitol. The original meeting was supposed to be lunch at...

Husband's investments entangle FeinsteinLATEST FLAP OVER MEDICARE PAYMENT DENIALS By David Whitney McClatchy Newspapers Article Launched: 05/19/2007 01:36:54 AM PDT WASHINGTON - California lawmakers are questioning whether an auditing company in which San Francisco investor Richard Blum, the husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, has a major financial stake is rejecting Medicare claims at California rehabilitation hospitals in order to reap millions of dollars in profits at the expense of patient care. The company, PRG-Schultz International, has a contract with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the overseer of the Medicare program, to check payments in California for mistakes. Its...

Feinstein Conflict Allegations 'Aren't Going Away,' Watchdogs Say By Fred Lucas May 08, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - Sen. Dianne Feinstein may have had as much of a financial interest in two defense contractors as her husband who controlled them, according to California law. The state's "community property law" could be relevant at a time when the senior Democratic senator from California is facing allegations of a conflict of interest and growing calls for an inquiry. Feinstein stepped down late last year from the Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on military construction (MILCON) after five years on the panel. The subcommittee was charged...

An excerpt: "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."

CALIFORNIA GOLD = FEINSTEIN? By David Brown You may have noticed that Mr. and Ms. Blum are in the news again. Ms. Blum, of course, does not front herself with that name, she uses 'Dianne Feinstein'. Yes, that’s Senator Dianne Feinstein. As I was saying before I interrupted myself, these two pinnacles of American society, it would appear, have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar - again. Unfortunately, it’s not the first time - only the most recent.

See for example this thread first. Di Fi resigns from subcommittee The reason why is such a pity It seems her hubby got money-grubby and caught with his hand in the kitty!

Feinstein warns Republicans not to stop Iraq debate Sun Feb 4, 2007 2:10 PM ET By Susan Cornwell WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Sunday warned Republicans not to block consideration of a measure opposing President Bush's troop increase in Iraq, saying it would be a "terrible mistake" to prevent debate on the top issue in America. With a Senate vote set for Monday on whether to consider the bipartisan resolution, Feinstein warned that if the nonbinding measure is blocked, even tougher proposals against the president's Iraq policy will surface before long. "It's obstructionism," the California senator fumed...

Veteran senator has wide appeal, reputation as an honest brokerWhile Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein might argue with the political gurus who have dubbed her the most popular politician in California, so far the former San Francisco mayor's bid for a third full term in the Senate has been more coronation than campaign. Even with the weather-beaten "Dianne 2006" bumper strip sitting lonely on the back of her jet-black Lexus hybrid, it's nearly impossible to tell that Feinstein is in the final weeks of her re-election effort, especially when she's giving the type of nonpartisan, good-government speeches most politicians save for...

In remarks certain to please visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Thursday told a gathering of Chinese-American business and cultural leaders in San Francisco that the United States has no obligation to defend Taiwan if it provokes China into a military confrontation. Feinstein's comments came on a day when Hu and President Bush sat down together in Washington to discuss a range of issues -- including Taiwan, which China regards as the No. 1 issue in U.S.-China relations. Before his first U.S. visit this week, Hu urged Taiwanese leaders to resume talks with China and called...

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the otherwise liberal Democrat from California, provided new evidence last week that politicians in Washington are starting to take heed of grassroots demands that our borders be secured. Feinstein told Human Events that if we can build a fence along the entire Mexican border, we should build it, and that secure fencing should be constructed wherever the border can be easily crossed. The relevance of this issue was dramatized by Feinstein's questioning of National Intelligence Director John Negroponte at the Senate Intelligence Committee's annual World Wide Threat hearing February 2.

WASHINGTON - California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a top member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she has no information to support White House claims that its secret wiretapping helped thwart a 2002 Los Angeles terrorist attack. President George W. Bush implied in a speech Thursday that information gleaned from the wiretaps helped foil an al-Qaida plot to crash a commercial jetliner into the US Bank Tower. But after a closed-door briefing, Feinstein said she'd heard nothing to indicate a wiretap played any part in foiling the plot. "I have no way of knowing whether it did or not," Feinstein said....

(CNSNews.com) - Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan has threatened to run for Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-Calif.) seat unless Feinstein filibusters Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

Feinstein demands Rumsfeld explain UCSC spying U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, wants an explanation about reports of Pentagon spying at UC Santa Cruz as well as other surveillance of U.S. citizens. Feinstein wrote Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in a letter dated Tuesday asking him to explain the practices and authority of the Counter Intelligence Field Activity in collecting information in the course of its domestic investigations. In December, NBS news aired a string of reports based on Pentagon documents that listed 1,500 "suspicious" activities during a 10-month period. NBC interviewed experts who said the Pentagon had overstepped its bounds...

DiFi reacts to the Alito confirmation hearings.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Republican chairman and the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee announced their opposition Wednesday to a House GOP move to fast-track a break-up of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. House Republicans are including a split of the San Francisco-based court, which covers nine Western states, in a budget-reduction bill that could win House approval as soon as Thursday and would be immune from Senate filibuster. The 9th circuit measure was not in the Senate's version of the budget bill, and opposition from key senators could keep it out of the final version of...

Washington -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein goes into her 2006 re-election campaign as one of the richest members of the U.S. Senate, an elite club where roughly half the members are millionaires, her annual financial disclosure statement showed Friday. Feinstein is a millionaire in her own right, but her wealth is multiplied many times over by that of her husband, San Francisco-based international investor Richard C. Blum. He is among the richest Senate spouses, along with Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of the Democratic 2004 presidential nominee, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. It's impossible to paint an exact financial picture for Feinstein...

Assault weapons battle rejoined Feinstein fights to reinstate law that expired after 10 years Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau Saturday, February 26, 2005 Washington -- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein renewed one of Washington's long- running and most bitterly fought battles Friday, saying she will introduce legislation seeking to reinstate the federal assault weapons ban that expired in September after 10 years. Gun control has been a signature issue for Feinstein since she arrived in the Senate in 1993. But the odds she faces to pass the weapons ban in the current Congress are probably steeper than they were in 1993,...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Senior Senator From California, Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Has Publicly Endorsed Condoleezza Rice For Secretary Of State. “I’m supporting Condoleezza Rice. I know her. She’s a friend. We have had the opportunity to have many discussions. We have participated in many groups that discuss world issues.” (Sen. Dianne Feinstein, CNN’s “Wolf Blitzer Reports,” 1/25/05)Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), The New Face Of The Democrat Party, Attacked Rice’s Credibility On The Senate Floor: “[Rice] dodged so many of [the committee questions], and again, resorted to the half the story and even got herself in deeper water in some of...

<p>Five weeks before a special election that could remove him from office, Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday will launch his first set of television ads designed to sway voters against the Oct. 7 recall.</p> <p>The one-week, $1 million buy includes two 30-second ads that begin airing Wednesday in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Monterey -- coastal television markets dominated by Democratic voters.</p>

Joe Farah Is Arnold a conservative? Predictably, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is criticizing Arnold Schwarzenegger, who leads the large pack in the recall bid of Gov. Gray Davis. What is Dianne's beef with Arnold? That his movies are too violent, that he glorifies firearms, that he leads impressionable young people to mistaken conclusions about the use of force. Now, I gotta tell you: I am no Arnold Schwarzenegger fan – not politically anyway. I think he has made some fine movies, such as the first "Terminator." But so far, he has not demonstrated any command of the issues that would...

<p>On a hot summer afternoon 10 years ago, a gunman armed with a small arsenal of assault weapons and a lingering grudge walked into 101 California and began shooting.</p> <p>Panic erupted in the downtown high-rise. Terrified workers fled into offices. Ambulances and police cars screamed down Market Street. Within minutes, the gunman had killed eight people and had injured six others before committing suicide.</p>

Broad Coalition Calls for a Strengthened Assault Weapons Ban 5/7/2003 Press Release Consumer Federation of America 1424 16th Street NW Washington, DC 20036 Contact: Susan Peschin: (202) 939-1017 Doctors Against Handgun Injury 1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 1012 Washington, D.C. 20009 Contact: Rebecca Bruno: (202) 232-3319 Groups Representing Consumers, Children, Civil Rights, Health Professionals, and Women call on Senator Feinstein to Support a Strengthened Assault Weapons Ban. Washington -- Fifty organizations, led by Consumer Federation of America and Doctors Against Handgun Injury, delivered letters to Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) urging her to introduce legislation that would not only reauthorize the...

<p>Washington -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein and President Bush seem headed for a showdown over her effort to renew the federal assault weapons ban after the administration hedged Tuesday on a presidential pledge to support the renewal.</p> <p>The semiautomatic assault weapons bill, which barely passed in 1994, stands as a legislative hallmark of Feinstein's 10 years in the Senate. It is due to expire in September 2004, unless Congress votes to reauthorize it and Bush signs the bill. In his 2000 presidential campaign, Bush came out for renewal and for an additional provision to ban the import of ammunition- feeding devices of 10 bullets or more.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who supported President Bush's tax cut two years ago, said Thursday she opposes the president's new tax reduction proposal and will try to freeze a portion of the 2001 cuts.</p> <p>Feinstein, one of 12 Democrats who backed Bush's plan in 2001, said the president's new $670 billion proposal would lead to ``massive deficits'' and is skewed toward the wealthiest Americans.</p>