http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/richardblum/ en-us Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:27:23 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2236699/posts Sen. Dianne Feinstein may have violated Senate ethics rules by introducing legislation in January that indirectly benefited her husband. The legislation authorized that $25 billion of taxpayer money be given to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to help finance an FDIC proposal to avoid home foreclosures by promoting loan workouts and increasing federal loan guarantees, The Washington Times reports. The Democratic California senator’s husband, Richard Blum, is chairman of the board of commercial real estate colossus CB Richard Ellis (CBRE). When Feinstein introduced her bill, the FDIC had just signed a contract with the firm to unload foreclosed properties for... Newsmax http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2236699/posts#comment Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:27:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234650/posts California Sen. Dianne Feinstein today dismissed as "nonsense" allegations that her efforts to bolster funding for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which protects bank depositors, aided her husband Richard Blum's real estate firm. The story by the conservative Washington Times, which appeared today, said that Feinstein's bill to increase FDIC funding by $25 billion arrived shortly after the agency awarded CB Richard Ellis Group, where Blum is chairman of the board, a contract to sell foreclosed houses. Blum's firm won the contract through competitive bidding. The purpose of the contract was to help the FDIC dispose of foreclosed properties it... SFGate: Politics Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234650/posts#comment Tue, 21 Apr 2009 21:43:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234153/posts Feinstein sought $25 billion for agency that awarded contract to spouse 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... Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234153/posts#comment Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:51:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234553/posts 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... Fox http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234553/posts#comment Tue, 21 Apr 2009 19:37:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234899/posts 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... The Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234899/posts#comment Wed, 22 Apr 2009 03:30:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234149/posts 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... Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234149/posts#comment Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:47:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234056/posts 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... Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2234056/posts#comment Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:28:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2233978/posts Senate husband's firm cashes in on crisis Feinstein sought $25 billion for agency that awarded contract to spouse By Chuck Neubauer THE WASHINGTON TIMES Tuesday, April 21, 2009 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... Washington Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2233978/posts#comment Tue, 21 Apr 2009 03:12:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2001403/posts San Francisco financier Richard Blum has built his reputation - and his multimillion-dollar fortune - by swooping in and turning around troubled corporations. His first major coup was putting together a partnership in 1968 to buy the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for about $8 million - and then selling it for $40 million four years later. So it surprised no one that Blum adopted an alpha dog approach when he became chairman of the UC Board of Regents last year in the aftermath of the university's widely publicized management meltdown. And he's gotten results: the imminent departure... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2001403/posts#comment Mon, 14 Apr 2008 17:37:31 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1897546/posts Lawrence Summers, the controversial former president of Harvard University, has been replaced as the planned speaker at a UC Board of Regents dinner next week after complaints from faculty members. "(UC Regents) Chairman Richard Blum and Dr. Summers talked last Thursday and agreed that the regents would have a different speaker," Trey Davis, director of special projects for the UC system, said Saturday. Davis was unable to say whether a protest letter signed by more than 300 people from the university system had any effect on the decision to find a different speaker for the regents' dinner in Sacramento on... San Francisco Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1897546/posts#comment Mon, 17 Sep 2007 00:14:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1879078/posts Feinstein's FuryUp against the big media spin machine By Peter Byrne 29 weeks later: Following the fallout from Metro's investigation of Sen. Feinstein. I AM PLEASED to announce that my national exposé of Sen. Dianne Feinstein's conflict of interest has been selected as one of the 25 most underreported stories of 2007 by Project Censored, headquartered at Sonoma State University. I cherish this award because it means I am doing my job as an investigative reporter. Stories that the mainstream media ignore often reveal truths about our system of governance that editors at corporate daily newspapers work overtime to cover... Metro Active http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1879078/posts#comment Fri, 10 Aug 2007 03:18:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1876077/posts Auditor under fire reaps big profitsFirm has been criticized for rejecting many hospital Medicare claims in state. By David Whitney - Bee Washington Bureau Published 12:00 am PDT Friday, August 3, 2007 WASHINGTON -- PRG-Schultz International, the Atlanta auditing company under fire for its sweeping rejection of claims for California Medicare patients cared for by rehabilitation hospitals, announced soaring second-quarter profits Thursday. The announcement came a day after members of the California congressional delegation met with audit overseers in a heated meeting in which they complained that PRG-Schultz's wholesale rejection of claims is enriching its bottom line while jeopardizing health... Sacramento Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1876077/posts#comment Fri, 3 Aug 2007 23:41:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1859191/posts WASHINGTON – During much of the time that Sen. Dianne Feinstein was a leader on the Senate subcommittee overseeing the Pentagon's military construction budget, her husband was heavily invested in companies holding hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts generated by the subcommittee's activities. The California Democrat denied that she helped her husband's companies in any way with contracts and said the Senate ethics committee approved the arrangement. But she declined to discuss the value of the contracts or release the ethics ruling. Feinstein also declined to be interviewed on the subject, relying instead on a spokesman. These questions arose... San Diego Union - Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1859191/posts#comment Sun, 1 Jul 2007 16:28:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1844917/posts 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... Sab Jose Mercury News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1844917/posts#comment Tue, 5 Jun 2007 02:00:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1836449/posts 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 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 only pay is a bounty of up to 30 percent on the overcharges it identifies. The California Hospital Association first raised concerns... Sac Bee http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1836449/posts#comment Sat, 19 May 2007 21:19:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1830547/posts 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... Cybercast News Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1830547/posts#comment Wed, 9 May 2007 04:47:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1812254/posts Feinstein's Office Denies Conflict of Interest Charges By Fred Lucas April 04, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - Breaking nearly a week of silence, Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office Tuesday called allegations of a conflict of interest "nonsense" and said the California Democrat played no role in awarding military contracts that benefited companies owned by her husband. It was reported last week that Feinstein no longer serves on a Senate subcommittee that oversaw military construction. Earlier this year, Metro Newspapers accused Feinstein of a conflict of interest because the subcommittee had oversight of military contracts that often went to defense contractors owned by her... Cybercast News Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1812254/posts#comment Thu, 5 Apr 2007 03:38:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1808491/posts Feinstein quits committee under war-profiteer cloud Report documents military contracts for firms owned by senator's husband -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: March 28, 2007 10:05 p.m. Eastern -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2007 WorldNetDaily.com Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. 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. As reported in Metroactive, an online report from the Silicon Valley, Feinstein's resignation followed six years of subcommittee work during which time her conflict... Worldnetdaily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1808491/posts#comment Thu, 29 Mar 2007 02:15:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1804925/posts 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. As MILCON leader, Feinstein relished the details of military construction, even micromanaging one project at the level of its sewer design. She regularly took junkets to military bases around the world to inspect construction projects,... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1804925/posts#comment Thu, 22 Mar 2007 13:54:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1804683/posts They are one of California's most influential political couples: four-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Richard Blum, a wealthy businessman, philanthropist and behind-the-scenes political advisor. For decades, first as San Francisco mayor and then as senator, Feinstein has had the public persona while Blum has operated in the background. Now, at 71, Blum has stepped into the limelight to take over as chairman of the University of California Board of Regents. --snip-- Blum was appointed to a 12-year term on the 26-member board in 2002 by then-Gov. Gray Davis, to whom Blum and his companies had given more than... LA Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1804683/posts#comment Thu, 22 Mar 2007 01:19:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1777487/posts 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... Metroactive.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1777487/posts#comment Thu, 1 Feb 2007 18:56:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1639836/posts It must be tough keeping track of all the workmen doing your chores when you have as many multi-million dollar mansions as Senator Dianne Feinstein and her fabulously wealthy husband Richard Blum. The latest addition to the property collection is a 16 million dollar house in San Francisco, located adjacent to a public right-of-way along steps run up a hill. The workmen doing the gardening and renovation on the njew digs ripped up an entire formal garden located on public land. If it sounds like her crew went too far in digging up a public space, we should point out... The American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1639836/posts#comment Sun, 28 May 2006 22:49:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1639731/posts Sen. Dianne Feinstein and her mega-millionaire husband, Dick Blum, have a bit of fence mending to do with their soon-to-be neighbors in San Francisco's Gold Coast. It seems that workers remodeling the Pacific Heights mansion that the couple just bought leveled all the green in the adjoining public garden -- without the city's approval. And not just any green -- we're talking about a Tivoli-style garden just off the front entrance of the couple's $16.5 million abode, which sits at the foot of Vallejo Street, between the Presidio and some of the city's most posh residences. The garden is actually... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1639731/posts#comment Sun, 28 May 2006 16:53:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1619164/posts 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... Mercury News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1619164/posts#comment Fri, 21 Apr 2006 22:18:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1588893/posts If this were a Republican senator's spouse scoring bundles off the spoils of war and passing it along to fellow Republicans, the liberals would be up in arms. But since Senator Dianne Feinstein is a leading Democrat -- mums the word. Partisanship trumps ethics. OpedNews http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1588893/posts#comment Fri, 3 Mar 2006 00:47:20 GMT