AETA--Purchasing A U.S. Senator

I received an email raising the question of whether Feinstein supported AETA due to a $25,850.00 expenditure by the University Of California.

My response:

While I agree Feinstein is for sale, I think her price is alot more than $26K. As of October 18, 2006, in an "election" that the Republicans offered no meaningful candidate because they already had Feinstein in their pocket--and the national Republicans didn't bankroll their "Republican" candidate--Feinstein had raised $7.9 million. With that kind of money, she wasn't bought off for pocket change. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.asp?cid=N00007364&cycle=2006

Now one might assume Feinstein's campaign was bankrolled by the pharmaceutical drug cartel. Perhaps, but not directly: http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/indus.asp?CID=N00007364&cycle=2006

From a June 26, 2004, SF Chronicle article:

Major assets: Ownership stake in Carlton Hotel in San Francisco valued at $5 million to $25 million; a marital blind trust, $1 million to $5 million; annual pension income from city of San Francisco of $43,138; Tahoe condo, $500, 000 to $1 million, condo in Kauai, Hawaii, $250,000 to $500,000, both jointly owned with her husband, Richard Blum.

Liabilities: Mortgage of more than $1 million for Carlton Hotel rental property.

Miscellaneous: Her husband's investments are valued in the tens of millions of dollars.

Full article: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/06/26/BAG7B7CDMQ1.DTL

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But let's get to the meaningful stuff: Feinstein has a net worth of $43 million to $98 million, and that doesn't appear to include her husband's separate wealth. http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/pfds.asp?CID=N00007364

If we had investigative reporters in this country, and they are few and far between, they would "follow the money". And the question is, how did Feinstein get paid off this time? Stock options? Investments in companies she knew would see their stock value soar once AETA was passed?

Not on the same page yet? Then let's take a little look at the kind of money involved in buying a U.S. Senator:

June 23, 2006 -- URS Corp., which is partly owned by Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum, and which obtained EG&G from the Carlyle Group in 2002, recently received a direct, no-bid contract to perform engineering work in Afghanistan. Since URS has very little experience in working in dangerous combat environments, the award has drawn the attention of Department of Defense oversight personnel. The contract was awarded through the Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence in San Antonio, Texas for construction-related activities in the U.S. Central Command Area of Responsibility. Retired Air Force General Joseph Ralston serves on URS's board. Ralston is also Vice Chairman of the Cohen Group, headed by former Defense Secretary William Cohen and serves on the board of Timken Corp., an Ohio-based major contributor to George W. Bush. Timken's owner, William Timken, serves as Bush's ambassador to Germany.

Source: One of the few genuine investigative reporters we have, Wayne Madsen: http://waynemadsenreport.com/2006_06170627.php

Anyone that would support a war of occupation, and use that war to line their own pockets, obviously has some serious moral problems...

So yes, I have no doubt Feinstein was bought and paid for on AETA. The questions remaining are, by who, how did the purchase go down, and what was the selling price?

TLC