JUDICIAL WATCH RANKS SEN. DIANNE
FEINSTEIN ONE OF THE 10 MOST CORRUPT.
SHE HAS AMASSED A HUGE FORTUNE FROM
DEALS SHE HAS PUSHED IN THE SENATE THAT ULTIMATELY PUT MILLIONS INTO HER HUSBAND’S
POCKETS.
SHE LIVES IN A $16 MILLION DOLLAR
MANSION IN SAN FRANCISCO ONLY MILES FROM HER S.F. HOTEL WHERE SHE HIRES
ILLEGALS.
HER BIGGEST (LEGAL) DONORS ARE
UTILITIES MONOPOLY PACIFIC, GAS & ELECTRIC AND CRIMINAL BANKSTERS WELLS
FARGO and BANK of AMERICA.
SHE VOTES FOR ANYTHING THAT WOULD
BENEFIT RED CHINA, AND RED CHINA THANKS HER BY CUTTING DEALS WITH HER HUSBAND
RICHARD BLUM.
FEINSTEIN IS THE BIGGEST WAR PROFITEER
IN AMERICAN HISTORY.
FEINSTEIN IS AN ADVOCATE FOR OPEN
BORDERS, NO E-VERIFY, NO ENGLISH ONLY, AND NO ID REQUIRED OF ILLEGALS VOTING.
FEINSTEIN, ALONG WITH HER
SISTERS-IN-CORRUPTION, PELOSI AND BOXER, ARE A MAJOR CAUSE FOR THE MELTDOWN AND
COLONIZATION OF CA BY MEXICO!
Feinstein’s net worth is partially explained by her marriage to
investment banker Richard Blum, who also sits on the University of California’s
Board of Regents. Blum has been a strong supporter of privatization and fee
hikes. Feinstein also reported owning homes in the Lake Tahoe area, the
Coachella Valley, the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, and San Francisco.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) ranks as the
thirteenth wealthiest member of Congress, with a net worth of $26.4 million.
Much of Pelosi’s fortune comes from her husband Paul Pelosi, a land developer.
Pelosi’s fortune actually declined since 2010, but this can largely be
explained by $6 million in mortgages on two properties in Washington, D.C. and
San Francisco that are now counted as liabilities.
US
“Fifty Wealthiest Lawmakers” list: A Congress of the rich, by the rich, and for
the rich
By
Eric London
27 August 2012
27 August 2012
Last week’s report by
Washington, D.C. political blog The Hill details the vast wealth of the
nation’s legislative representatives and serves as an indictment of the
anti-democratic nature of the American political system. The “50 Wealthiest
Lawmakers” list shows that dozens of congressional politicians have amassed huge
fortunes while simultaneously slashing the wages, benefits and social services
of the American people.
In other words, not
only are these members of Congress overseeing a massive transfer of wealth from
the working class to the ruling class; they are also profiting from this
transfer.
The report reveals
the bipartisan composition of the extremely wealthy in congress. Seven of the
top 10 richest members of congress are Democrats; overall, Republicans make up
60 percent of the list.
According to The
Hill, 17 members of Congress have amassed fortunes of over $20 million, and
a total of 35 members of Congress have a net worth valued at over $10 million.
These numbers are
slightly skewed compared with past surveys. Due to the passage of the STOCK
Act, members of Congress now are legally required to report mortgages as
liabilities. The STOCK Act was passed after revelations were made regarding
banks giving members of Congress and their staffs “friendly” deals on their
personal mortgages in return for favorable legislation.
The list also sheds
light on the nature of wealth accumulation amongst the super-rich in America.
Among the elite today, wealth accumulation has less to do with productive work
than it does with parasitism, inheritance, and family ties.
Rep. Michael McCaul
(Republican of Texas) tops the list with a total fortune of $290.5 million.
McCaul’s wealth comes in part from his marriage to the daughter of Lowry Mays,
the founder of radio giant Clear Channel Communications. Belying the claim that
these fortunes come from productive hard work, McCaul’s 2011 financial report
explained that “certain assets owned by spouse were acquired via gift from
spouse’s parents.”
Democratic Party
leadership is featured prominently at the top of the list.
Sen. John Kerry
(Democrat of Massachusetts), the party’s nominee for president in 2004, is
second, with a net worth of $198.8 million. Like McCaul, much of this wealth
comes from family. His wife Theresa Heinz’s “numerous family trusts” have
helped push Kerry’s fortune up $5 million in the last year.
Democratic Senators
Jay Rockefeller (West Virginia), Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut), and Dianne
Feinstein (California) are also featured in the top 10. The respective fortunes
of these three senators ($83.1 million, $80.1 million, and $47.2 million) come
in large part from family inheritances and trusts.
Feinstein’s net worth is partially
explained by her marriage to investment banker Richard Blum, who also sits on
the University of California’s Board of Regents. Blum has been a strong
supporter of privatization and fee hikes. Feinstein also reported owning homes
in the Lake Tahoe area, the Coachella Valley, the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, and
San Francisco.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
(D-CA) ranks as the thirteenth wealthiest member of Congress, with a net worth
of $26.4 million. Much of Pelosi’s fortune comes from her husband Paul Pelosi,
a land developer. Pelosi’s fortune actually declined since 2010, but this can
largely be explained by $6 million in mortgages on two properties in
Washington, D.C. and San Francisco that are now counted as liabilities.
Republican Rep. James
Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin reported a net worth of $10.2 million. Among other
reported assets, “his prized stamp collection … is now worth at least $150,000.”
Maine Senator Olympia
Snowe, a Republican, ranks 35th on the list. A portion of her $9 million
fortune comes from investments in Education Management Corporation, a
for-profit post-secondary education company. Snowe’s husband, former Maine
governor John McKernan Jr., sits on the company’s board of directors.
All of the
Congressional members on the list amassed their vast sums of money on the backs
of the working people they purport to represent.
The web site
OpenSecrets.org reports that land speculation is the industry in which members
of Congress make the most money. Financial speculation, securities and
investments, oil and gas production, and commercial banking are also featured
in the top 10 profitable industries for members of Congress.
The report from The
Hill underlines what was already clear about American politics: the vast
majority of Americans are given no representation in government. Their
“elected” representatives are chosen from the rich, by the rich, and for the
rich.
The lives of these
members of Congress compare starkly with the realities that their constituents
face on a day-to-day basis. In the years following the financial crisis, the
average American family has lost 40 percent of its net worth. Half of America
lives either under the poverty line or one paycheck away from it. In some
states, a quarter of the population struggles to afford food. Meanwhile,
Congress cuts unemployment benefits, funding for health care, education, and
housing. Both parties have agreed that slashing pensions and food stamps are
next on the agenda.
For the richest
members of Congress, these cuts will result, as they evidently have already, in
an increase in net worth. For their working class constituents, the cuts pose a
more urgent threat: hunger, disease, poverty, and a loss of life.
*
Dianne Feinstein's Husband Richard C Blum.. On board of Vivisecting Organizations
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN, AND HER LAP BITCH BARBARA BOXER, HAVE
VOTED FOR ANY AND ALL WARS FOR MUSLIM DICTATORS, WHILE THEY DEMAND THAT OUR OWN
BORDERS BE LEFT OPEN AND UNDEFENDED AGAINST NARCOMEX.
KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT ABOUT MY WAR PROFITEERING WHORE WIFE’S
MANSIONS! HERE’S A BRIBE TO DO SO!
“Since the 2000 election cycle, Blum has contributed over
$75,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Committee, and thousands more to
individual Democrats, including John Kerry, Robert Byrd, Joe Lieberman, Ted
Kennedy, and Barbara Boxer.”
March 1,
2006 The Democrats' Daddy Warbucks
Feinstein
family war profits, part II
Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum,
could well be called the Democrats' Daddy Warbucks. He's scored bundles from
war contracts. He has recently purchased a $16.5 million crib in San Francisco
and along with his wife has handed hundreds of thousands of dollars over to
fellow Democrats. Since the 2000 election cycle, Blum has contributed
over $75,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Committee, and thousands more to
individual Democrats, including John Kerry, Robert Byrd, Joe Lieberman, Ted
Kennedy, and Barbara Boxer. Richard Blum's history as an entrepreneur began at
the ripe age of 23 when he began to work for the San Francisco brokerage firm
Sutro & Company. Blum quickly climbed the ranks and became a partner by the
age of 30. According the San Francisco Chronicle, "Blum proved that he had
an eye for fixer-upper properties when he led a partnership that acquired the
struggling Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for $8 million – then
sold it to Mattel Inc. four years later for $40 million." In 1975, Blum
went out on his own and formed a brokerage agency. Today, Blum's lofty firm,
Blum Capital, holds positions in more than 20 companies, including real estate
giants, credit bureaus, and yes, even military contractors. Blum sees himself
as an altruistic capitalist, claims one of his ex-employees: "He likes to
go after companies that are down and out, and bring their stock back to life.
He thinks he's doing good." Blum shares a large stake in Perini, a civil
construction company that is happily employed in Iraq and Afghanistan. But not
all of Blum's war profits come from Perini. In 1975, his venture capital firm
went after fledging construction and design company URS when the business was
about to be bought out by another corporation. Since then, Blum has increased
his stock in URS, capitalizing on its recent military contracts. Unlike Blum's
dabbling with Barnum & Bailey, his current profits aren't so safe for child
consumption. Here are the basics to date: Blum currently holds over 111,000
shares of stock in URS Corporation, which is now one of the top defense
contractors in the United States. Blum is an acting director of URS, which
bought EG&G, a leading provider of technical services and management to the
U.S. military, from The Carlyle Group in 2002. Carlyle's trusty advisers, past
and present, include former President George H.W. Bush, James Baker, and ex-SEC
Commissioner Arthur Levitt, among other prominent neoconservatives and Washington
power brokers. URS and Blum have since banked on the Iraq war, scoring a phat
$600 million contract through EG&G. As a result, URS has seen its stock
price more than triple since the war began in March 2003. Blum has cashed in
over $2 million on this venture alone and another $100 million for his
investment firm. "As part of EG&G's sale price," reports the San
Francisco Chronicle, "Carlyle acquired a 21.74 percent stake in URS –
second only to the 23.7 percent of shares controlled by Blum Capital." The
Carlyle Group has long been accused of exploiting its political connections to
turn a profit. And if Carlyle can come under the microscope for its government
ties and war profiteering, as it did in Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11, than
surely Blum's URS ought to be subject to the same scrutiny. Owen Blicksilver,
Blum's spokesman, claims his boss and Sen. Feinstein have never talked shop at
home in their gated mansion: "Mr. Blum and Sen. Feinstein have never had
any discussions about outsourcing, government contracts, or URS." 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 Dianne Feinstein is a leading Democrat, mum's the word. Partisanship
trumps ethics. The Byrne Report Hawk Tale By Peter Byrne ON JAN. 18, California
senator Dianne Feinstein introduced Dr. Condoleezza Rice at a Senate nomination
hearing for Secretary of State in terms so saccharine that molasses seemed to
ooze out of her mouth. She was a precocious child, Feinstein purred. She has
skill, judgment and poise. She loves football. Bush loves her. "The
problems we face abroad are complex and sizable. If Dr. Rice's past performance
is any indication, though, we can rest easy." That very same day,
Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum, took advantage of a spike in the price of
his URS Corporation stock. He sold a third of his holdings in the defense
contractor for $57 million, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission. With Rice confirmed, the business of death and occupation
looks rosy as hell for Feinstein, who--let's get real--benefits tremendously
from sharing community property with Blum. URS' largest customer is the U.S.
Army, which accounted for 17 percent ($587 million) of its cash revenue in
2004. In 2001, URS enjoyed a mere $169 million in defense contracts. Now, its
war contracts total more than $2 billion. According to its annual report, the
San FranciscoÐbased URS anticipates that profits will rocket up in 2005,
because "operations in the Middle East are expected to generate increased
work related to the development of weapons systems, the training of military
pilots and the maintenance, upgrade and repair of military vehicles." Provided,
of course, that our hawkish leadership remains as poised and lovable as the new
Secretary of State. Feinstein, who sits on the Defense Appropriations
Subcommittee, is an advocate of first-strike warfare, even though it flouts
international law and the standards of common decency. Interestingly, her
Financial Disclosure Report for 2003 was more than three times the size of her
2002 disclosure (Feinstein's 2003 disclosure numbers 133 pages, compared to
Sen. Barbara Boxer's six-page report). The Feinstein-Blum portfolio is crammed
with multimillion dollar investments in the military-industrial-financial
complex and corporations that heavily exploit Third World peoples. The senator
has a lot to lose should the neoconservative war machine falter. Hubby holds a
controlling interest in another engineering firm, Perini Corporation of
Framingham, Mass. Perini ranks No. 6 by dollar amount in war-related government
contracts in the Middle East. According to its annual report, "Perini
proudly supports the U.S. government with global rapid response capabilities
for defense, reconstruction and security." Perini builds military
facilities and roads in Afghanistan, electrical infrastructure in Iraq and U.S.
embassies around the world. After the Senate, Feinstein included, approved
Bush's war plans in 2002, Perini's defense contract awards soared from
negligible to $2.52 billion. But, as with many of the sole-source, open-ended
contracts awarded to politically connected firms, there are problems with
accountability. Last summer, Department of Defense auditors determined that
Perini could not adequately justify its costs in Iraq as fair and reasonable.
That's government-speak for: They're gouging the #!$% out of us. Perini is
heavily engaged in military and municipal public works projects inside the
United States; at least two are also under investigation for contract fraud.
For example, the city of San Francisco has sued general contractor
Perini--which was in a joint venture with the Tutor-Saliba construction
firm--for $100 million in cost overruns at a San Francisco International
Airport project. The lawsuit alleges that the joint venture engaged in "a
sophisticated pattern of fraud," including inflating costs, fabricating
delays and setting up minority front companies to exploit affirmative-action
preferences. The attorney general of Massachusetts is looking into alleged
false claims made by a Perini joint venture in the "Big Dig" urban
highway construction boondoggle in Boston. Ron Tutor, owner of Tutor-Saliba and
CEO of Perini, bought into the latter company, along with Blum, as it teetered
on the edge of solvency in the mid- 1990s due to a bad real estate investment.
It rebounded, thanks to the firm's sudden ability to obtain lucrative U.S.
military and government contracts, which, of course, had nothing to do with the
fact that Blum's powerful wife has her hands on the military's purse strings.
Remarkably, Perini grossed $1.37 billion in 2003, up 27 percent from the
previous year, before the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Perini
attributes its rocketing profits to "increased volume of work in Iraq and
Afghanistan." As a risk factor, the firm notes that continued demand for
its military services depends upon "the political situation in Iraq,"
which, logically, means that it desires the bloody war and useless occupation
to continue indefinitely--a wish that hawktails with the foreign policy
positions of Bush, Rice, Rumsfeld and Feinstein. I almost forgot: Perini Corp.
is the nation's most active builder of Indian-fronted casinos. That explains a
few things about Sen. Feinstein and the politics of gambling, soon to be
revealed in greater detail in this space.
Dianne Feinstein's Husband Richard C Blum.. On board of Vivisecting Organizations
by Wikipedia Except For Summary
Monday Nov 21st, 2011 2:08 PM
Monday Nov 21st, 2011 2:08 PM
Richard C Blum, husband of insider trader war profiteer Dianne
Feinstein, who funneled over 1 billion in contracts to him
is not only on the board of the vivisecting American Cancer Society
but in addition the man who as chair of UC's Board of Overseers
helped the FBI criminalize the 1st amendment in AETA.
Feinstein, who funneled over 1 billion in contracts to him
is not only on the board of the vivisecting American Cancer Society
but in addition the man who as chair of UC's Board of Overseers
helped the FBI criminalize the 1st amendment in AETA.
Career
Blum founded Blum Capital in 1975 and pioneered the firm’s hybrid Strategic Block/Private Equity investment strategy. Mr. Blum currently serves as Chairman of the board of directors of CB Richard Ellis and is a director on the boards of directors of three other portfolio companies: Fairmont Raffles Holdings International Ltd., Current Media, L.L.C. and Myer Pty Ltd. in Australia. Mr. Blum co-founded Newbridge Capital in the early 1990s and is Co-Chairman of TPG Asia V, L.P. (the successor fund to the Newbridge franchise that has been incorporated into Texas Pacific Group). In the past, Mr. Blum has served on the boards of many prominent companies, including Northwest Airlines Corporation, Glenborough Realty Trust, Inc., Korea First Bank, URS Corporation and National Education Corporation. In addition, Mr. Blum is active in numerous non-profit organizations. He is the founder and Chairman of the American Himalayan Foundation and is Honorary Consul to Mongolia and Nepal. Mr. Blum also serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.
Prior to founding Blum Capital, Blum was with Sutro & Co. for seventeen years, holding various positions including director, major stockholder and member of the executive committee.
On April 25, 2009 Blum was honored with the Berkeley Medal by UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgenau in front of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. The talk was sponsored by his American Himalayan Foundation and the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley.[2]
[edit] Background and personal life
Coming from San Francisco's public schools,[1] Blum graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, where he received his B.S. in business administration in 1958, and an MBA in 1959, both degrees coming from the Haas School of Business. Blum also studied abroad in 1957 at the University of Vienna in Vienna, Austria through IES Abroad.
In the 1970s, Blum supported then Mayor of San Francisco George Moscone. After Moscone's assassination, Blum supported the new mayor Dianne Feinstein; they married in 1980.[1]
[edit] Career
Blum joined investment brokerage Sutro & Co. at the age of 23, becoming a partner before age 30.[1] At Sutro Blum led a partnership that acquired Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for $8m, selling it to Mattel four years later for $40m.[1] On the back of this deal Blum started in business for himself in 1975, founding what is now Blum Capital Partners;[1] a stake in URS Corp. was one of its first investments.[1]
[edit] Controversy
Blum's wife, Senator Dianne Feinstein, has received scrutiny due to her husband's government contracts and extensive business dealings with China and her past votes on trade issues with the country. Blum has denied any wrongdoing, however.[3] Critics have argued that business contracts with the US government awarded to a company (Perini) controlled by Blum may raise a potential conflict-of-interest issue with the voting and policy activities of his wife.[4] URS Corp, which Blum had a substantial stake in, bought EG&G, a leading provider of technical services and management to the U.S. military, from The Carlyle Group in 2002; EG&G subsequently won a $600m defense contract.[1]
In 2009 it was reported that Blum's wife Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to provide $25 billion in taxpayer money to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, a government agency that had recently awarded her husband's real estate firm, CB Richard Ellis, what the Washington Times called "a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms."[5]
[edit] Boards
On March 12, 2002, Blum was appointed by California Governor Gray Davis to a 12-year term as one of the Regents of the University of California. Blum also serves on the boards of the following companies:
CB Richard Ellis (Chairman)
Newbridge Capital (co-Chairman)
CurrentTV
Blum Capital
Blum is also the primary owner of Career Education Corporation.[6]
Blum has a strong interest in Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism. In 1981 he attempted to climb Mount Everest from the Tibetan side with Sir Edmund Hillary. He is the Chairman and founder of the apolitical American Himalayan Foundation, or AHF, which has given millions of dollars to build hospitals and schools in Tibet and Nepal but has refrained from political involvement with the Chinese control of Tibet.
In addition to the AHF, Blum’s not-for-profit endeavors include service as Trustee of The Carter Center; former Co-Chairman of the The World Conference of Religions for Peace; Member of Governing Council of The Wilderness Society;[7] member of the Board of Trustees of The Brookings Institution; Member of the Board of Trustees of the American Cancer Society Foundation; and the founder and a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley. The Center is focused on finding solutions to address the crisis of extreme poverty and disease in the developing world.[8]
[edit] References
^ a b c d e f g h San Francisco Chronicle, 11 May 2003, Profile: Richard Blum (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5nuLszglw)
^ http://www.dailycal.org/article/105438/berkeley_welcomes_dalai_lama
^ http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_5529371?nclick_check=1
^ "Senator Feinstein's Iraq Conflict". Retrieved April 2, 2006.
^ Washington Times, April 21, 2009, EXCLUSIVE: Senator's husband's firm cashes in on crisis.
^ CounterPunch, 26 February 2010, DiFi and Blum: a Marriage Marinated in Money
^ Blum Biography at the University of California
^ http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/04/19_blum.shtml
[edit] External links
Blum Capital Partners, L.P.
Senator Feinstein's Iraq Conflict: Feinstein voted for appropriations worth billions to her husband's firms Peter Byrne, North Bay Bohemian, Jan. 24, 2007.
Blum's Plums: Conflicts of interest benefitted Blum's firms during his term as a UC Regent Peter Byrne, North Bay Bohemian, Feb. 21, 2007.
Blum founded Blum Capital in 1975 and pioneered the firm’s hybrid Strategic Block/Private Equity investment strategy. Mr. Blum currently serves as Chairman of the board of directors of CB Richard Ellis and is a director on the boards of directors of three other portfolio companies: Fairmont Raffles Holdings International Ltd., Current Media, L.L.C. and Myer Pty Ltd. in Australia. Mr. Blum co-founded Newbridge Capital in the early 1990s and is Co-Chairman of TPG Asia V, L.P. (the successor fund to the Newbridge franchise that has been incorporated into Texas Pacific Group). In the past, Mr. Blum has served on the boards of many prominent companies, including Northwest Airlines Corporation, Glenborough Realty Trust, Inc., Korea First Bank, URS Corporation and National Education Corporation. In addition, Mr. Blum is active in numerous non-profit organizations. He is the founder and Chairman of the American Himalayan Foundation and is Honorary Consul to Mongolia and Nepal. Mr. Blum also serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.
Prior to founding Blum Capital, Blum was with Sutro & Co. for seventeen years, holding various positions including director, major stockholder and member of the executive committee.
On April 25, 2009 Blum was honored with the Berkeley Medal by UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgenau in front of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. The talk was sponsored by his American Himalayan Foundation and the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley.[2]
[edit] Background and personal life
Coming from San Francisco's public schools,[1] Blum graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, where he received his B.S. in business administration in 1958, and an MBA in 1959, both degrees coming from the Haas School of Business. Blum also studied abroad in 1957 at the University of Vienna in Vienna, Austria through IES Abroad.
In the 1970s, Blum supported then Mayor of San Francisco George Moscone. After Moscone's assassination, Blum supported the new mayor Dianne Feinstein; they married in 1980.[1]
[edit] Career
Blum joined investment brokerage Sutro & Co. at the age of 23, becoming a partner before age 30.[1] At Sutro Blum led a partnership that acquired Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for $8m, selling it to Mattel four years later for $40m.[1] On the back of this deal Blum started in business for himself in 1975, founding what is now Blum Capital Partners;[1] a stake in URS Corp. was one of its first investments.[1]
[edit] Controversy
Blum's wife, Senator Dianne Feinstein, has received scrutiny due to her husband's government contracts and extensive business dealings with China and her past votes on trade issues with the country. Blum has denied any wrongdoing, however.[3] Critics have argued that business contracts with the US government awarded to a company (Perini) controlled by Blum may raise a potential conflict-of-interest issue with the voting and policy activities of his wife.[4] URS Corp, which Blum had a substantial stake in, bought EG&G, a leading provider of technical services and management to the U.S. military, from The Carlyle Group in 2002; EG&G subsequently won a $600m defense contract.[1]
In 2009 it was reported that Blum's wife Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduced legislation to provide $25 billion in taxpayer money to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, a government agency that had recently awarded her husband's real estate firm, CB Richard Ellis, what the Washington Times called "a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties at compensation rates higher than the industry norms."[5]
[edit] Boards
On March 12, 2002, Blum was appointed by California Governor Gray Davis to a 12-year term as one of the Regents of the University of California. Blum also serves on the boards of the following companies:
CB Richard Ellis (Chairman)
Newbridge Capital (co-Chairman)
CurrentTV
Blum Capital
Blum is also the primary owner of Career Education Corporation.[6]
Blum has a strong interest in Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism. In 1981 he attempted to climb Mount Everest from the Tibetan side with Sir Edmund Hillary. He is the Chairman and founder of the apolitical American Himalayan Foundation, or AHF, which has given millions of dollars to build hospitals and schools in Tibet and Nepal but has refrained from political involvement with the Chinese control of Tibet.
In addition to the AHF, Blum’s not-for-profit endeavors include service as Trustee of The Carter Center; former Co-Chairman of the The World Conference of Religions for Peace; Member of Governing Council of The Wilderness Society;[7] member of the Board of Trustees of The Brookings Institution; Member of the Board of Trustees of the American Cancer Society Foundation; and the founder and a Member of the Board of Trustees of the Blum Center for Developing Economies at UC Berkeley. The Center is focused on finding solutions to address the crisis of extreme poverty and disease in the developing world.[8]
[edit] References
^ a b c d e f g h San Francisco Chronicle, 11 May 2003, Profile: Richard Blum (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5nuLszglw)
^ http://www.dailycal.org/article/105438/berkeley_welcomes_dalai_lama
^ http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_5529371?nclick_check=1
^ "Senator Feinstein's Iraq Conflict". Retrieved April 2, 2006.
^ Washington Times, April 21, 2009, EXCLUSIVE: Senator's husband's firm cashes in on crisis.
^ CounterPunch, 26 February 2010, DiFi and Blum: a Marriage Marinated in Money
^ Blum Biography at the University of California
^ http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/04/19_blum.shtml
[edit] External links
Blum Capital Partners, L.P.
Senator Feinstein's Iraq Conflict: Feinstein voted for appropriations worth billions to her husband's firms Peter Byrne, North Bay Bohemian, Jan. 24, 2007.
Blum's Plums: Conflicts of interest benefitted Blum's firms during his term as a UC Regent Peter Byrne, North Bay Bohemian, Feb. 21, 2007.
by Brennan Browne
Wednesday Nov
23rd, 2011 5:08 PM
Dianne
Feinstein Co-Sponsored the [AETA] Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act with one of
the most brainless, corporate-lackey, fascists in Congress [R-OK] Senator James
Inofe.
She WAS a member of the Congressional "Progressive Caucus" [her name has now been removed from their roster] yet uses her position as Chair of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to sponsor and ram through some of the most totalitarian legislation since the Bush administration. Former committee members have a decidedly rabid right slant.
She is the kind of "Democrat" that has been the death of the true Democratic Party and she should have "Republican" seared into her forehead. A complete, corrupt sellout on every level.
She WAS a member of the Congressional "Progressive Caucus" [her name has now been removed from their roster] yet uses her position as Chair of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence to sponsor and ram through some of the most totalitarian legislation since the Bush administration. Former committee members have a decidedly rabid right slant.
She is the kind of "Democrat" that has been the death of the true Democratic Party and she should have "Republican" seared into her forehead. A complete, corrupt sellout on every level.
by R. Brouwer
Monday Jun
4th, 2012 10:23 PM
These
are the kind of self-serving scum-bags that occupy high office in this country,
it is unbelievable! The majority of the ignorant populace, though, is usually
none the wiser as they are distracted with their addictions, their shiny
objects or the excessive stress of living in a world of imploding, imperialstic
capitalism. The criminally clever venture capitalists have been having it their
way for some time now and have outsourced every imaginable industry and
rewritten every restrictive or regulatory law to enhance their maniacal quest
for individual wealth and power. All of our "growth" and
infrastructure has been based on unsustainable and deadly fossil fuel
consumption. Most of our elected leaders have been handing the reins of
governance and commerce to an elite class of unprincipled privateers who go
about their business of bottom-line profiteering unheeded; capitalizing on war,
natural disasters, immigration detention, fake medicines and diseases,
contrived hostilities, fraudulent credit and mortgage schemes, speculative
market manipulation, to name only a few of the most prominent. Yet the most
insidious vector of all of this cancerous dishumanity is the corporate media
which misinforms, misdirects, distorts, and distracts the majority of the hapless
citizenry whose participation in this "Democracy" has been reduced to
an uninformed, highly politicized popularity contest between Republicrats and
Demicans who sport different styles of the same tainted and corrupted pack of
lies that have become known as American exceptionality.
Top 10 Richest US Senators' Top Stock Trades in 2007
and Potential Conflicts of Interest
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Senators and Representatives determine legislation that can directly affect
corporations' stocks. Some view Congressional representatives' trading of
stocks in industries under the jurisdiction of their Congressional committees
to present at least a conflict of interest or at worst insider trading. In
2007, 45 corporations, spanning finance, insurance, oil, pharmaceutical,
telecom, and other industries, made the 10 richest Senators' top 5 stocks
owned, purchased, and sold lists. Government appropriations totalled over $18
billion to these companies. The charts below detail the 10 richest US Senators' (and Barack Obama's) publicly traded stock investments in 2007, their financial disclosure reports, and other relevant factors that could pose as conflicts of interest. Such factors, provided under "Additional Information," include membership in committees that have jurisdiction over companies in which the Senators invested, the Senators' personal relationships with the companies, and the amount of government appropriations to each company. Click here to read our methodology, information on how to read the charts, and additional notes of interest.
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