SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN’S LEGACY OF STAGGERING CORRUPTION AND SELF-SERVING OFF THE DEALS SHE PUSHES IN THE SENATE WITH LAP BITCH AND BLUM CAMPAIGN BRIBE RECIPIENT SEN. BARBARA BOXER
(DATED!) LA
Times Article Friday March 28, 1997 Feinstein, Husband Hold Strong China Connections
FEINSTEINT
HAVE MOVED ON TO BIGGER POTATOES -
BUSH’S WAR AND WAR PROFITEERING!
Asia:
Senator, Blum insist a solid 'firewall' separates her foreign policy role, his
growing business interests there.
S U C H B U L L S H I T!
WASHINGTON
On Capitol Hill, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (DCalif.) has emerged as one of the
staunchest proponents of closer U.S. relations with China, fighting for
permanent most-favored-nation trading status for Beijing.At the same time, far
from the spotlight, Feinstein's husband. Richard C. Blum, has expanded his
private business interests in China to the point that his firm is now a
prominent investor inside the communist nation. For years, Feinstein and Blum have insisted that they maintained a
solid "firewall" between her role as an influential foreign policy
player and his career as a private in VP. But such closely coinciding interests
are highly unusual for major figures in public life in Washington. And now, as
controversy heats up over improper foreign influence in the U.S. political
process. the effectiveness of the firewall between those interests could be
called into question. On Thursday, after he was interviewed by The Times about
his China business, Blum announced that he will donate future profits from his
personal investments there to his nonprofit foundation to help Tibetan
refugees. "This should remove any perception that I am in anyway, shape or
form benefit from or influence my wife's position on China as a U.S. senator, 'In
1992, when Feinstein entered the Senate, Blum's interests in China amounted to
one project worth less than $500,000, according to her financial disclosure
reports. But since then, his financial activities in the country have
increased. In the last year, a Blum investment firm paid $23 million for a
stake in a Chinese government owned steel enterprise and acquired sizable interests
in the leading producers of soybean milk and candy in China.
Blum's firm,
Newbridge Capital Ltd., received an important boost from a $10-million
investment by the International Finance Corp., an arm of the World Bank.
Experts said that IFC backing typically confers legitimacy and can help attract
other investors. "It seems to be going quite well," Rashad
Kaldany—who in 1994 managed the IFC's capital markets investments in Asia—said
of the project. He added: "There also was some comfort in that Mr. Blum
had some contacts with the Chinese. "Feinstein's Growing China
Policy Role Meanwhile, Feinstein's role on U.S. policy
toward China has expanded. In January 1995, she became a member of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, giving her a prominent platform for her efforts to
support China's trade privileges.Since 1995, Feinstein has made three visits to
confer with senior government officials in Beijing. Blum has accompanied her
each time at his own expense and has attended many of her meetings with
President Jiang Zemin and other top Chinese leaders—an unusual degree of access
for a private businessman.
MAO
GIVES FEINSTEIN A BONER!
On their trip to China in January of last
year, Blum accompanied Feinstein to dinner with Jiang in the exclusive leaders'
enclave, Zhongnanhai."We had dinner in Zhongnanhai in Mao Tse-tung's old
residence in the room where he died. We were told that we were the first
foreigners to see his bedroom and the swimming pool. It was a very historic
moment to see some of these things," Feinstein told a Times reporter
later. Feinstein said this week that her Senate position in no way has affected
her husband's business. She said that Blum has never sought to exploit her
influence or access to increase his opportunities in China."My husband has
never discussed business with Jiang Zemin. never would, never has," she
said. Said Blum: "Somebody will have to explain just how I have been
benefited because my wife goes over to China.
FEINSTEIN
HAS ALWAYS VOTED FOR ANY AND EVERYTHING THAT BENEFITED HER PIMP HUSBAND’S RED
CHINESE PAYMASTERS!
'However, experts on China question whether
someone in Blum's distinct position could strictly insulate his interests when
he is so prominently involved in the China market, is visibly associated with
the leading friend of China in the Senate and has access to inner circles that
other entrepreneurs do not. In China, "everything is personal," said
Arthur Waldron, professor of strategy at the Naval War College and an associate
of the Fairbank Center for East Asian Research at Harvard. "That's how
business works—personal contacts, friends and friends of friends. "Ross H.
Munro, co-author of the recent China policy book "The Coming Conflict with
China," said: "There is no doubt in my mind that, if Dianne Feinstein
had a pattern of taking positions on U.S. China policy that Chinese officials
disliked, Mr. Blum would have a great deal more difficulty doing business in
China and probably would find it impossible to do. "Senator Is
Warned of China Overtures. Already,
federal investigators have detected that the Chinese government might attempt
to seek favor with Feinstein. Last year, she was one of six members of Congress
who received warnings from the FBI that China might try to improperly influence
them through illegal campaign contributions. There is no evidence that
Feinstein received such contributions. The inquiries into allegedly improper
Chinese political efforts in, the United States have increased the sensitivity
of Blum's associations there. Investigators are looking at the activities of
dual business-government entities, including China International Trade and
Investment Corp. (CITIC), a $20-billion, state-owned conglomerate that is the
most influential financial enterprise in China Blum's businesses come in
contact, either directly or indirectly, with such entities. There is no
indication of impropriety in any of these relationships or that Feinstein was
even aware of any overlap between her husband's Pacific Rim investments and
Chinese government-related firms. But the links, even tenuous ones, can trigger
questions in the current highly charged political atmosphere.Newbridge Capital,
the Blum business venture, has two investments with partners originally from
CITIC, said Peter Kwok managing director of the Hong Kong fund.Kwok also serves
as a consultant to a unit of China Ocean Shipping Co. That state-owned company
won rights to build a $200-million cargo terminal at the closed Long Beach
Naval Station. Blum called any purported link between China Ocean Shipping and
his firm "ridiculous. "Feinstein said, "I had absolutely no
knowledge" of any of this. In separate telephone interviews Wednesday,
Feinstein and Blum emphasized that they share a deep, personal interest in
China dating back two decades. Blum won permission from the Chinese in 1981 to
lead the first attempt in modern times to climb the east face of Mt. Everest.
He describes himself as a "close personal friend" of the Dalai Lama,
the exiled Tibetan religious leader—a friendship, he notes, that would not win
favor with the Beijing government. FEINSTEIN: Senator, Husband Say 'Firewall' Divides
Their China Ties Establishing Shanghai, San Francisco Ties
As a pro-business mayor of San Francisco in the 1980s, Feinstein worked
intently to expand economic ties in the Pacific Rim, especially in China. She
set out early in her tenure to establish sister city relations between San
Francisco and Shanghai. Feinstein and her counterpart in Shanghai at the time,
Jiang Zemin, who is now China's president, agreed in 1986 to designate various
corporate entities to foster trade and other business relations. One was named
Shanghai Pacific Partners- Blum served as a director. In 1992, the value of
Blum's stake in Shanghai Pacific Partners was between $250,001 and $500,000,
according to Feinstein's financial statements. By last year's filing, Blum's
interest had grown to between $500,001 and $1 million. Blum said that less than
2% of the approximately $1.5 billion his firm manages is committed to China. He
said that he has put between $1 million and $2 million of his own money into
China firms—the same amount as before Feinstein was elected to the Senate. Blum's
biggest investment, an estimated 5300-million stake in Northwest Airlines, is
poised to gain from China's emergence as an economic power. Northwest operates
the only nonstop service from the United States to any city in China. Blum
earned in excess of $1 million from his Northwest holdings in 1995, according
to Feinstein's financial report. The potential for conflict between Feinstein's
and Blum's parallel China interests increased after Feinstein was elected to
the Senate in 1992 and Blum formed Newbridge in 1994 with more than $100
million provided by various investors who had to put up a minimum of $1 million
to participate. Blum is a general partner along with Texas financier David
Bonderman, according to reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission.In a boost, Blum's partnership secured a $10-million investment from
International Finance, the World Bank entity. The deal was approved without the
support of the United States, which holds one seat on the IFC's 24-member
governing board, because of objections to China's human rights record. The U.S.
abstention on Blum's proposal was reported to three congressional committees in
April 199S—including the Senate Foreign Relations panel on which Feinstein
serves. Kwok, the Newbridge managing partner in Hong Kong, said in an interview
that investors thought Feinstein's high profile in China might help Blum's
business there. "But it's not the case," Kwok said. "We thought
the Chinese would be very polite and respect who he is, but Chinese are very
pragmatic these days. They just care about the deal. "In June 1996,
Newbridge acquired a 24% effective stake in Beilong Iron & Steel Group for
$23 million. Beilong is a state-owned enterprise near Shenyang in Liaoning
Province that makes pig iron often used in automobile manufacture. The deal was
initiated by Englong Group from Hong Kong, a troubled investment and property
company run by a former CITIC official and ex-vice minister of petroleum, said
Kwok. Together, Englong and Newbridge hold a 60% stake in Englong. In late
1996, Newbridge invested $14 million izXuzhou W Food and Beverage Ltd., the
leading producer of soybean milk in China and maker of the popular brand
"Wei Wei." Newbridge bought a 24% stake from Guangdong Enterprises,
run by another old CITIC executive, Kwok said. The third venture, made final-in
January, is a 50% stake in Guangshengyuan, a leading maker of milk candy and
honey products. Their most popular product is "White Rabbit" milk
candy. Blum's Travels With Feinstein Blum traveled with
Feinstein to China in August 1995, and January and November 1996. Jiang Zemin
personally invited Feinstein to make the first visit. Feinstein's support of
China in Congress has been so outspoken that she occasionally has drawn
criticism. In a recent speech, she called for creation of a commission that
would study the evolution of human rights in both the United States and China.
The panel "would point out the success and failures [of] both Tiananmen
Square and Kent State," she said in a remark denounced by some human
rights advocates. Hundreds of demonstrators were killed in the 1989 assault by
the Chinese military. Four students were killed by Ohio National Guard gunfire
in the 1970 antiwar demonstration.
THE
SQUALID POLITICS OF DIANNE FEINSTEIN – THE BIGGEST WAR PROFITEER IN AMERICAN
HISTORY
"I see no
evidence of anything improper in this body," said Senate Rules and
Administration Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D‑Calif.) during the floor debate.
Senators Diverting Campaign
Funds to Kin
Loophole in
Ethics Rules Is One That the Senate Did Not Close Last Year
By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Under long‑standing congressional ethics rules, corporations, unions
and other large organizations cannot directly pay senators stipends. But their
contributions to senators' election campaigns can be paid without limit to the
children, spouses, in‑laws and other relatives of the lawmakers, in a practice
that has aroused controversy but is fully legal.
Since 2000, at least 20 members of
the Senate dipped into their campaign contributions and wrote more than half a
million dollars in checks to their own relatives, typically as payment for
fundraising and other campaign work, according to a new report by the watchdog
group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D‑Calif.), for example,
paid her son Douglas $320,409.17 in campaign donations through his company
Douglas Boxer and Associates from 2001 to 2006, CREW found. Douglas Boxer is a
lawyer and a 10‑year veteran of her political team, a Boxer spokesman said.
Sen. Mike Enzi (R‑Wyo.) paid his
daughter‑in‑law Danielle Enzi $306,718.18 from his campaign accounts over the
same period, according to the report. She was a fundraiser before she married
into the Enzi family, an Enzi spokesman said. Sen. Jim Bunning (R‑Ky.) paid his
daughter Amy Towles $138,933.37 over six years, CREW found. Bunning's office
said it was for campaign accounting.
"It is an area that's ripe for
abuse, for someone who wants to turn campaign funds into personal use,"
said Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the nonprofit group Public Citizen. Although
most lawmakers do not abuse the practice, he said, "those campaign funds
always come from special interests, and those special interests are always
looking for something in return."
Information about the practice is
not easy to find, because senators are required to disclose such payments only
in the minutiae of their periodic public statements of campaign finance
expenditure and do not flag the recipients as relatives. CREW staff compiled
the data over nine months by looking at microfiche and electronic records for
the 2002, 2004 and 2006 election cycles, and by tracing names.
None of these arrangements appears
to violate federal election law (THESE FUCKERS MAKE THE LAWS!), noted Melanie
Sloan, CREW's executive director. Although lawmakers are barred from hiring
relatives as staffers in their legislative offices, family members may perform
campaign work, as long as the pay is reasonable and the individuals are
qualified.
Yet some lawmakers are seeking to
restrict payments to some family members as part of a broader effort to
eliminate opportunities for conflicts and improprieties ‑‑ an effort urged by
watchdog groups such as CREW after ethics scandals over the past two years,
including several cases involving lawmakers' family members on political
payrolls who may or may not have performed much work.
The senators' family payments were
relatively small, compared with the $5.1 million that 72 House members paid
from campaign funds to relatives or to relatives' companies or employers during
the same period, according to CREW. "We found much worse stuff in the
House," Sloan said.
Yet the Senate has become a
roadblock to changing the rules on family employment. The House, in contrast,
approved legislation last July to ban payments from campaign or leadership
funds to candidates' spouses and to require the disclosure of campaign payments
to other immediate family members. The bill was sent to the Senate, where it
has stalled indefinitely.
The House acted after disclosures
that former lobbyist Jack Abramoff organized campaign contributions or other
payments that wound up in the hands of several lawmakers' relatives. Rep. John
T. Doolittle (R‑Calif.), who announced his retirement from the House last
month, is under federal investigation along with his wife, Julie, in part
related to employment for her provided by Abramoff and other lobbyists.
BOXER VOTES AGAINST STOPPING BRIBES SIPHONED
THROUGH RELATIVES!
Senators took up the issue before
passing the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act on Jan. 18, 2007. The law
tightened rules on accepting meals, private plane rides and other perks from
lobbyists. But an amendment to ban the practice of paying relatives for their
campaign work was rejected 54 to 41, with Boxer voting "present."
Even senators with no relatives
listed in the CREW report criticized the measure, offered by Sen. David Vitter
(R‑La.), as overly harsh. "I see no evidence
of anything improper in this body," said Senate Rules and Administration
Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D‑Calif.) during the floor debate.
But Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D‑Calif.),
who sponsored the House bill, said he thinks "there's some serious self‑interest
involved" in the Senate's refusal to go along. Keeping a spouse on the
payroll, Schiff said, "just struck me as an inherent conflict of interest.
Most people are shocked that it's not a crime, and it should be outlawed."
He is still seeking a senator to take up the cause in that chamber.
Some Senate family members do work
for bargain prices, at least by Washington standards. Towles, who lives in
Kentucky, has kept her father's campaign books since the 1990s, said Bunning
spokesman Mike Reynard. He described her as "a one‑person office."
Towles's Citizens for Bunning salary rose from $19,589.10 in 2001, according to
CREW, to $23,180.60 in 2006. She received an additional $4,999 through the
separate Political Hall of Fame PAC, the group found.
Enzi spokesman Coy Knobel said
Danielle Enzi works as a contract fundraiser for the Wyoming senator and has
other political and nonprofit clients. "I think it's essential to point
out the work Danielle does for Senator Enzi is paid for by donors to his
campaign," as opposed to public funds, Knobel said. "If the donors
don't agree with something, then they don't have to give."
The campaign political director for
Sen. Michael D. Crapo (R‑Idaho), whose wife, Susan, was paid $78,514.50 over
six years, said Susan Crapo "has always been the top campaign hand."
Jake Ball described her duties as "organizing and carrying out big
events," along with keeping Crapo's schedule and driving him to events.
"She's able to make decisions
and act on things that other campaign workers would not feel as bold at
doing," Ball said. "Any dollars she's paid are dollars she has
earned."
Other names on the CREW list
include Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D‑Del.),
whose sister, Valerie Biden Owens, has managed all of his Senate campaigns,
dating back to 1972. She was paid $51,286.27 in 2002, according to CREW. Her
daughter Catherine Owens, also known as Casey, was paid $3,618.51 for her job
as a field organizer.
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D‑Mass.)
has paid nephews Joseph and Matthew Kennedy, who co‑chaired his 2006 reelection
campaign, a total of $50,073.87 from his Kennedy for Senate 2012 campaign fund.
Sen. Richard Burr (R‑N.C.) reached
to a farther branch of his family tree, employing Mary T. Fauth as the
treasurer of his leadership political action committee, the Next Century Fund.
Fauth is the wife of Burr's wife's brother, according to a spokesman for the
senator, and earned $32,013 over six years, the report found.
“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, Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer.”
FEINSTEIN, AN OBAMA DONOR, HAS ALWAYS CLAIMED SHE NEVER
DISCUSSES THE COUNTLESS DEALS SHE HUSTLES FOR HER PIMP HUSBAND AND THEN VOTES
ON UNTIL THE DROP A BIG WAD OF LOOT IN HER POCKET.
THIS OLD WHORE IS ONE OF THE MOST GREEDY AND DISHONEST IN AMERICAN
HISTORY.
ONE REALLY GETS THE IDEA OF HOW STAGGERING CORRUPT THESE
POLITICIANS ARE THAT LOOT LIKE FEINSTEIN, OR PULL IN THE BRIBES FEINSTEIN’S
HUSBAND DOLES OUT TO DEMS SO THEY KEEP THEIR MOUTHS SHUT ABOUT FEINSTEIN AND
HER PIM HUSBAND!
Semator passes oppportunity to her husand. (Feinstein ! ! ! !)
Coincidence? Oh yeah!
The US has entered into a contract with a real estate firm to sell 56 buildings that currently house U.S. Post Offices. The government has decided it no longer needs these buildings, many of which are located on prime land in towns and cities across the country.
The sale of these properties will fetch billions of dollars and a handsome 6% commission to the company handling the sales. That company belongs to a man named Richard Blum. Who is Richard Blum you ask? Why the husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein, that's who.
Senator Feinstein and her husband, Richard Blum, stand to make a fortune. His firm, C.R. I., is the sole real estate company offering these properties for sale. Of course, C.R.I. will be making a 6% commission on the sale of each and every one of these postal properties.
All of these properties that are being sold are all fully paid for. They were purchased with U.S. taxpayers dollars, and they are allowed free and clear by the U.S.P.S. The only cost to keep them is the cost to actually keep the doors open and the heat and lights on. The United States Postal Service doesn't even have to pay property taxes on these subject properties. Would you sell your house just because you couldn't afford to pay the electric bill?
Well, the Post Office is.
How does a powerful U.S. Senator from San Francisco manage to get away with such a sweet deal?
A powerful United States Senator's husband is standing by, all ready to make millions from a U.S. taxpayer funded enterprise.
True on Snopes:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/blum.asp
The US has entered into a contract with a real estate firm to sell 56 buildings that currently house U.S. Post Offices. The government has decided it no longer needs these buildings, many of which are located on prime land in towns and cities across the country.
The sale of these properties will fetch billions of dollars and a handsome 6% commission to the company handling the sales. That company belongs to a man named Richard Blum. Who is Richard Blum you ask? Why the husband of Senator Dianne Feinstein, that's who.
Senator Feinstein and her husband, Richard Blum, stand to make a fortune. His firm, C.R. I., is the sole real estate company offering these properties for sale. Of course, C.R.I. will be making a 6% commission on the sale of each and every one of these postal properties.
All of these properties that are being sold are all fully paid for. They were purchased with U.S. taxpayers dollars, and they are allowed free and clear by the U.S.P.S. The only cost to keep them is the cost to actually keep the doors open and the heat and lights on. The United States Postal Service doesn't even have to pay property taxes on these subject properties. Would you sell your house just because you couldn't afford to pay the electric bill?
Well, the Post Office is.
How does a powerful U.S. Senator from San Francisco manage to get away with such a sweet deal?
A powerful United States Senator's husband is standing by, all ready to make millions from a U.S. taxpayer funded enterprise.
True on Snopes:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/blum.asp
RALPH
NADER CHARACTERIZES FEINSTEIN AS A “CLOSET REPUBLICAN” BUT WASN’T OBAMA BUSH’S
THIRD AND FOURTH TERMS AS WELL?
LIKE
THE CLINTONS, THE BUSH CRIME FAMILY, and the OBAMANATION, FEINSTEIN LOVES THE
SMELL OF MONEY OFF ELECTED OFFICE.
YOU
DON’T GET ANY MORE CORRUPT THAN THIS OLD WHORE!
Richard C. Blum and Dianne Feinstein: The Power Couple of California LOOTING AMERICA FROM TOP TO BOTTOM!
"They remain at the pinnacle of power today, he as a billionaire financier, speculator, real estate executive and deal maker; she as the senior Senator (California's highest federal official), from the largest and most powerful state in the United States. They exemplify power as it is now wielded in the higher circles of the class system of the U.S. today, and illustrate well the dismal results of this system. This system is best characterized as a plutocratic kleptocracy, completely lacking in authentic democracy, operated by and for corporate racketeers, in short, a dictatorship of big capital, the top 1% of wealth holders, which makes up a ruling class."
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