1/22/2015
Thursday, January 22nd, 2015
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein has not made any announcements about seeking a fifth term in the U.S. Senate in 2016, but one wonders whether these recent revelations might influence that decision.
The California Democrat’s husband, Richard Blum, is a proud member in good standing of the “one percent,” due largely to income his businesses have received from government contracts while his wife was in the Senate.
Hmmm.
According to a report from The New York Post cited by IJ Review, CBRE, Wilson’s real estate services company, will rake in another cool $1 billion or so in commissions for the sale of property belonging to the U.S. Postal Service.
The USPS selected CBRE in 2011 to handled the sale of 56 buildings that were expected to sell for a total of $19 billion, according to the report.
The mainstream media essentially ignored reports of Blum’s enrichment after Sen. Feinstein — herself worth about $70 million — stated through her office that she had nothing to do with the decision to hire CBRE, IJ Review reported.
Oh, well, okay then. As long as she said so, it’s not like we should expect the media to do their job and follow up on a scandal involving billions of dollars of taxpayer money.
That sounds way too hard.
Now, if there were a history of this sort of thing, that might be different.
Oh, wait.
In 2007, Feinstein resigned as chair of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee amid accusations that she had inappropriately steered government contracts to her husband’s companies.
Look, I get it. It’s human nature to do whatever is in your power to enrich yourself and your loved ones, and U.S. senators have a lot of power.
But examples like Feinstein — who claims to be a servant of the people while she enriches herself on the back of their labor — demonstrate the need for greater controls on Congress to prevent this sort of unethical, if not uncommon, behavior.
Investigating Sen. Feinstein’s connections to her husband’s lucrative government contracts would be a great place to start.
So would term limits, to prevent Washington politicians from amassing the sort of power that makes these sort of deals possible.
Please share this article on Twitter and Facebook if you agree that Sen. Feinstein should be investigated for corruption.
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