ETHICS and LIBERAL HYPOCRISY- Dianne Feinstein resigns from Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee

Not that you're going to see this in the mainstream media, for now at least, but it looks like Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, resigned from her post as Chair of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON), which she has held for the past 6 years. Why? It appears that her hubby Richard C. Blum's two companies (Perini Corp. and URS Corp.) have benefited, quite amply thank you very much, from wifey's position. Talk about major conflict of interest. Halliburton sound familiar? But the difference in coverage between the two is very obvious. And we all know why.

Her decision seems to have been prompted by a searing expose' by Peter Byrne of Metro newspapers, a conglomerate of leftist-leaning (of all things), Northern California alternative weeklies, which exposed the billions awarded to her husband's companies, over the years, with her express knowledge:

Each year, MILCON's members decide which military construction projects will be funded from a roster proposed by the Department of Defense. Contracts to build these specific projects are subsequently awarded to such major defense contractors as Halliburton, Fluor, Parsons, Louis Berger, URS Corporation and Perini Corporation. From 1997 through the end of 2005, with Feinstein's knowledge, Blum was a majority owner of both URS Corp. and Perini Corp.

And, it seems she actually lobbied for many of those contracts:

At a March 30, 2004, MILCON hearing, Feinstein grilled Maj. Gen. Dean Fox about whether or not the Pentagon intended to prioritize funding the construction of "beddown" maintenance facilities for its new airlifter, the C-17 Globemaster. After being reassured by Fox that these funds would soon be flowing, Feinstein said, "Good, that's what I really wanted to hear. Thank you very much. Appreciate it very much, General." Two years later, URS announced a $42 million award to build a beddown maintenance facility for the C-17 at Hickam Air Base in Hawaii as part of a multibillion dollar contract with the Air Force. Under Feinstein's leadership, MILCON approved the Hickam project.

MILCON also has jurisdiction over medical treatment of veterans and Byrne heaped further criticism upon Feinstein saying "You would think that, considering all the money Feinstein's family has pocketed by waging global warfare while ignoring the plight of wounded American soldiers."

The MILCON subcommittee is not only in charge of supervising military construction, it also oversees "quality of life" issues for veterans, which includes building housing for military families and operating hospitals and clinics for wounded soldiers. Perhaps Feinstein is trying to disassociate herself from MILCON's incredible failure to provide decent medical care for wounded soldiers. Two years ago, before the Washington Post became belatedly involved, the online magazine Salon.com exposed the horrors of deficient medical care for Iraq war veterans. While leading MILCON, Feinstein had ample warning of the medical-care meltdown. But she was not proactive on veteran's affairs.

So, my liberal friends, the Republican Party does not claim ownership to unethical behavior, no matter how much you would like to think that it does. It is equally shared with the Democrats!

It would be nice, however, if they would ALL clean up their acts.