FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
San Jose, Calif., January 25, 2007 -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s husband was a
major beneficiary of military appropriations blessed by a
subcommittee that she headed, Metro Newspapers reports this
week.
Feinstein (D-Calif.) acted in a conflict of interest while
approving billions of dollars in military construction
expenditures for the global war on terror, according to an
investigative story by award-winning journalist Peter Byrne.
The story was published jointly in the North Bay Bohemian and Metro Silicon Valley weekly newspapers this
week. Research assistance was provided by the Investigative
Fund of the Nation Institute.
Following Feinstein’s participation at the legislative level, large
contracts were awarded to two firms — URS Corporation and
Perini Corporation — that were controlled by an investment
group headed by the senator’s spouse, financier Richard C.
Blum.
Byrne's investigation reveals the following details about
Feinstein’s service as a member of the United States Senate’s
Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON):
- From 1997 through the end of 2005, with Feinstein’s
knowledge, her husband’s group held a majority interest in two
defense contractors active in Iraq and U.S. military bases:
URS and Perini.
- While setting MILCON agendas, Feinstein supervised her
own staff of military construction experts and lobbied Pentagon
officials in public hearings.
- From 2001 to 2005, URS earned $792 million from military
construction and environmental cleanup projects approved by
MILCON; Perini earned $759 million from MILCON
projects.
- Attorney Michael R. Klein, a top Feinstein legal adviser and
long-time Blum business partner, also served as vice-chairman
of Perini’s board of directors. In an interview with Byrne in
September, Klein stated that, beginning in 1997, he routinely
informed Feinstein about specific federal projects coming
before her in which Perini had a stake. The insider information,
Klein said, was intended to help the senator avoid conflicts of
interest. Although Klein’s startling admission was intended to
defuse the issue of Feinstein’s conflict of interest, it instead
exacerbated it.
- Klein explains: “They would get from me a notice that Perini
was bidding on a contract that would be affected as we
understood it by potential legislation that would come before
either the full congress or any committee that she was a
member of. And she would as a result of that not act, abstain
from dealing with those pieces of legislation.”
- The public record shows, however, that contrary to Klein’s
belief, Sen. Feinstein did in fact act on legislation that affected
Perini and URS.
The story published in the
North Bay Bohemian and
Metro Silicon Valley examines the many ways in which
Sen. Feinstein committed repeated breaches of ethics as
MILCON's chairwoman or ranking member from 2001-2005.
CONTACT: Gretchen Giles
707.527.1200, ext. 202
ggiles at bohemian.com
