Is DiFi dirty? In January, I linked to Metroactive’s extensive investigation of Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s conflict of interests as a member of the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee who voted for appropriations worth billions to her husband’s firms.

Looks like Metroactive’s work may have had an effect. They report on Feinstein’s resignation from the subcommittee yesterday:

SEN. Dianne Feinstein has resigned from the Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee. As previously and extensively reviewed in these pages, Feinstein was chairperson and ranking member of MILCON for six years, during which time she had a conflict of interest due to her husband Richard C. Blum’s ownership of two major defense contractors, who were awarded billions of dollars for military construction projects approved by Feinstein.

As MILCON leader, Feinstein relished the details of military construction, even micromanaging one project at the level of its sewer design. She regularly took junkets to military bases around the world to inspect construction projects, some of which were contracted to her husband’s companies, Perini Corp. and URS Corp.

Perhaps she resigned from MILCON because she could not take the heat generated by Metro’s expose of her ethics (which was partially funded by the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute). Or was her work on the subcommittee finished because Blum divested ownership of his military construction and advanced weapons manufacturing firms in late 2005?

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.

The NYTimes is demanding an investigation. Arianna Huffington has launched ads lambasting Feinstein. The left-wing blogosphere is an uproar over Feinstein’s war profiteering.

Kidding.

***

Am I missing something? Because I surfed over to the San Francisco Chronicle website, and as of 10:55am Eastern, I see nothing about Feinstein’s resigation.

Check out Memeorandum. Blogger reax is, yes, mostly from the right.

comments (0)   trackbacks (11)