Feinstein, $25 billion, and her husband’s company

In today’s “can we make the problem any more obvious” file, we have Sen. Diane Feinstein introducing legislation to send $25 billion in tax dollars to the Federal Deposit Insurance Agency (FDIC) who days before provided her husband’s company a lucrative contract to sell foreclosed properties.

The Washington Times thought this was a pretty interesting story especially since Feinstein is not on any FDIC-related committee in Congress.

Mrs. Feinstein’s intervention on behalf of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was unusual: the California Democrat isn’t a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over FDIC; and the agency is supposed to operate from money it raises from bank-paid insurance payments – not direct federal dollars.

Documents reviewed by The Washington Times show Mrs. Feinstein first offered Oct. 30 to help the FDIC secure money for its effort to stem the rise of home foreclosures. Her letter was sent just days before the agency determined that CB Richard Ellis Group (CBRE) – the commercial real estate firm that her husband Richard Blum heads as board chairman – had won the competitive bidding for a contract to sell foreclosed properties that FDIC had inherited from failed banks.

About the same time of the contract award, Mr. Blum’s private investment firm reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it and related affiliates had purchased more than 10 million new shares in CBRE. The shares were purchased for the going price of $3.77; CBRE’s stock closed Monday at $5.14.

Again, this is one more example why the U.S. Constitution was written the way it was written. In what section does the Constitution provide this authorization to spend money this way? It’s a pretty simple question, but nobody seems to care.

By respecting the Founder’s document, this type of graft would be very limited at the federal level.

Gateway Pundit just picked up on this story and reminds us that this has happened before with Feinstein. You’ll see more bloggers on it throughout the day.

Dianne Feinstein, (D-Calif.) from 2001 through the end of 2005 supervised the appropriation of billions of dollars for specific military construction projects whose interests were largely controlled by her husband.

Ed at Hot Air

In other words, Richard Blum bought 10 million shares at the same time his wife arranged for an unusual and extremely large chunk of taxpayer money to go to FDIC.  Blum must have been an investment genius to guess that his wife’s intervention would coincidentally precede the FDIC’s award, making CBRE stock more valuable.  Blum’s investment made a $14 million profit for Blum and Feinstein and their partners.

But of course, that’s all just a coincidence.

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Steve McGough

Steve's a part-time conservative blogger. Steve grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Washington, D.C. and the Bahamas. He resides in Connecticut, where he’s comfortable six months of the year.

4 Comments

  1. theignorantfisherman on April 21, 2009 at 11:34 am

    Cha-chang…baby! Fat cat legislators on a roll..



  2. Dimsdale on April 21, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    There ain't no such thing as coincidences, particularly when politicians are involved.

    A nod, a wink and a quick $14 million.  Chump change in Obamaland and the most ethical Congress in history…



  3. PatRiot on April 21, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    My liberal friends will trouble with this one.  They are starting to wake up.  It is hard to be patient but so worth it to see the light bulbs coming on.



  4. PatRiot on April 21, 2009 at 1:31 pm

    I still say, when people are out of work and housing that the Eelected official's address be made public.  In this fashion, those without can seek refuge with those who have.  They have more everyday.  Let's see if they truely help out fellow Americans who are down on their luck.



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