Feinstein is a War Profiteer

Any one paying any attention to last week's Coronation of King George and the Bush Crime Family, along with a certain Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing intended to serve as a rubber stamp for Condi Rice's confirmation as Secretary of State) may be aware that it was no one other than United States Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, who escorted Ms Rice onto the Senate committee floor last week. Appended below is a transcript of Senator Dianne Feinstein's introductary remarks, as posted on her web site.

I will assert, that the war in Iraq may not have occurred at all if it were not for the Democratic Senators, such as Senator Feinstein and others who have a financially vested interest connected military operations and most especially contracts during war, who naturally voted to approve Bush's request for pre-emptive strike in Iraq.

I think it's safe to say that the explanations for approval by most of the Senators are tiresome, deeply flawed, and generally considered pathetic but made all the more disgusting in light of the facts that did finally emerge in the main stream media, al beit much too late.

I think because of the war, the evil machinations of the Bush Crime Family, the polyannish hopes in the outcome of the 2004 elections, which might have reversed the current course with a Kerry victory, (no matter how flawed that rationalization) was clearly the main focus of most of us, as evidenced in the anti-war movement's protestations, demonstrations, letters to the editors, call ins on talk shows and general discussion, all focused on the white house administration and giving minimal attention to most of the Senate, apart from Kerry who voted to approve the war in the first place. I'm saying that the Senators in the Democratic Party were generally given a free pass by the anti-War movement.

But now comes the present situation and we have a number of Senators still supporting the war, despite wider public opposition, and naturally the Hillary Clinton is on board with the Bush Crime Family. And here in California we have a Senator whose home base is in San Francisco. One of the most progressive, anti-War, voting electorates in the country. The tragic assassination of Harvey Milk in the late 70's helped launch Dianne Feinstein's career from national obscurity of City Supevisor and then on to the next chain up the ladder as Mayor of San Francisco and eventually over the years, catapulting to a victory campaign election in 1992, when both Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer won decisive victories to the U.S. Senate. Generally speaking their platforms are similar, both on the issues and their voting records were reliabily pro-environment, pro-women, pro- civil rights etc, pro-education, health care - all the issues progressives are concerned about.

Most of us never felt compelled to watch too closely, paid little attention to Feinstein or Boxer's voting records, apart from an occasional glance come election time and generally felt comfortable casting our votes for each in election after election, as evidenced in the voting outcomes with each election cycle.

But this election year was different.

Senator Boxer enjoyed a much wider margin of victory compared to Feinstein's, which is likely due, I believe, to a somewhat informed electorate regarding each of their positions on the war. Boxer voted against it, Feinstein voted to approve. I think most of us were fairly informed of these differences at the time, but as the presidential election neared, and campaign underway, we were mostly focused on the white house, en masse.

It turns out the differences in vote counts Boxer earned over both Senator Kerry for President, and Diane Feinstein was rather significant in both cases. I won't go into those figures here, but I think it should have sent Feinstein a clear and resounding message regarding her position on the war, perhaps her direct ties to military and Pentagon contracts were known to the better informed. Surely, the election results should have at the minimum, given Feinstein reason to pause, and possibly recuse her self from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, based on her clear conflict of interest, details of which was reported in a few publications, including the San Francisco Chronicle, April 2003.

But it missed my radar screen until today. I'm betting that most were as unaware as myself on this matter. .

From what I can best determine, very little media attention was ever given to this story (though there were several good articles in various print media) even though the it contains a strong and compelling case, that at the minimum should be seen as a conflict of interest, and for that reason Senator Feinstein, should have been forced to resign from office or faced impeachment for war profiteering, and at the very minimum been forced to recuse her self from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Intelligence Committee and any committee related to the Pentagon, the military and foreign policy budget decisions.

Right now, it would be too hard to launch a recall election, which i would love to see, but what can be done is wide exposure of this story, exposing the fact that at the minimum, Feinstein has the appearance of having as much blood on her hands as does Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, Negroponte, Wolfevitz, et al, and which explains to a large degree, (to me) why Dianne Feinstein was to be the Ranking Democrat member introducing Condi Rice to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week.

We need to lobby the media, including Pacifica, DemocracyNow!, FSRN, Flashpoints etc, to first follow up on this story with an up to date investigation report on current profits and acquisitions and it needs to be widely reported in the mainstream asap, which shouldn't be too hard to do given the Conservative State Media that now dominates.

In the meantime, people need to pressure OTHER Senators to vote NO on Rice's confirmation as well as Alberto Gonzalez whose confirmation hearings resume on Tuesday.

At the mimimum, I ask that you please let Feinstein know how you feel (regardless of your zip code)

To those outside of the state of California, you can call your own Senators as well as Sen. Feinstein and demand that they request her to recuse her from serving on the Foreign Relations Committee for the rest of this term and also to strike her introduction remarks from the record.

Appended below Feinsteins introduction remarks are articles that were sent to me on this matter, followed with Feinstein's office numbers in California and Washington DC. Call her, Fax her, demand that she recuses he self or resigns from these committees.

With Bush's call to invade other countries such as Iran, Syria and other nations considered to be rogue nations like Venezuela etc, it is imperative that we mobilize an all out resistance to his call to arms for more war, and any senator including Dianne Feinstein, who profit from the making of war.

Critical mass is required. Please engage and get involved now.

/hlc

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http://feinstein.senate.gov/05releases/r-condirice-intro.htm

Senator Feinstein Introduces Condoleezza Rice at
Secretary of State Nomination Hearing
January 18, 2005
pdf version


Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today introduced Dr. Condoleezza Rice at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee nomination hearing for Secretary of State.

Before serving as President George W. Bush’s National Security Advisor, Dr. Rice served as Provost of Senator Feinstein’s alma mater, Stanford University, for 6 years. Dr. Rice was also a member of the National Security Council under President George H. W. Bush and a Stanford Professor of Political Science during the 1980s. Following is the prepared text of Senator Feinstein’s remarks:

"Chairman Lugar, Ranking Member Biden, and Members of the Committee, it gives me great pleasure to introduce a friend and fellow Californian, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, as the President’s nominee to be the next Secretary of State.

Dr. Rice’s story began 50 years ago with her birth in Birmingham, Alabama. A precocious child – she began piano lessons at age 3, could read by 5, and skipped the first and seventh grades. She attended public schools before enrolling at Birmingham Southern Conservatory of Music in 1964.

Her father, an educator and pastor, aptly nicknamed his only child ‘Little Star.’

Dr. Rice’s family moved to Denver, Colorado, in 1969, where she entered an integrated school for the first time as a 10th grader. Staying close to home, she opted for the University of Denver and was awarded her B.A. Degree, with honors, at the age of 19.

By this time Dr. Rice was engrossed with Soviet military issues and the related problems of arms control. She began her graduate studies on the topic at Notre Dame, and was awarded an M.A. degree in 1975. Thereafter she returned to the University of Denver to finish her dissertation on the Czech military’s effect on society.

Dr. Rice’s career as an academician then brought her to my alma mater, Stanford University, in 1981 where she was an assistant professor of political science. As an assistant professor, she wrote the book Uncertain Allegiance: The Soviet Union and Czechoslovak Army, 1948-1963 and continued to follow her great interest in football.

From 1989 to 1991, in the first Bush Administration she proved her mettle in government for the first time as a Senior Director for Soviet Affairs and East European Affairs at the National Security Council. President George H.W. Bush had this to say about her abilities: ‘Condi was brilliant … She disarms the biggest of the big shots. Why? Because they know she knows what she is talking about.’

It was then back to Stanford in the early 1990s, where she was named provost of the university. She was the first woman, first African American and the youngest person, at age 38, to hold the position in the school’s history. For six years, she managed a $1.5 billion school budget, 1,400 faculty members, and 14,000 students. Remarkably, she also continued to teach in the classroom. She valued her time with students, telling them ‘If you find yourself in the company of people who agree with you, you’re in the wrong company.’

She returned to the White House as the first African American woman to serve as National Security Advisor in January 2001.

As a young girl Condi had stood at the gates of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with her father, telling him that ‘Daddy, I’m barred out of there now because of the color my skin. But one day, I’ll be in that house.’ She delivered on the promise.

Now, she is the President’s choice to be our country’s next Secretary of State.

American foreign policy today is at a crossroads. In Iraq, across the Middle East, in North Korea, in our relations with China, and in so many other places, we face major challenges. I would submit that Dr. Rice has the skill, judgment, and poise to lead in these difficult times. If confirmed, she will have the deep, personal trust and confidence of the President. Dr. Rice has been by his side for every crucial national security decision in the last four years.

My sense is that the President trusts her implicitly. When Dr. Rice meets with Hu Jintao, or Ariel Sharon, or Vladimir Putin, there will no doubt that she speaks for and on behalf of the President.

The problems we face abroad are complex and sizable. If Dr. Rice’s past performance is any indication, though, we can rest easy. It is difficult to know ahead of time how anyone will perform as Secretary of State. Time and events test vision, facile thinking, and resolute problem solving. But this is a remarkable woman."

###

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronic...


Army contract for Feinstein's husband
Blum is a director of firm that will get up to $600 million

David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, April 22, 2003

URS Corp., a San Francisco planning and engineering firm partially owned by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband, landed an Army contract Monday worth up to $600 million.

The award to help with troop mobilization, weapons systems training and anti-terrorism efforts is the latest in a string of plum defense jobs snared by URS. In February, the firm won an army engineering and logistics contract that could bring in $3.1 billion during the next eight years.

Government contracting has come under increasing scrutiny by Congress and citizen groups, with critics decrying the political connections of firms winning lucrative jobs. Richard Blum, Feinstein's husband, serves on the company's board of directors and controls about 24 percent of the firm's stock, according to Hoover's Inc. research firm.

A Feinstein spokesman Monday declined to comment on the contract.

Blum and several URS representatives could not be reached for comment. A Pentagon spokesman said he was unfamiliar with the contract.

Announced in a company press release Monday, the contract calls for URS Corp.'s EG&G division and partner International Consultants Inc. to help with operations planning, troop mobilization, weapons system training and anti- terrorism assessment. The contract runs for five years.

"We are very pleased with this important win, which further expands our strong relationship with the Army and demonstrates our ability to provide a full spectrum of support services to ensure that our troops remain combat ready and capable of quickly mobilizing to address threats around the world," said George R. Melton, president of the EG&G division, in a press release.

URS boasts some 25,000 employees working in more than 20 countries. Although the firm has a long history of government work, it has focused more on those activities since acquiring EG&G from the Carlyle Group investment firm last year for about $500 million.

EG&G works with the military, NASA, and several federal departments, according to Hoover's. The company's areas of expertise range from designing transportation infrastructure to training people to dismantle weapons of mass destruction.

URS brought in more than $2.4 billion in revenue during 2002.

E-mail David R. Baker at dbaker@sfchronicle.com.

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Political ties common in Iraqi contract awards
HOU0000020040314e03d0000b
BUSINESS
MATT KELLEY
Associated Press
414 Words
13 March 2004
Houston Chronicle
3 STAR
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English
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON - The former employer of the Pentagon's top contracting official in Iraq shares part of $130 million in reconstruction business awarded Wednesday.

Many of the companies awarded eight management contracts have other strong Washington ties: Several are generous Republican donors, and one is partly owned by a Democratic California senator's husband.

The Parsons Brinkerhoff construction company was one of two companies picked to share a $43.4 million contract to help manage reconstruction of Iraq's electricity grid. Retired Navy Rear Adm. David Nash, director of the program management office for the Pentagon in Baghdad, is a former president of a Parsons Brinkerhoff subsidiary.

The company also has Republican connections. It gave $90,000 to various Republican Party committees in the past five years, and $8,500 to similar Democratic groups.

"It's hard to find a major company in America anymore that doesn't have political connections," said Danielle Brian, head of the independent watchdog group Project on Government Oversight. "Federal contracting has become political."

Defense Department officials say neither Nash's connections nor politics had anything to do with the contract award, and all eight awards were chosen through open competition.

Army Lt. Col. Joe Yoswa, a Pentagon spokesman, said Nash does not have any authority to award contracts. A Parsons spokesman declined comment.

Contracts were awarded this week in the shadow of previous controversy over Iraq reconstruction work given to Vice President Dick Cheney's former firm, Houston-based Halliburton.

Republicans aren't the only ones with ties to Iraq contractors. URS Group, partly owned by Richard C. Blum, the husband of Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, was part of a two- company team that won $27.7 million in Iraq business Wednesday.

The Defense Department also announced two new reconstruction contracts worth $1.1 billion Thursday night.

A $500 million contract to design and build electricity facilities went to a partnership of construction companies Fluor Corp. and AMEC. A $600 million contract to build drinking water systems went to a partnership of construction companies Washington Group International and Black & Veatch.

Fluor gave $48,000 to Republican committees in the past five years and $4,500 to Democrats. A Fluor vice president, Kenneth Oscar, joined the firm in 2002 after spending 20 years as a contracting official at the Pentagon.

Mug: David Nash once ran a subsidiary of a company awarded an Iraq contract.


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AL General

AT The Pentagon connections; Congress should examine how Iraq contracts

are

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CT Sarasota Herald Tribune

DP March 18, 2004 pA16

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Source: Sarasota Herald Tribune, March 18, 2004 pA16.


Title: The Pentagon connections; Congress should examine how Iraq

contracts are awarded.(A SECTION)(Editorial)


Electronic Collection: CJ114381159

RN: CJ114381159


Full Text COPYRIGHT 2004 Sarasota Herald-Tribune

The Pentagon awarded $1.1 billion in contracts last week to companies that will help rebuild Iraq. Congress should take a close look at why those companies were chosen.

For example, a company partially owned by the husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., will share in a $27.7 million contract to manage repairs of courthouses, hospitals and communications systems, The Associated Press reported.

Pentagon officials say there is no relevancy to the fact that Richard C. Blum,

part-owner of URS Group Inc., is married to Feinstein. They say politics plays no role when contracts are awarded.

What the Pentagon wants, officials say, are companies that have management expertise, that are likely to finish the job and that submit reasonable prices. A bid process is sometimes used, but the low bidder doesn't necessarily get the contract.

Because Pentagon officials have such wide latitude, the contract process cries

out for congressional oversight.

That scrutiny should include a $43.4 million contract with the Parsons Brinkerhoff construction company, which will manage reconstruction of Iraq's electricity grid. A former president of a company subsidiary is Retired Navy Rear Adm. David Nash. He is in Baghdad directing the Pentagon's program management office. The Pentagon says there's no connection between Nash and his old company's new contract.

Various Republican Party committees have received $90,000 in contributions from Parsons Brinkerhoff in the past five years, according to The AP, which reported that other generous donors to the party are also among the recipients of the eight contracts awarded last week.

The Army, meanwhile, wisely decided to cancel a $327 million contract to provide uniforms to Iraq's new army after two companies said the bid process was confusing.

The Pentagon had awarded the contract to Nour USA, a Virginia company whose president, A. Houda Farouki, is a friend of Ahmed Chalabi. Chalabi is a member of the Iraqi Governing Council.

Before the war, Chalabi reportedly provided much of the Iraqi intelligence that the Bush administration relied on in claiming that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein continued to possess weapons of mass destruction. Although no such weapons have been found in Iraq, the Pentagon continues to pay Chalabi's group $340,000 a month, according to a March 7 report on the CBS News program "60 Minutes."

Congress should also stick its nose into that very smelly contract.


-- End --

===========================================

(several more articles omitted)


=====================================================================

Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
One Post Street, Suite 2450
San Francisco, CA 94104
Or call (415) 393-0707
Fax (415) 393-0710

SAN FRANCISCO
Jim Molinari, State Director
One Post Street, Suite 2450
San Francisco, CA 94104
415/393-0707
TTY/TDD: 415/249-4785

Washington office:

Phone: (202) 224-3841
Fax: (202) 228-3954
TTY/TDD: (202) 224-2501

LOS ANGELES
Guillermo Gonzalez, Deputy State Director
11111 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 915
Los Angeles, CA 90025
310/914-7300

SAN DIEGO
James Peterson, District Director
750 "B" Street, Suite 1030
San Diego, CA 92101
619/231-9712

FRESNO
Shelly Abajian
1130 "O" Street, Suite 2446
Fresno, CA 93721
559/485-7430

============================================================

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!" - Mario Savio - 1964

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Copyright 2004 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
The San Francisco Chronicle

MARCH 13, 2004, SATURDAY, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. C1

LENGTH: 360 words

HEADLINE: Iraq deal awarded to Blum venture;

Feinstein's spouse owns stake in firm fixing energy grid

SOURCE: Chronicle Staff Writer

BYLINE: David R. Baker

BODY:
Perini Corp., a Massachusetts construction company partially owned by
The investment firm of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband, landed a $500 million contract Friday to repair southern Iraq's electricity grid.

Perini is one of several American firms mobilized to restore Iraq's
electricity under a series of contracts issued by the Pentagon this
week. On Friday, Washington Group International won a $500 million contract to restore power in northern Iraq.

The Pentagon is selecting firms to perform $5 billion of
Reconstruction work, including repairs to damaged hospitals, courthouses and water systems.

Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum, controls about 24 percent of
Perini shares through his investment firm, Blum Capital Partners. Another of Blum's investments, the San Francisco engineering firm URS Corp., is part of a joint venture that won $27.7 million in Iraq reconstruction work earlier this week.

A spokesman for Blum Capital Partners said the investment firm
plans to reduce its stake in Perini to less than 14 percent. Blum had no hand in Perini winning the new Iraq contract, said spokesman Owen Blicksilver.

“He's an investor," Blicksilver said. "He has no say in any of this
stuff."

Perini Chief Executive Officer Robert Band agreed. "I'm not
knowledgeable of any efforts he's made on the company's behalf," Band said, "and that's the way it should be."

Perini, based in Framingham, Mass., has been patching together
power lines in southern Iraq since September, operating under a separate contract from the Army Corps of Engineers. The firm has replaced towers and cable on 250 miles of transmission line, Band said, working with a crew that includes Iraqi, Turkish and Indian subcontractors.

The new contract will focus on power transmission equipment, rather
than on ailing power plants. San Francisco's Bechtel Corp., which did not bid on the new contract, has been working on several southern Iraq power plants since last summer.

"This is exactly what we're doing right now," Band said. "This is a
natural follow-on to our existing work."E-mail David R. Baker at
dbaker@sfchronicle.com.

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Copyright 2004 The Chronicle Publishing Co.
The San Francisco Chronicle

MARCH 12, 2004, FRIDAY, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. C1

LENGTH: 578 words

HEADLINE: S.F. firm awarded contract in Iraq;

Well-connected URS to oversee reconstruction

SOURCE: Chronicle Staff Writer

BYLINE: David R. Baker

BODY:

The Pentagon has begun doling out $5 billion in new contracts to rebuild Iraq, and a San Francisco firm partially owned by Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband has
landed some of the cash.

URS Corp. will oversee repairs to Iraq's communications system, hospitals and courthouses under contracts worth a total of $27.7 million. The contracts were awarded late Wednesday to a joint venture of URS and the Louis Berger Group of New Jersey.

URS and Berger won't make the repairs themselves. Rather, they'll serve as management, making sure the work runs smoothly and stays on budget. Other firms will do the actual labor.

The Pentagon also awarded the first two of 10 big construction contracts late Thursday, with eight more expected soon.

Orange County's Fluor Corp. and British construction firm Amec together won a $500 million contract for repairs to Iraq's rickety electrical system.

Washington Group International, based in Idaho, and Black & Veatch of Kansas will restore water supply systems, a job worth up to $600 million.

URS won't oversee those two contracts.

Both construction projects awarded Thursday will follow water and power repairs already made by San Francisco's Bechtel Corp., which holds Iraq reconstruction contracts worth almost $3 billion. A Bechtel spokeswoman said the
company had not sought either contract awarded Thursday.

Coming in the midst of congressional criticism examining the first round of reconstruction work, the new awards did little to quell complaints that well-connected firms have received plum jobs.

A $43 million contract to oversee electrical repairs went to a joint venture that includes Parsons Brinkerhoff, which once employed the man now in charge of project management for the coalition running Iraq -- retired Navy Rear Admiral
David Nash.

Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum, controls about 20 percent of URS shares through his investment firm, Blum Capital Partners. Although connected to the one of Washington's leading Democrats, the company has also donated more than $10,700 to President Bush's re-election campaign and $3,800 to Democratic candidates, according to Center for Responsive Politics.

A URS representative did not return calls for comment Thursday. A Pentagon spokesman, however, said that political connections were not part of any of contract awards, which were based instead on cost and the ability of
Each company to do the work.

"Politics is not an evaluation criterion," said Army Maj. Gary Tallman.

Feinstein spokesman Howard Gantman said the California Democrat was not involved in URS winning its contracts.

"Sen. Feinstein played no role in that," he said.

Much of URS' business is tied to military spending. A division of URS, for example, won a $163 million contract on Wednesday from the U.S. Navy for engineering services.

Many of the companies winning new work in Iraq are already there.
Fluor, for example, started restoring electrical power in Baghdad in September. Before Thursday's award, the company had about $600 million in Iraq reconstruction jobs.

"Certainly, the past six months have allowed us to get a more intimate knowledge of the people and the resources that exist there and the challenges we face," said Fluor spokesman Jerry Holloway. "We'll be able to move more
quickly on this than we would if we weren't coming in with that

experience."E-mail David
R. Baker at dbaker@sfchronicle.com.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Richard Blum

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HEADLINE: PROFILE;

Richard Blum;

The man behind URS, next to Sen. Feinstein

SOURCE: Chronicle Staff Writer

BYLINE: Tom Abate

BODY:
San Francisco financier Richard Blum, who first invested in URS in
1975, may be the man who has everything, except perhaps, his privacy.

Thrust into the public eye by virtue of his 1980 marriage to then-mayor and now Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Blum over time has become leery of media
attention, which often comes coupled with questions about potential conflicts of interest.

As a result, the collective memory has all but forgotten the colorful
history and eclectic interests of the 67-year-old Blum.

Born the son of a clothing salesman who died of cancer when he was 10, Blum graduated from San Francisco's public schools to UC Berkeley, where he earned his MBA -- after taking a one-year detour to study philosophy at the University of Vienna.

At 23, he went to work at the San Francisco brokerage firm Sutro &
Co., where he became a partner before age 30. While still at Sutro, Blum proved that he had an eye for fixer-upper properties when he led a partnership that acquired the struggling Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for $8 million – then sold it to Mattel Inc. four years later for $40 million.

With that deal to burnish his reputation, Blum struck out on his
own in 1975, forming what is now called Blum Capital Partners. The San
Francisco firm raises money from pension funds, foundations, insurance companies and wealthy individuals, and buys stakes in undervalued companies with the expectation of selling them at a profit. With about $4.5 billion under management, Blum Capital holds positions in some 20 companies, including credit reporting firm Fair Isaac and real estate giant CB Richard Ellis.

According to spokesman Owen Blicksilver, Blum's 1975 investment in URS was one of his first forays as the head of his own firm. Blicksilver said Blum first invested in URS to help it fend off a hostile takeover. He increased his stake in the firm during the late 1980s, when he helped bail it out at a time when the company was rocked by an accounting scandal.

Blum's net worth isn't known. His spokesman insists "he's not a
billionaire. " But, thanks to his penchant for money making, the San Francisco financier has been free to cultivate nonbusiness interests, notably politics, mountain climbing and Tibetan Buddhism.

In the 1970s, Blum supported then-Mayor George Moscone. After
Moscone's assassination, he befriended new mayor and rising political star Dianne Feinstein. Local media followed every turn in their developing relationship.

News photographers memorialized the day in 1980 when Blum and Feinstein
Plunked down $10 for a marriage license. Reporters doted on Blum's interest in Buddhism.

In 1981, Blum organized the first modern expedition to scale the
east face of Mount Everest. He filed dispatches on the expedition to the San Francisco Examiner. In these articles, he explained how a goodwill visit to China by Feinstein in 1979 won him the ear of the Chinese authorities, who ultimately granted him access to the long-forbidden slope.

"We had come to build goodwill, promote trade and to make new
friends," Blum wrote in one story, adding, "but I asked for and received permission to have another kind of meeting -- one with the Chinese Mountaineering Association."

Over the years, however, as Blum and Feinstein have grown in their
respective spheres of business and politics, critics have periodically
wondered whether one or the other member of this power couple had unduly used their money or influence to benefit the other.

Such questions have surfaced again in the wake of the $600 million
Military contract won by EG&G Technical Services, a new division that URS purchased in 2002 from the well-connected Washington, D.C., investment firm the Carlyle Group.

Carlyle is a $14 billion buyout firm whose associates and advisers
Include former President George Bush, former British Prime Minister John Major and former Securities and Exchange Commissioner Arthur Levitt. As part of EG&G's sale price, Carlyle acquired a 21.74 percent stake in URS – second only to the 23.7 percent of shares controlled by Blum Capital.

Anti-war leader Bill Hackwell, a spokesman for the Answer Coalition, said he hates to see politically connected firms like URS win big defense contracts at a time when budgets for schools, health care, housing and other domestic programs are shrinking.

"We regular people don't have any say in all of this, whether the
contracts are bid out or not," Hackwell said, adding that the "the whole military industrial complex is becoming enmeshed with the government."

Bruce Cain, director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC
Berkeley, said such amorphous conflict-of-interest allegations are
Increasingly becoming part of the political discourse. He drew a distinction between vague concerns about people who seem to have too many powerful friends and situations in which officials make a decision beneficial to someone they know.

"We use the law to protect against the second category and
elections to judge the wisdom of the first," he said.

Blicksilver rejected any suggestion of a direct conflict in the
case of URS' defense contract. He said that although Blum sits on the URS board, he has no day-to-day role in running the firm, arranging its mergers or soliciting contracts. "Mr. Blum and Sen. Feinstein have never had any discussions about outsourcing, government contracts or URS," Blicksilver said.

Feinstein spokesman Howard Gantman ridiculed a reporter's question
About whether it might be a conflict that the senator voted for a bill that urged federal departments to outsource civil service jobs to contract employees. He noted that the bill that set the outsourcing trend in motion had passed the Senate by unanimous consent and been signed by former President Bill Clinton and was now being implemented by the Bush administration.

"To imply that both administrations and 100 senators are doing this
to help any individual companies is patently absurd," he said.E-mail Tom Abate at
tabate@sfchronicle.com.

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, Richard Blum, husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, stands
Among Nepalese prayer stones and flags at his San Francisco office.

LOAD-DATE: May 11, 2003

No democrat voted for her to kiss Condi's ass or rubber stamp W's war.

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