1.Lawmakers Heavily Invested in
Defense
By ANNE FLAHERTY ,03 april
2008
Associated Press Writer
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CONGRESS_DEFENSE_INVESTMENTS?SITE=SCAND&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Members of Congress have as much as
$196 million collectively invested in companies doing business with
the Defense Department, earning millions since the onset of the
Iraq war, according to a study by a nonpartisan research group.
Not all the companies in which lawmakers invested are
typical defense contractors. Corporations such as PepsiCo, IBM,
Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson have at one point received
defense-related contracts, notes the report by the Washington-based
Center for Responsive Politics.
The center's review of lawmakers' 2006 financial
disclosure statements suggests that members' holdings could pose a
conflict of interest as they decide the fate of Iraq war spending.
Several members earning money from these contractors have plum
committee or leadership assignments, including Democratic Sen. John
Kerry, independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman and House Republican Whip
Roy Blunt.
The study found that more Republicans than Democrats
hold stock in defense companies, but that the Democrats who are
invested had significantly more money at stake. In 2006, for
example, Democrats held at least $3.7 million in military-related
investments, compared to Republican investments of $577,500.
Overall, 151 members hold investments worth $78.7
million to $195.5 million in companies that receive defense
contracts that are worth at least $5 million. These investments
earned them anywhere between $15.8 million and $62 million between
2004 and 2006, the center concludes......end of quote
2.Case study:
http://www.metroactive.com/feinstein/
As a member of the Military Construction Appropriations
subcommittee, Sen. Feinstein voted for appropriations worth
billions to her husband's firms
By Peter Byrne
In the November 2006 election, the voters
demanded congressional ethics reform. And so, the newly appointed
chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.,
is now duly in charge of regulating the ethical behavior of her
colleagues. But for many years, Feinstein has been beset by her own
ethical conflict of interest, say congressional ethics experts.
As chairperson and ranking member of the
Military Construction Appropriations subcommittee (MILCON) from
2001 through the end of 2005, Feinstein supervised the
appropriation of billions of dollars a year for specific military
construction projects. Two defense contractors whose interests were
largely controlled by her husband, financier Richard C.
Blum, benefited from decisions made by Feinstein as leader of
this powerful subcommittee...
From 2001 to 2005, URS earned $792 million from military
construction and environmental cleanup projects approved by MILCON;
Perini earned $759 million from such MILCON projects....And she is
wealthy. In 2005, Roll Call calculated Feinstein's wealth,
including Blum's assets, at $40 million, up 25 percent from the
year before. That made her the ninth wealthiest member of Congress.
Feinstein's latest Public Financial Disclosure Report shows that in
2005 her family earned income of between $500,000 and $5 million
from capital gains on URS and Perini stock combined.
3. Questions:
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We are human being,not computers.Our decision will be
affected
by our interest/benefits.
Many of u shall read how US so eager to 'create' and
'prolong'
undeclared wars since WW2.
Neither US law makers pass law to declare war on Vietnam.
nor Iraq,etc.Yet ,billions of $$ were spents and many US
service men killed in the undeclared or unauthorized wars.
after reading the followings,i know why the law makers
so INTERESTED in wars.----Answer:with lot of
interest!!
How to reduce possible conflict of intetrests?
Any mechanisms to safeguard US national interest,iso of
lawmakers'
interest?
Has the official records show all the lawmakers direct and
indirect
interest in defense industries?
do u think without proper and strong
regulations,the lawmakers can:
''He
has a 24-year Senate record of working and voting in the best
interests of our men and women in the military, not of any defense contractors," Wade
said.......
Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and a member of the
Armed Services Committee, held a considerably smaller share at
$51,000. A spokesman said the senator, who supports continued
operations in Iraq, is "careful to make his policy decisions based
only on what is best for the
country."
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