Senator Feinstein's War-Profiteering
Bush had already made a huge sum of money from the war he had waged upon Iraq,what a shame!
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Perini Corporation
73 Mt. Wayte Avenue
Framingham, MA 01701
Phone: (508) 628-2000
Fax: (508) 628-2821
http://www.perini.com
Founded more than a century ago in Massachusetts as a civil infrastructure contractor, Perini is known today for its hospitality and gaming industry projects, and for its corrections, health care, sports, entertainment and educational expertise. It is the largest casino and hotel builder in the United States. It also builds hospitals, prisons and public buildings. In addition, Perini is a major player in civil infrastructure construction, working on everything from bridges and highways to subways and airports.
Chairman and CEO Ronald Tutor and billionaire investor Richard Blum, who together own investment groups that hold 75 percent of Perini's voting stock, control the company. Blum is the husband of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
In addition to Perini, Tutor and Blum conduct a great deal of business through another company called Tutor-Saliba. Among that company's largest projects is the Los Angeles subway system.
Iraq contracts
In April 2003, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Transatlantic Programs Center awarded a contract to Perini worth as much as $500 million to provide goods and services to the U.S. Central Command. Washington Group International and Fluor Intercontinental were awarded similar contracts. The indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract has a performance period of one year. The IDIQ contract allows the Corps of Engineers to call upon the contracted companies to rapidly execute design and construction services as needed anywhere in CENTCOM's area of operations to support military operations, other U.S. government agencies, or friendly foreign governments under established agreements. The area of operations encompasses 25 nations from the Horn of Africa into central Asia, including Afghanistan and Iraq. No specific work or location for work to be performed has been identified to date.
In late September 2003, the Army Corps of Engineers issued additional task orders totaling $278 million on the three individual contracts and the Corps decided to raise the contract ceiling from $100 million to $500 million.
Perini will repair electrical infrastructure in southern Iraq, while Fluor and Washington Group International will perform similar work in central and northern Iraq.
Afghanistan contracts
In March 2003, Perini was awarded a contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Transatlantic Programs Center, for the design and construction of facilities to support the First Brigade of the Afghan National Army, located near Kabul.
Perini is the prime contractor for this $25 million, fast-track project, providing overall program management, design management, construction management and supervision, and quality control. The Perini team includes Tetra Tech, Azad Architects, and POWER Engineers.
The project consists of three phases, with occupancy of some facilities to begin in May 2003 and a final completion date of August 2003. It is unclear if the work has been completed. The facilities consist of barracks, dining facilities, a power plant, a water treatment facility and a wastewater treatment plant. Construction was started on January 19, 2003.
On April 4, 2003, the Army Corps of Engineers' Transatlantic Programs Center announced that it had awarded three contracts "to rapidly execute design and construction services as needed anywhere" in the area of operations for the U.S. military's Central Command (CENTCOM). The one-year contracts, awarded to Fluor Intercontinental, Perini Corporation and Washington Group International, are indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (ID/IQ) contracts with a guaranteed minimum value of $500,000 and a maximum of $100 million. However, in late September 2003, the Army Corps of Engineers issued additional task orders totaling $278 million on the three contracts and the Corps decided to raise the contract ceiling from $100 million to $500 million.
According to the Pentagon: Perini, alongside Fluor Intercontinental and Washington Group International, will remove and rebuild damaged roads and replace a destroyed bridge in Afghanistan as part of their individual IDIQ contracts to support CENTCOM.
Government ties
Principal shareholder Richard Blum, who co-owns 75 percent of Perini's voting shares, is the husband of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California who serves on the Appropriations Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence.
Legal Action/Investigations
Perini entered into a contract worth roughly $41 million with the City of New York to upgrade and expand the structures and equipment at the Coney Island Water Pollution Plant. During performance of the contract, the city issued several change orders that increased the time required to complete the contract and caused Perini to incur extra costs. Perini notified the city that it had incurred or would incur damages as a result of the change orders. Perini and the city were unable to resolve the issue, so Perini sued. The federal courts ultimately ruled in the city's favor.
Updates
As of May 20, 2004
On March 12, 2004, the Program Management Office awarded Perini a contract with a ceiling of $500,000,000 for "electrical power distribution and transmission" in the southern region of Iraq.
—Bob Williams
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Senator Feinstein's War-Profiteering
Brick Burner
Enabling Bush
It happens all the time. If the antiwar movement takes on the Democrats for their bitter shortcomings a few liberals are bound to criticize us for not hounding Bush instead. It doesn’t even have to be an election year to get the progressives fired up. They just don’t seem to get it. “How can you attack the Democrats when we have such a bullet-proof administration ruling the roost in Washington,” somebody recently emailed me, “Don’t you have something better to do than write this trash?!”
Well, not really. It’s too cold in upstate New York right now to do anything other than fume over the liberal villains in Washington. “Why do I write about the putrid Democratic Party?” I responded, “I’ll tell you, there’s a reason this Republican administration is so damn bullet proof -- nobody from the opposition party is taking aim and pulling the trigger.”
And that’s why the Dems are just as culpable in all that has transpired since Bush took office in 2000. They aren’t just a part of the problem -- the Democrats are the problem.
I mean, who is really all that surprised Bush and his boys wanted to conquer the Middle East, curtail civil liberties and rampage the environment? Not me. That’s just what unreasonable neo-cons do: they stomp out the little guy, kill off the weak and suffocate the voiceless. They only care about the girth of their wallets and the number of scalps they can tack above their mantles.
The Democrats aren’t just letting the Republicans get away with murder, however, some of them are also reaping the benefits of the Bush wars. We constantly hear about Dick Cheney’s ties to Halliburton and how his ex-company is making bundles off US contracts in Iraq. But what we don’t hear about is how Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein and her husband are also making tons of money off the “war on terror”.
The wishy-washy senator now claims Bush misled her leading up to the invasion of Iraq. I don’t think she’s being honest with us though, there may have been other reasons she helped sell Bush’s lies. According to The Center for Public Integrity, Senator Feinstein’s husband Richard Blum has racked in millions of dollars from Perini, a civil infrastructure construction company, of which the billionaire investor wheels 75 percent of the voting share.
In April 2003 the US Army Corps of Engineers dived out $500 million to Perini to provide services for Iraq’s central command. A month earlier in March 2003, Perini was awarded $25 million to design and construct a facility to support the Afghan National Army near Kabul. And in March 2004, Perini was awarded a hefty contract worth up to $500 million for "electrical power distribution and transmission" in the southern Iraq.
Senator Feinstein, who sits on the Appropriations Committee as well as the Select Committee on Intelligence, is reaping the benefits of her husband’s investments. The Democratic royal family recently purchased a 16.5 million dollar mansion in the flush Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. It’s a disgusting display of war profiteering and the leading Democrat, just like Cheney, should be called out for her offense.
And that’s exactly why the Bush administration is so darn bullet-proof. The Democratic leadership in Washington is just as crooked and just as callous.
--Joshua Frank