MoveOn joins the movement to censure Sen. Feinstein
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The call for the California Democratic Party to censure Senator Dianne Feinstein has grown exponentially over the past few days and a huge log was just thrown on the fire. MoveOn.org just sent an email to all of their California members urging them to sign on to the call for censure over at Courage Campaign.They are now one of 19 grassroots organizations in California who have signed on to the call since Monday. That is absolutely amazing considering how long it takes many Democratic Clubs to pass resolutions given their high barriers for endorsement.
The response by the party structure and the Senator have been well documented here by dday and hekebolos. Needless to say, we stirred up one heck of a hornet's nest and it really could not have been done without you.
Below is the email we just sent out to our list and MoveOn's email. As the email says, join the movement. Hold Senator Feinstein accountable.
Dear juls,
This is the moment. This is the movement. And this is just the beginning.
This is the moment when tens of thousands of you express your profound disappointment in Senator Dianne Feinstein for voting with President Bush on the most important issues of our time.
This is the movement for accountability, a people-powered coalition of grassroots, netroots, and Courage Campaign supporters standing together to protect the core progressive principles that make America unique.
And now MoveOn.org is standing up for these fundamental values as well. Show them your support now by joining the movement to censure Senator Feinstein:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/MoveOn
Today, MoveOn is joining you in calling on the California Democratic Party to approve a resolution that censures the Senator. You can read MoveOn's reasons for supporting the censure of Senator Feinstein below in an email message sent to their members today.
As MoveOn says in its message, "let's send Senator Dianne Feinstein a message she can't ignore."
However, time is running out to send that message, with this weekend's California Democratic Party Executive Board meeting in Anaheim fast approaching.
Please join the progressive organizations and Democratic clubs (click the link below to read a full list) driving this movement for accountability by signing your name in support of censuring the Senator:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/MoveOn
Rest assured that no matter what happens this weekend you can count on the Courage Campaign to continue to hold Senator Feinstein accountable as long as she fails to defend the core principles of her own party and country.
And, remember, this is just the beginning. Whether it is killing Republican dirty tricks, blocking Blackwater's base on the California border, or holding Senator Feinstein accountable, the Courage Campaign is committed to people-powered political action that -- as Democracy for America's Jim Dean says so often -- builds a culture of activism, not a culture of incumbency.
Please join this movement today. The grassroots, the netroots, the Courage Campaign and Move.org need your support:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/MoveOn
Please also take a minute to read MoveOn's message in full below. It captures this historic moment -- and the movement you are building -- amazingly well.
Rick Jacobs
Chair
Courage Campaign
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From: Wes Boyd, MoveOn.org Political Action
Date: Nov 15, 2007 11:12 AM
Subject: Send Senator Feinstein a Message
To: Rick Jacobs
Dear fellow Californian,
Last week, every member of the Senate had a chance to take a stand against torture. Most Democrats did--they opposed the nomination of Michael Mukasey for Attorney General because he left the door open to torture. He wouldn't, for example, say whether water-boarding--an interrogation technique that simulates drowning--constituted torture.
But Senator Feinstein wasn't with the majority of Democrats--she actually cast a pivotal vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee to confirm him.
And that's not all. In recent months, Senator Feinstein backed the president on issues ranging from right-wing judges to immunity for phone companies that broke the law.
Now, California Democrats--led by our friends at the Courage Campaign--are seriously organizing to get her attention. They've launched a grassroots campaign to ask the California Democratic Party to officially censure Senator Feinstein when its executive board meets this weekend.
We only have a few days before the meeting, so it's important to make our voices heard right now. Can you sign the Courage Campaign's petition asking the California Democratic Party to censure Senator Feinstein? Click here to sign:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/moveon
Only 29% of Californians--and just 9% of California Democrats--approve of the president, but Senator Feinstein has sided with him on key issues.
- On Torture: Senator Feinstein recommended Michael Mukasey for Attorney General, despite his refusal to call the practice of water-boarding "torture."1
- On Judges: Senator Feinstein was the deciding vote to confirm Judge Leslie Southwick,2 even though Southwick had ruled that a white employee couldn't be fired for using a demeaning and offensive racial slur towards an African-American co-worker. Southwick also took custody of an eight-year-old girl away from her mother, because the mother was living with another woman in a "lesbian home."3
- On Wiretapping: Now Senator Feinstein says she is going to support immunity for phone companies that helped the Bush administration illegally spy on the phone calls and emails of innocent Americans.4
When Senator Feinstein sides with President Bush and the Republicans on key issues like these, she not only goes against what a majority of her constituents want--she gives cover to other weak Democrats, too. This means it's even harder for Congress to make progress on the critical issues that so many voters care about.
Senator Feinstein isn't up for election again until 2012, but we can't afford another 5 years of this. She needs to hear from Californians that she needs to start siding with them--not George Bush.
A censure from the California Democratic Party is the strongest way to send that message.
Can you add your name to the Courage Campaign's petition asking the California Democratic Party to censure Senator Feinstein? Click here to sign:
http://www.couragecampaign.org/moveon
Let's send Senator Dianne Feinstein a message she can't ignore.
Thanks for all you do,
-Wes, Ilyse, Joan, Carrie, Tanya, Marika and the whole MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Thursday, November 15th, 2007
Sources:
1. "Bush Nominee Wins Key Democratic Support," NPR, November 3, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3164&id=&t=3
2. "Feinstein to support attorney general nomination," San Francisco Chronicle, November 3, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3165&id=&t=4
3. "Senators Should Reject Bush's Latest Nominee to 5th Circuit," People for the American Way, May 30, 2007
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=24117
4. "Feinstein backs legal immunity for telecom firms in wiretap cases," San Francisco Chronicle, November 9, 2007
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3166&id=&t=5
note: I changed the links so they are not the tracking ones used by MoveOn.
Feinstein has let greed take over and has become a morally bankrupt Republican. She must be stopped!
Read on ...
Link
http://www.metroactive.com/fei nstein/
Link
From Wikipedia:
Corruption scandals and accusations
Between 2001 and 2006[28], Diane Feinstein served as the ranking member of the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies, also known as the "MILCON" subcommittee. Feinstein also served as chair of the MILCON subcommittee when the Democrats controlled the Senate in 2001 and 2002.
While on the MILCON subcommitte, Feinstein voted for appropriations worth billions of dollars to firms owned by her husband, Richard C. Blum.[5] This included millions of dollars in contracts awarded to Blum's Perini Corporation to provide goods and services in Iraq and Afghanistan.[29]
As the ranking Democratic, Feinstein would have again become chair of the MILCON subcommittee when the Democratically controlled Senate of the 110th Congress was sworn in on January 4, 2007. However, Feinstein resigned from the subcommittee prior to the new congressional term, forfeiting chairmanship of the MILCON subcommittee to Tim Johnson.[30] Metro Newspapers reported that Feinstein's resignation was attributable to a series of articles, partially funded by the progressive Nation Institute, exposing the potential conflict of interest posed by Feinstein's voting to award contracts to her husband's firms.[31] [32]
In April 2007, Feinstein's office denied any ethical conflict,[33] however, the director of the Project on Government Oversight who has examined evidence assembled by investigative reporter Peter Byrne stated that “the paper trail showing Senator Feinstein’s conflict of interest is irrefutable.”[34][35]
Additional scandal arose when it was revealed that members of Feinstein's Senate staff attempted to purge references to these alleged conflicts of interest from the Wikipedia articles on herself and her husband.[36][37]
Additionally, in 1990, Senator Feinstein failed to disclose that her husband had guaranteed her 1990 campaign loans, which resulted in a US$190,000 fine.[38] This information was also initially deleted from Wikipedia by a Feinstein staffer in 2006.[39][37]
I think that in addition to the censure motion, there should be a criminal investigation into her activities on the MILCON committee.