Sen. Diane Feinstein’s husband wins CA rail contract
April 26, 2013
By Katy Grimes
U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein’s husband Richard Blum, won the first phase construction contract for California’s high-speed rail.
I’m shocked, shocked I tell you.
If I didn’t witness the insanity and corruption in politics every day, I wouldn’t have believed this.
“The Perini-Zachary-Parsons bid was the lowest received from the five consortia participating in the bidding process, but “low” is a relative term,” the Laer Pearce, author of Crazifornia wrote. “The firms bid $985,142,530 to build the wildly anticipated first section of high speed rail track that will tie the megopolis of Madera to the global finance center of Fresno. Do the division, and you find that the low bid came in at a mere $35 million per mile.”
“As this fiasco progress, remember that this $35 million per mile represents the best California can do on the section of track the High on Crack Speed Rail Authority selected to go first because it will be the cheapest,” Pearce said.
Read Pearce’s story here. And stop staring dumfounded at the computer screen. Yes, this is true.
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I’m sure the 80 somethings think that they can take it with them when they pass on. Why isn’t there a mandatory retirement age in the U.S. government. I know retirement, and I highly recommend it to Richard and Diane. ha!
So glad I will not be alive when the fiasco is “completed”. The Feinstein’s won’t be either.
It never will be completed and the concrete overpasses will serve as gravestone markers of the Democrat party in California.
sadly you are probably right, but as long it is a money maker for some people with a lot of influence it will continue
The giant support pillars that will likely go unused already have a derisive nickname. Wags are calling them “Trainhenge.”
I think they should have to retire too. There should also be a MAXIMUM AGE for running for federal office…i don’t care if the states want to elect centenarians. Maybe there could be an ADVISORY position that can go to Washington to advise…but not vote on our laws.
Corrupt UAS
This just makes me sick
Oh God…….Katy……….you are trying to kill me this morning, aren’t you?!!!
What happens when you add Sacto to DC = Ultimate corruption.
Conflicts of interest are standard operating procedures for the dEMOS.
And I imagine Ron Pelosi is going to do the solar, huh?
It figures that Diane Frankenstein would find some way to make herself richer on the backs of the Californian tax payers. She and all the others need to get out of office and never be allowed back in office. Not even for dog catcher. Term limits for all politicians and no returning after you have served your term. GET OUT AND STAY OUT.
No she should be inside the dog pound in one of the kennels for the rest of her natural life and eating dog food
Term limits wrote change ANYTHING. Nothing is going to get rid of the corruption and greed until Citizens United is overruled. PERIOD. It should be every Americans number one priority, because until it’s gone we won’t ever get officials who represent US. Too much dark money is needed to be elected, so every new official enters office beholden to the money men…before starting ask over again.
This has nothing to do with Citizens United. I would agree to that if you agreed to banning all union money.
Yeah, they torched the town of Paradise because it is where the tracks will run for the train. They don’t care about people; they are eaten with greed. Sick people!!
Has your brain melted? The town of Paradise is hundreds of miles from any planned rail line.
And Florida thinks it has sinkholes…
Hahahah, listen to all you HATERS!!!!! I’m totally ok with her husband getting the contract. The only problem is I never go for the low bid but I understand the need for them to be fiscally responsible. I have friends and neighbors who are private sector business owners that get all kinds of gov’t contracts, it just comes down to who you know and how many laker tics you give them!!!! I see you people only have a problem cause its feinsteins husband!!! Lol, This made my day….Work union,live better!!!!!!!!!!
I would bet anything that there will be at least 5% overage which will also be thrown into this cesspool. So the unions will strike-slow down, and DiFi’s husband will profit even more…….maybe congress and the t….Rump will defund this disgrace. Our rusty state is so left now, it is nearing the cliff of unretrievable sanity.
You are a self serving idiot
You are a self serving idiot NTheoc
It’s called CORRUPTION, how old are you? Do you pay taxes? Because your comment Is lunacy!
Of course, in completely unrelated news …
LA Times: “Bullet train bid rules altered: Changes allowed Tutor Perini to rank as the top firm despite a low technical score.”
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/19/local/la-me-high-speed-bidding-20130419
But never fear, fellow Californian taxpayers, our government is performing perfectly normally. Crony capitalism at its best.
$35 million per mile? If only. 450 miles of track = < $16 B.
Howabout CalTrans $1 BILLION to add carpool lanes to the 405 over Sepulveda Pass.
OOOOPS…… I mean $1.1 billion ($100 M in cost overuns)
and the finish date has been pushed back an entire year.
Saddest thing: I bet 75% of California voters do not have a clear understanding of the difference between a MILLION and a BILLION.
Nevermind the voters, for God’s sake, don’t tell the politicians in Sacramento what comes after “trillion”…
They’re talking about the first leg, which is between Fresno and Madera. These two cities are only 25 or so miles. Fresno, while not the size of LA or San Francisco, is a large city–larger than Sacramento. Madera, however, is quite small.
I dont know where you hot your facts from but sacramento is a larger city than fresno
Flamingo….she “hot” her facts correctly. Fresno is larger than Sacramento – 530,073 vs. 508,517 as of when you shot your mouth off.
A lot of this money is supplied by the Feds. The reason California is doing this so they can turn them into toll roads.
NTHEOC…can you explain what is a “hater”? From my experience it’s an attempt to communicate basic concepts among semi-literates with only a tenuous grasp of the English language.
Surely you have a deeper lexicon than that.
Even someone at UrbanDictionary expresses it well:
“A word that 11-15 year olds use to describe anyone who dares to have a different opinion on a subject, usually something such as a band or a show on television. Even if the person who gives the different opinion explains why they believe so in a calm manner, they obviously must be a hater of it.”
Jimmydeeoc,
Hater
1.to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest: to be unwilling; dislike:
Sounds a lot like you and your CWD cronies! Should I add ENVY to the list!!!!!!
that’s the def for Hate not HateR.
NTHEOC:
Sounds like you should be back in middle school. What are you doing on these boards? Don’t you have a book report to write or some algebra homework to attend to?
NTHEOC—-
I asked for the noun. You gave me the verb.
Don’t kids learn to diagram sentences anymore?
It will NEVER be completed.
Lol!!!! Jimmydeeoc trying to correct me! You got me jimmy,I am just not as smart as you!!!!!!!!!
Oh brother!
Really jimmy, the CWD is no different than any other HATE GROUP with a website. I like to check it out every now and again to debunk you sovereign citizens and and watch you people spin!!!!!
Work union … live better off other people’s sweat. Oh … you didn’t know? Sweating is against union policy.
Anyone who says, “I never go for the low bid but I understand the need for them to be fiscally responsible” and then follows with, “t just comes down to who you know and how many laker tics you give them” is clearly three things …
1) Only smart enough to get a union job
2) Intellectually dishonest enough to get a union job
3) Doesn’t mind ruining other people’s lives so they can keep their union job.
Did you expect anything less than corruption?
Katy: you did ZERO original reporting work on this. If you had done anything other than cut and paste, you’d find this is FALSE. Richard Blum has NO financial stake in the main company in question. Read the company’s SEC filing and you’ll not find Blum listed anywhere. And yet, this anecdote has appeared on a handful of right wing blogs over the last few days…and now this site. I have no problem with an honest critique of high speed rail. But this article raises the question of whether you take your opinion journalism seriously. Your press credential should require you to actually practice journalism.
Managing editor’s note: Businesswire reported that Tutor Perini got the bid: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20130417005345/en/Tutor-Perini-Joint-Venture-Selected-985-Million
And Wikipedia wrote: “In 1997, Perini recapitalized, passing control to a California-based investor group led by Los Angeles-based construction executive Ronald Tutor and investor Richard Blum.” It references a May 23, 2007 Boston Globe story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutor_Perini
You must be kidding right? You really believe he has no stake as an investor in the company? You provided the data that shows he is directly connected. Wake up.
Boy, the demonrats have no shame whatsoever! Obama give Trillions of dollars away to his cronies and now the Senator wants a piece too. What a bunch of thieving crooks we have in government. 🙂
Ntheoc, you sound like a statist crook. 🙂
NTHEOC
“Really jimmy, the CWD is no different than any other HATE GROUP with a website.”
Ohh no! Now you’ll get CWD in SPLCs crosshairs! Look for Potok on MSNBC Monday. LOL LOL LOL.
NTHEOC: We are not haters on this site, esp. by the definition you included. Reporting on government malfeasance is not hate, but journalism.
Please keep your remarks civil.
— John Seiler
NTHEOC, to answer your question. No diagramming is not taught in CA public schools. It’s not on the State test.
“MR. AND MRS. FIENSTEIN: GIVE UP YOUR CRONY CAPITALIST FORTUNE!”
“NEVER! YOU’LL HAVE TO PRY THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OUT OF MY COLD DEAD HANDS!”
Typical liberal bitter clingers can always use another hundred million….
Everyone of us must get on their phones today with our Legislators and raise Holy ……… If we don’t, we deserve what we get.
So many catty little b****es on this page. Grow up, you’re acting like entitled teens.
you always get crap from low bids whos the moron who elected this. surly was not the people who are going to ride in this death trap.
Don’t have a problem with Feinstein’s husband getting awarded the contract??!! A mindless progressive for sure. I take it you’ve never heard of conflict of interest. It happens when you actively campaign for something that will unfairly benefit you or your friends or family members. This one screams conflict of interest. Not only is she benefiting from it, she could easily feed information to her husband that no other bidder could receive. With her clout politically, she could also use her position to pressure the state to award her husband the contract. If I had been in her position where I work, the impropriety of it would be enough to get me fired.
They also got the Nation wide contract to remove all the closed Post offices . Nothing but political bullshit . Nancy is pissed because she bought property on the train right of way . The Madera to San Francisco route over the mountains was never been surveyed or approved let alone engineered yet and the cost of tunnels is unimaginable .
I left California 20+ years ago. I can not believe that year after year you keep electing absolute unrepentant crooks. There is truly nothing more to say!
Can you say the word “cheat” rather than “elect”?? We arent voting in this shit! Everyone hates piglosi. Im sure she appointed herself as QUEEN!
The ]people]on this site amuse me! Nicole and NTHEOC, do you actually have an intelligent position on this subject or are you only here to stir the pot? The thought of an elected official thinking they could get away with this is the most frightening aspect of the whole circus act. Maybe “Mr” Feinstein thought that that with all of Diane’s anti gun antics, there would be enough of a smoke screen to cover his a$$. No sane California citizen would buy-off on this. Starting with the lowest bid only assures the highest final cost due to “change orders” and cost increases due to “unforeseen” reasons. I can promise you there is a clause in the contract to keep cash pouring out of our (the taxpayers) pockets for eternity. Diane Feinstein was most likely feeding information to her husband which resulted in “his” bid being the lowest. This is corruption at it’s finest. It’s no real surprise to anyone but what I REALLY want to know is: Is there a single person in Sacramento with enough backbone to fix this problem and back out of this crooked contract??? California is in no position to spend this kind of money. It makes no difference that the feds are going to yank their dollars if we don’t “act now”, California won’t NEED a highspeed rail system when Sacramento drives us all out. [They make it sound like late night infommercials, “act now, before it’s too late”, “but wait, there’s more, turn a blind eye to the corruption and you can help make a few more billionaires in California”. I’m not surprised at seeing the “work union, live better” types chiming in to support it.
I was born in California and have lived a successful life here, raised a family here and I am only a 5 digit balance away from owning my million dollar (plus) home free and clear. Next year I turn 50 and because of the California politics and obvious lack of intelligent leadership, I will be celebrating my 50th birthday (and all the rest) somewhere OTHER than California.
Since my post was censored, to remove what I can only guess was someone’s perceived notion of an offensive word, let me clarify. The word removed was “troll”. Trolls lurk around blogs that they would not otherwise be interested in simply to “stir the pot” or aggitate the genuine members. They generally don’t contribute to any positive discussion and usually resort to name calling and insults when their flawed reasoning is pointed out to them.
Has the writer, Ms. Grimes, confused CBRE (Blum’s firm) winning a contract to sell off some excess United States Postal Service property with the California High Speed Rail contract? This blog has been taking comments for over a week without correcting this “story.”
Someone should write a retraction. I would think the publisher of this blog would fact check the story before publishing it. Of course, the blog writer should have checked the facts before writing it.
Nobody ever seems to mention the real cure: prison for a long time. That’s the reason the Richard and Diane Show keeps coming back; there’s no penalty except some negative publicity. Gimme a break. They can buy off any Progressive/Marxist media outlet today, and she can pose and posture for Leftist Pet Projects That Are Useless But Emotionally Gratifying.
Question: isn’t this a mass form of mental illness?
Still no retraction for the false story? What about the touted journalistic ethics of CWD?
Here’s a link:
http://www.allgov.com/usa/ca/news/controversies/feinstein-derails-assertions-that-husband-is-chief-bidder-on-high-speed-rail-130506?news=849937
I guess the electorate did pass the 6 Billion bond issue to build the darn thing. Now they (politicians) are lined up like lapping dogs to get their share. Anyone who doesn’t think the water tunnels through the Delta won’t happen is a fool. I didn’t think Brown could play the violin, which he will be playing while California burns, burdened with his debt
I just looked up the names of the owners and board members for Perini and no Blum listed.
This is a travesty by itself but lets not forget that a real estate company also her husband was just given exclusive listing on 54 properties owned by the United States Postal Service. Those properties are valued at around $19 billion and could give his real estate company a $1.2 billion commision. When will the governmental gravy train be derailed!
$6,500 per foot? What does one foot total worth of all materials cost, the cement, concrete, rock, pig iron, rail… ?
Feinstein needs to retire or go to jail. We the people need to demand term limits, nepotism and contract laws that prevent elected officials from steering public funds into the pockets of family members
your tax dollars at work
are you angry yet?
As we see the low bid is not the actual cost, since these cronyism deals allow cost to substantially increase.
can’t you just see this train flying through the air when the San Andrea Fault goes slipping and sliding… not me. I would want to be up there would you??? stupid is as stupid does… and Feinstein is one of the most stupid right up there with Ocasio-Cortez.
The Feds need to go and start taking sections of it to the border to be the new wall. Turned up sideways it will work.
I would like to know if Mr Diane R. Blum actually has possession of the $985,142,530 while waiting around for the burocrats to get this project started. Instead of stand around talking about the railway the powers that are dragging there feet on the railway should step it up and building it! Iam getting very tired for hearing about it and voting for it. We have alot of people in need that could use the money now!!!
Thank you,
DL Gates