1.Lawmakers Heavily Invested in Defense
,03 april 2008
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:
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."
careful there ...