Dianne Feinstein Totally Explained

Everything about Dianne Feinstein totally explained

Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein (born June 22, 1933) is the senior U.S. Senator from California, having held office as a senator since 1992. She is a member of the Democratic Party. Senator Feinstein holds a number of "firsts"; she was the first female President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, San Francisco's first and, to date, only female mayor, the first woman to serve in the Senate from California, one of two female Jewish senators, the first woman to serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the first woman to chair the Rules and Administration committee of that body.

Early life and career

Feinstein was born Dianne Emiel Goldman in San Francisco to Betty Rosenburg, a former model, and Leon Goldman, a nationally renowned surgeon who was the first Jewish person made tenured physician at the UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco. Feinstein's paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Poland, while her maternal grandparents, who were of the Russian Orthodox faith, left St. Petersburg, Russia after the 1917 Russian Revolution; Feinstein's maternal grandfather was an imperial army officer who was a convert from Judaism to Christianity. Feinstein attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart High School and was given a Catholic religious education, but also attended Hebrew school and was confirmed in the Jewish faith at the age of thirteen, having said that she's "always considered [herself] Jewish". By 2005 her net worth had increased to between $43 million and $99 million. Her 347-page financial disclosure statement — characterized by the San Francisco Chronicle as "nearly the size of a phonebook" — draws clear lines between her assets and those of her husband, with many of her assets in blind trusts.

Early political career

In 1961, Feinstein worked to end housing discrimination in San Francisco. Prior to elected service, she was appointed by then-California Governor Pat Brown to serve as a member of the California Women Parole Board. In 1969, Feinstein won a position on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She remained on the Board for nine years, becoming its first female president.
During her tenure on the Board of Supervisors, she unsuccessfully ran for mayor of San Francisco twice, in 1971 against mayor Joseph Alioto, and in 1975, when she lost the contest for a runoff slot (against George Moscone) by one percentage point, to supervisor John Barbagelata.

Mayor of San Francisco

On November 27, 1978, San Francisco mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by a rival politician, Dan White, who had resigned from the Board of Supervisors only two weeks prior. Feinstein announced the assassinations to the stunned public, stating: "As president of the board of supervisors, it's my duty to make this announcement. Both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot and killed." As president of the Board of Supervisors, Feinstein automatically ascended to the mayoral position on December 4. She served out the remainder of the term and was elected in her own right in 1979 and re-elected in 1983.
   One of the first challenges to face Feinstein as mayor was the state of the San Francisco cable car system. In late 1979 the system had to be shut down for emergency repairs, and an engineering evaluation concluded that it needed comprehensive rebuilding at a cost of $60 million. Feinstein took charge of the effort, and helped win federal funding for the bulk of the rebuilding job. The system closed for rebuilding in 1982 and reopened in 1984 in time for the Democratic National Convention that was held in the city that year. Feinstein also oversaw planning policies to increase the number of high rise buildings in San Francisco.
   In the run up to the convention, there was considerable media and public speculation that Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale might pick Feinstein as his running mate. However, he chose Geraldine Ferraro instead. Also in 1984, Feinstein proposed banning handguns in San Francisco, and became subject to a recall attempt organized by the White Panther Party. She won the recall election and finished her second term as mayor on January 8, 1988.
   In 1985, at a press conference, she revealed details about the hunt for Richard Ramírez, otherwise known as the Night Stalker, and in so doing angered detectives by giving away details of his crimes, including displaying actual evidence at the press conference. These revelations subverted their investigation and Ramirez left the San Francisco area to commit another murder before he was finally captured in the Los Angeles area.
   In 1987, City and State magazine named Feinstein the nation's "Most Effective Mayor". Feinstein served on the Trilateral Commission during the 1980s while mayor of San Francisco.
   Feinstein appears in archival footage and is credited in the Academy Award-winning documentary film The Times of Harvey Milk (1984).

Governor's race

In 1990, Feinstein made an unsuccessful bid for Governor of California, losing to Republican Senator Pete Wilson, who vacated his seat in the Senate to assume the governorship. In 1992, she was fined $190,000 for failure to properly report campaign contributions and expenditures associated with that campaign.

U.S. Senate career

On November 3, 1992, Feinstein won a special election to fill the Senate seat that became vacant in 1990 when Pete Wilson was elected governor (Wilson had then appointed John F. Seymour to that seat). The election was held at the same time as the general election for U.S. President and other offices. Senator Barbara Boxer was elected at the same time for the seat to be vacated by Alan Cranston. Because Feinstein was elected to an unexpired term, she became a senator as soon as the election was certified, hence she became California's senior senator even though she was elected at the same time as Barbara Boxer.
Feinstein was re-elected in 1994, 2000, and 2006. She is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
A December 2007 poll has her approval rating at 51%, with 39% disapproving.(External Link

)

Senate Committee Assignments

Feinstein is a member of the following U.S. Senate Committees:

U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration (Chairman)
U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
- Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security (Chairman)
- Administrative Oversight and the Courts
- Crime and Drugs
- Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship
- The Constitution, Civil Rights, and Property Rights
U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations
- Interior and Related Agencies (Chairman)
- Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
- Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
- Defense
- Energy and Water Development
- Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related agencies
U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

Political positions and votes

Iraq

Feinstein supported the Iraq war resolution in the vote of October 11, 2002; she's claimed that she was misled by President Bush on the reasons for going to war. However, former UN Weapons Inspector in Iraq Scott Ritter has stated that Feinstein in summer 2002 acknowledged to him that she knew the Bush administration hadn't provided any convincing intelligence to back up its claims about the Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
In February 2007, Feinstein warned Republicans not to block consideration of a measure opposing President Bush's troop increase in Iraq, saying it would be a "terrible mistake" to prevent debate on the top issue in America.
In May 2007, Feinstein voted for an Emergency Supplemental Appropriations bill, which continued to fund the Iraq occupation without a firm timetable for withdrawal. The Senator said "I am deeply disappointed that this bill fails to hold the President accountable for his Administration’s flawed Iraq War policy. The American people have made their voices clear that there must be an exit strategy for Iraq. Yet this President continues to stubbornly adhere to more of the same."

National security and civil liberties

In August 2007, Feinstein joined Republicans in the Senate in voting to modify the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by narrowing the scope of its protections to sharply reduce the legal limits on the government's ability to monitor phone calls and email messages of American citizens. Feinstein voted to give the attorney general and the director of national intelligence the power to approve international surveillance of the communications of Americans entirely within the executive branch, rather than through the special intelligence court established by FISA. Many privacy advocates have decried this law and Senator Feinstein's vote in favor of it. In February 2008, Feinstein joined Republicans in the Senate in voting "Nay" to strike the provisions providing immunity from civil liability to electronic communication service providers for certain assistance provided to the Government.
Feinstein was the original Democratic cosponsor of a bill to extend the USA PATRIOT Act. In a December 2005 statement, Senator Feinstein stated, "I believe the Patriot Act is vital to the protection of the American people." She was the main Democratic sponsor of the failed 2006 constitutional Flag Desecration Amendment. In November 2007, Feinstein was one of only six Democrats to vote to confirm Michael Mukasey as Attorney General. She also voted for the McCain-Feingold legislation.
After heavily supporting President Bush's Immigration Reform Bill, she mentioned that she was "looking into revising" the Fairness Doctrine, specifically targeting talk radio.

Environment

Feinstein and her predecessor Senator Alan Cranston worked for over 10 years to pass the California Desert Protection Act. The bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994. The bill protected of California's desert lands as wilderness and national parks.(External Link

) The Act doubled the size of the National Wilderness Preservation System in California, and was the largest wilderness bill in California's history.
Senators Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were the champions of the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act, which was signed in to law by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. The bill protected of federal land as wilderness and of stream as a wild and scenic river, including such popular areas as the King Range and Cache Creek.(External Link

) Senators Feinstein and Boxer worked with Representative Mike Thompson, the sponsor of the bill in the House, in the 5-year effort to pass the legislation.
Feinstein along with her colleague Boxer voted in favor of subsidy payments to conventional commodity farm producers at the cost of subsidies for conservation-oriented farming. More recently, Feinstein hasn't taken a stand on the widely criticized subsidies in the 2007 U.S. Farm Bill.

Gun politics

In 1993, Feinstein, along with then-Representative Charles Schumer (D-NY), led the fight to ban many semi-automatic firearms deemed to be assault weapons and restrict the sale of high-capacity firearm magazines. The ban was passed as part of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. In 2004, when the ban was set to expire, Feinstein sponsored a 10-year extension of the ban as an amendment to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act; while the amendment was successfully added, the act itself failed. The act was revived in 2005, but was ultimately passed without an extension of the assault weapons ban.
Feinstein said on CBS-TV's 60 Minutes, February 5, 1995, "If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them . . . Mr. and Mrs. America, turn 'em all in, I'd have done it. I couldn't do that. The votes weren't here."

Intellectual property and fair use

Feinstein has supported Hollywood and the content industry when it has come into conflict with technology and fair use on intellectual property issues. In 2006 she cosponsored the "PERFORM Act" or the "Platform Equality and Remedies for Rights Holders in Music Act of 2006" to the Senate, which would require satellite, cable and internet broadcasters to incorporate digital restrictions management technologies into their transmission. Over the air broadcasting wouldn't be affected. Feinstein's consistent backing of the content industry and attacks on fair use have earned her poor marks with the EFF and IPac

Corruption scandals and accusations

Between 2001 and 2006, 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. This included millions of dollars in contracts awarded to Blum's Perini Corporation to provide goods and services in Iraq and Afghanistan.
   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. 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. In April 2007, Feinstein's office denied any ethical conflict, 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.”
   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.
   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. This information was also initially deleted from Wikipedia by a Feinstein staffer in 2006.

Censure Movement

In 2007, activists from within the California Democratic Party made a push to censure Feinstein. The resolution, which cited the Senator for "ignoring Democratic principles and falling so far below the standard of what we expect of our elected officials" ultimately failed. The activists were concerned over her votes to confirm Judge Leslie Southwick and Attorney General Michael Mukasey, and were also concerned about the FISA bill.

Offices held

Further Information

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