Feinstein Faces Dem Censure After Backing Mukasey

One day after voting to elevate a divisive conservative judge to the federal appeals court in New Orleans, California Sen. Dianne Feinstein was the president's guest aboard Air Force One. She had been invited to survey the damage from the recent spate of Southern California wildfires.

The senator later remarked privately that she found her conversation with Bush aboard Air Force One "illuminating," a source close to Feinstein told the Huffington Post.

Two weeks later, Feinstein was one of two Democrats on the Senate judiciary committee to vote to send Michael Mukasey's nomination to be the new attorney general to the full Senate. Her support helped turn the tide in favor of a nomination that faced an uncertain future after Mukasey refused to say whether waterboarding was torture.

When the full Senate voted, Feinstein was one of only six Democrats to vote in favor of confirming Mukasey.

Now, a coalition of progressive Democrats upset with Feinstein's controversial votes will ask the California Democratic Party to censure her at its executive board meeting this weekend, the Huffington Post has learned.

The move comes as Feinstein again finds herself under fire for saying Thursday that she now supports granting legal immunity to telecom companies that shared customer email and phone messages with the federal government as part of the warrantless surveillance program.

"Dianne Feinstein does not listen to the people of California," said Rick Jacobs, president of the Courage Campaign, a progressive organization in California. "She supports George Bush's agenda time after time."

Feinstein's office did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Story continues below

advertisement

East Bay For Democracy, a chartered Democratic Club outside San Francisco, will introduce the censure motion on Saturday at the state party's executive board meeting in Anaheim. The Governing Board of the Progressive Caucus of the California Democratic Party and the Progressive Democrats of America are also backing the measure.

In addition to her move to back Mukasey, critics have lashed out at her decision last month to vote to confirm Judge Leslie Southwick to the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Southwick's opponents charged that his record on the bench in Mississippi demonstrated that he was both racist and homophobic. The Congressional Black Caucus, Human Rights Campaign and People for the American Way opposed his nomination.

The censure resolution faces an uphill battle. In order to be considered by the full executive board, it must first make it through the party's resolutions committee, which must approve the text unanimously.

The text of the resolution is below:

Whereas Senator Dianne Feinstein voted to support the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey as United States Attorney General, thereby elevating to the highest position in law enforcement a man who refused to renounce the right of the President to resort to torture and who refused to recognize waterboarding as a form of torture, and by this action Senator Feinstein failed to oppose President Bush and failed to stand for the ideals of the Democratic Party, which abhors torture and stands firmly against its use by the United States at all times and places; and

Whereas Senator Feinstein voted to confirm Judge Leslie Southwick for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit despite his clear record of racism and gender discrimination, thus failing to stand firmly with the Democratic Party, which supports gender equality and opposes racism in any of its manifestations; and

Whereas these examples are far from the only instances where Senator Feinstein, after seeking and securing the support and endorsement of the California Democratic Party, has failed to support the policies and principles of our party

Therefore be it resolved that the California Democratic Party expresses its disappointment at, and censure of, Senator Feinstein for ignoring Democratic principles and falling so far below the standard of what we expect of our elected officials.

Comments

[blackjack]

Feinstine,­Schumer,H. Clinton, Reid and others are just sock-puppets to LIE-berman and FRIENDS, it is time that WE THE PEOPLE start cleanging out these types OF FAKE DEMOCRATS, Or start a NEW PROGRESSIVE PARTY. THESE DEMS. are turning our country one BIG RUN CORP:.

[TUCANOFULANO]

DiFi must be getting really senile.

[shag11]

Feinstein needs to be gone. We've had enough of her complicity.

[American Pie]

Too effen funny!!!!!

You saps have voted her into office and now you find out that she doesn't really think as you do. How effen funny is that.

Please censure away. Or better yet call her office or Ried's office or maybe even Stinky's office. It's just too effen funny to see you all act like goofballs. You must not understand the political process.

Effen hilarious!!!!!!

c'ya round suckers!

[Carlie]

OKAY, DEMOCRATS...UNITE!! Stop bitchin and do something productive for 5 minutes. Call Sen Harry Reid [phone]; Opt for #2-speak to staff member. Tell them:" Replace Diane Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee. She will not stand with Democrats against Pres. Bush's abuse of power. As the Democratic Majority Leader he has the power to replace her with a Democrat that will stand up.We are counting on him to take action TODAY!"
Tomorrow Feinstein will be the ONLY Democrat to vote to give immunity to telephone companies for spying on Americans - as Bush wants. Who knows what Bush promised her on that flight on Air Force 1 - she said the conversation was "enlightening!" Arm-and-arm with Bush gagged me. She has put aside the fact she is a Democrat. She must be stopped!
Thank you!

[ObamaSeeChange]

These groups will cave-in instead of censuring just like the useless Dem that they are censuring. My question is who censors them? Is there a circular censuring formation like a circular firing squad?

[sbgypsy]

She says she's not running again, so no amount of calling and telling her what you want will make any difference.

What I'd like to know, is what did Mr Bush get on Finestein while he was tapping her phone, that she would betray her constituents, her state, her country, and mankind as she is doing???

I imagine that he told her just what his people will do to her if she doesn't strap on the kneepads - "illuminating", my poor aching backside!

[williamg]

Great, another vote on something that has no effect.

[woesong]

I'm totally in support of whatever measure it takes to isolate this left-coast Lieberman. I hope after next fall there will be a sufficient buffer in the Democratic majority to take action against these Uncle Toms, including removing them from all committee assignments. Why in the world would someone from the most progressive base in the universe feel the need to suck up to an unpopular lame duck fascist moron? Where's the payoff?

[IndependentMeans]

I called Senator Feinstein and asked her not to vote yes on this issue, I called again yesterday and told Ben in her D.C. office she has lost my vote forever.....and she had it forever before this. Enough is enough, she has totally lost contact with her voters here in CA.

[lagunabeach]

Feinstein has lost my vote. Obviously, her interests lie elsewhere and not with the "ordinary" people but with the extra-ordinary super class that is glomming the wealth and power in this country. Enough is enough.

[frappe]

Californians are stuck with her for the next five years. It must be so very frustrating to have voted for someone who so arrogantly and completely ignores her constituents' philosophy and ideals.

[ALHayes]

Hurrah for California Democrats! Please censure away!

I do have a theory about this move by Feinstein. The same day she approved him, he gave security clearance to the investigators of the Gonzales wire tapping scandal. Was Feinstein offered Gonzales' head on a plate in return for her approval of Mukasey?

[Nyla785]

Feinstein was seduced by the Bush 'in-crowd' elitism, that's obvious. It will be up to the people of California to deliver the political spanking to her.

[VivaZapata]

republican lite senators like feinstein, shumer. clinton, etc are sell outs (and I'm sure they're convinced that it's the way to get things done), but those of us who continue to support these people must question why. have we so little faith in the truth and our ability to communicate it to our friends and neighbors that we're willing to accept their "lesser of two evils" policies? The war machine will continue to roll with these say-one-th­ing-and-do­-another politicians.