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.

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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

[fourex]

Since Feinstein has developed a taste for blood and torture, one can ask her to hone her skills at bigotry and racism with the Republican Party.

[hippybaby1970]

Pie, is that the best retort you got? kinda sounds junior highish. speaking of high, i might be high as a kite right now but i still know for a fact that republicans are generally phony hypocrites. i have to say i admire you sticking to your guns for something that must be a mighty exercise in complex reasoning.

[American Pie]

when will you dopes get it.

This is the bed you have made for yourselves.

Sleep in it.

[Zhonni]

All I have to say is, I am disappointed he got confirmed.

I am disappointed in Obama, Clinton, Biden and I guess Dodd for not voting against this man even though it would not have made a difference.

It is the statement that matters.

[hippybaby1970]

Regarding Pie:- when i read your statement "can you see the mess you have "engendered?" ,why does a mental picture pop into my head almost immediately of the idiot bush? hmmm

[hippybaby1970]

my god! i was not defending pie, i was supporting tom. i think the republican party is an awful thing. sorry for the misunderstanding everyone.

[blackwell98]

Support AIPAC and Corporate Values.
Although I take Wikipedia with a grain of salt,
here are some quotes from the good senators bio there.
"In 1980, she married Richard C. Blum, an investment banker. She is adamantly Pro-Israel and a member of AIPAC."
"Feinstein has received scrutiny for husband Richard Blum's extensive business dealings with China and her past votes on trade issues with the country. Critics have argued that Feinstein's support of policies that may benefit her husband may raise the appearance of a conflict of interest.[­5] Suburban newspaper Metroactive has written in 2007 that Feinstein's husband holds large investments in companies that won large government contracts — without competitive bidding"
"As of December 2006, according to SEC filings and Fedspending. Org, three corporations in which Blum's financial entities own a total of $1 billion in stock won considerable favor from the budgets of the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In 2003, Feinstein was ranked the fifth wealthiest senator, with an estimated net worth of $26 million.[6­] By 2005 her net worth had increased to between $43 million and $99 million.[7­] Her 347-page financial disclosure statement[8] — 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"
"Feinstein supported the Iraq war resolution in the vote of October 11, 2002; she has 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 had not provided any convincing intelligence to back up its claims about the Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction"

Its not hard to see that the super rich work for the super rich and not the rest of us.

[hippybaby1970]

re:pie/re:tom- he was being sardonic. take your time looking it up.

[disgusted48]

Based on Feinstein's votes, it appears that she has sold her soul, the price I don't know. Her constituents need to find a new congressperson who cares more about the American people than special interests.

[fourex]

Since Feinstein has developed a taste for blood and torture, one can ask her to hone her skills at bigotry and racism to join the Republican Party.

[usedtowander]

Write to the Democratic Party leaders. Write to the Democratic Senators who are up for re-election.

If Democratic Party Senators are going to behave like Republican Party hacks, and the Democratic Party cannot influence them, then the correct action is to withhold your money from the Democratic Party.

In Senator Feinstein's case, perhaps an investigation into what favors were granted her husband's company by the Republicans for this vote might be in order.

[MrSanFran]

Is Bush Dicking Feinstein now? She is the new
Lieberman of the Democratic party. Time for her to hit the road. The California Dems need to get a big hitter to get her out of office.

[bushmocker]

Diane Feinsten is much worse than a bitch,she is a war profiteer.­She served on the Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee for six years funneling contracts to her husband who was a majority stakeholder in three companies that were awarded BILLIONS of dollars in contracts.­This same committee is also responsible for "veteran quality of life issues".Sh­e's resigned from the committee in march 2007.She was already known to have steered these contracts to her husband but also the debacle at Walter Reed was starting.W­orld Net Daily ,March 28,2007 has the whole story.She is no more than a common thief,in good graces with George Bush now it seems.Why they're talking about censure when they should be talking about prison is beyond me.She is a Democrat in name only,she is truly much worse than a bitch.Some­times you have to clean house and it appears we're giving her a pass with censure.Sw­eep it under the carpet?That's no different than the actions of the Republican party regarding Bush and Cheney,I thought we were better?

[American Pie]

if you don't like DiFi then vote for Stinky Sheehan. Your vote is well-placed in her....jus­t be sure to hold your nose.

[American Pie]

is censure anything like a non-binding vote that you democrats are so fond of?