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Senator Feinstein Cashing In On The ‘Progressive’ Seventeenth Amendment

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein gestures while speaking about gun violence at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. Feinstein spoke to the group about guns and drones. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

Senator Feinstein is yet another example of the unintended consequences of the so-called “progressive” Seventeenth Amendment.

In the first article published that kicked off “Truth Week” I exposed how the Seventeenth Amendment was simply passed in a logrolling deal with the Sixteenth Amendment to allow Senators to offer wealth-producing legislation to special interests, and effectively increase average tenure in the Senate to ensure the protection of said legislation from being repealed by a subsequent Congress.

Of course, I cannot both re-litigate the claim as well as tell the latest story involving Senator Feinstein, although I will include the graph below, but I would encourage you to read the article.

It is well-known that the USPS is in deep financial trouble, and that in large part this is a result of the latest legislation and renegotiation passed by the last full Democratic Congress. In response, there have been 600 buildings nationwide that have been “earmarked for disposal” and according to the “USPS Properties for Sale” website, they have currently listed 41 buildings as well as 11 federally owned land parcels to raise the funds to plug the hole in the USPS budget.

To make a very long story short, in the past the government has offered real-estate brokerage firms the opportunity to compete for sales of federal property, which will bring in multiple billions of dollars to the government. However, the government has recently entered into an exclusive contract with only one firm, the CB Richard Ellis Group commercial real-estate firm, to sell the USPS properties for the sweet commission rate of 6%. The commented:

Historically, USPS has worked with multiple real estate service providers. The new contract allows the USPS to consolidate these activities with one service provider.

On its face, it appears that the government in some nonsensical way is attempting to cut the cost of these transactions by entering into an exclusive contract. Except, guess who owns the firm that now has exclusive rights to sell the federal USPS properties?

Perhaps, the Richard Ellis does not ring a bell, and why should it? After all, his wife very progressively goes by another last name – Senator Diane Feinstein. Commenting in the San Francisco Chronicle, columnist Andrew Ross recalled his conversation with a Feinstein representative:

As for the accusations of a conflict of interest and suspicion that Feinstein may have influenced the awarding of the contract to her husbands firm Feinstein’s office strongly denies the charges.

Well it is settled then, the firm that was rewarded an unprecedented exclusive contract to rake in billions of dollars by coincidence is owned by the man married to the very senior and powerful Senator Diane Feinstein.

It is a serious shame that Americans on the far left are incapable of using their God-given reason to see past the emotional rhetoric to see the exploit for what it is – democratic despotism.

From “Our Virtuous Republic” – clearly the combination of Munn v. Illinois (1877), which granted Congress the power to regulate and offer competitive advantage legislation, and the passage of the 16th & 17th Amendments both were quickly followed by a boom in legislative careerism.

– Richard D. Baris is the author of “Our Virtuous Republic: The Forgotten Clause in the American Social Contract” – follow him on Twitter Peoples_Pundit

Don’t forget to follow and tweet #Truth to @Peoples_Pundit or @LauraBaris to receive your own discount code for the new book “Our Virtuous Republic”and help spread the truth, while supporting veterans through the action of civil society. Learn more here in Hometown Veterans Outreach Letter.

  • Truth Week: IRS Scandal Exposes the Progressive Era Amendments (richardbaris.wordpress.com)
  • Truth Week: Obama Scandals Puts Federal Taxing Power Under Scrutiny (richardbaris.wordpress.com)
  • Truth Week: In Wake of All the Lies and Obama Scandals, We are Kicking Off (richardbaris.wordpress.com)
  • Truth Week: NSA Abuse of Patriot Act Is Just One Piece Of A Very Big Puzzle (richardbaris.wordpress.com)

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Richard D. Baris

Rich, the People's Pundit, is the Data Journalism Editor at PPD and Director of the PPD Election Projection Model. He is also the Director of Big Data Poll, and author of "Our Virtuous Republic: The Forgotten Clause in the American Social Contract."

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Richard D. Baris

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