Dianne Feinstein
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| Dianne Feinstein | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office November 10, 1992 |
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| Preceded by | John F. Seymour |
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| Succeeded by | Incumbent (2013) |
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| In office December 4, 1978 – January 8, 1988 |
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| Preceded by | George Moscone |
| Succeeded by | Art Agnos |
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| Born | June 22, 1933 (age 73) San Francisco, California |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse | (1) Judge Jack Berman, div. (2) Bertram Feinstein, deceased (3) Richard C. Blum |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Religion | Judaism |
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein (born June 22, 1933) is currently the Democratic senior U.S. Senator from California, an office she has held since 1992. She was also San Francisco's first (and to date, only) female mayor.
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[edit] Early life and career
Senator Dianne Feinstein was born Dianne Emiel Goldman[1] in San Francisco to Leon and Betty Goldman. She has two sisters, Lynne Kennedy and Yvonne Banks. Her father, who died in 1975, was a nationally renowned surgeon who was the first Jewish person made tenured physician at the University of California Medical Center.[2] She received her B.A. degree in history in 1955 from Stanford University.
In 1956, she married Jack Berman, a colleague in the San Francisco District Attorney's office. They were divorced three years later. Their daughter, Katherine Feinstein Mariano (b. 1957), is a superior court judge in San Francisco. Berman later became a judge; he died in 2002. In 1962, shortly after starting her career in politics, she married neurosurgeon Bertram Feinstein, who died of colon cancer in 1978. In 1980, she married Richard C. Blum, an investment banker.
Feinstein has received scrutiny for husband Richard Blum's extensive business dealings with China and her past votes on trade issues with the country. As a result, her financial disclosure statement[1] -- nearly the size of a phonebook -- draws clear lines between her assets and those of her husband. Many of her assets are in blind trusts.
In 2003, Feinstein was ranked the fifth wealthiest senator, with an estimated net worth of $26 million. [3] By 2005 her net worth had increased to between $43 million and $99 million dollars [2].
[edit] Early political career
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.
[edit] Mayor of San Francisco
In November 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."[3] 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. The Democratic National Convention was held in San Francisco in 1984, and there was considerable media and public speculation that Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale might pick her 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 too many details of his crimes, including actual display of evidence at the press conference. These revelations subverted their investigation and enabled Ramirez to leave the San Francisco area to commit another murder before he was finally captured in the Los Angeles area.[4]
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 file footage and is credited in the Academy Award-winning documentary film, The Times of Harvey Milk.
[edit] 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.[5]
[edit] U.S. Senate career
In 1992, Feinstein won a special election to fill the Senate seat which became vacant in 1990 when Pete Wilson was elected governor.
Feinstein was re-elected in 1994, 2000, and 2006.
Feinstein is a member of the U.S. Senate Committees on: Appropriations, Rules and Administration, Intelligence, Judiciary, and Energy and Natural Resources. She is the only woman on the Judiciary Committee and is the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security. In the upcoming 110th Congress, she will retain all of her committee assignments, while assuming the chairmanship of the Rules and Administration and U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security committees.
Feinstein is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
[edit] Political positions and votes
Feinstein is generally regarded as a moderate in the Senate. Because of her record of compromising with Republicans, Feinstein is distrusted by some on the political left. She is often labeled unfavorably by them as pro-business, as she has voted for most lawsuit reform measures and was a co-sponsor of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005. She voted for the first tax cuts in 2001 and also for the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act in 2003. Both positions were unpopular with many in her own party.
[edit] Iraq
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 the Bush administration had not provided any convincing intelligence to back up its claims about the Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction [6]. The Center for Public Integrity has reported that Feinstein and her husband, Richard Blum, are making millions of dollars from Iraq and Afghanistan contracts through his company, Perini[7]. While on the United States Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction Feinstein voted for appropriations worth billions to her husband's firms[8]. There have also been critics who argue that Feinstein's support of policies that are friendly to the Chinese government are because of her husband's extensive China-related business holdings. 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, according to NewsMax.com. [4]
[edit] PATRIOT Act
Senator Feinstein was the original Democratic co-sponsor 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." [9]
[edit] Immigration
Feinstein is a supporter and co-sponsor of the H-1B Visa program.
[edit] Death Penalty
Feinstein is a supporter of capital punishment.
[edit] Free Speech
She was the main Democratic sponsor of the failed 2006 constitutional flag burning amendment. [10]
She also voted for the McCain-Feingold legislation.
Critics point out positions like these to indicate that she is not a "true" or "loyal" Democrat. Defenders point to her record on other issues: she voted against NAFTA (although she voted for CAFTA), the Defense of Marriage Act (although she personally believes that marriage is between one man and one woman), school prayer, welfare reform, and the 2005 bankruptcy bill.
She has numerous critics on the political right, as well. Her support for abortion rights has earned her the ire of pro-life groups.
[edit] Gun politics
She is opposed by gun rights organizations, who say that her proposals on gun control are unconstitutional and that Feinstein herself is hypocritical for making such proposals despite having had a concealed carry permit—difficult to obtain in San Francisco—during her tenure as a San Francisco politician.
In 1993, Feinstein, along with then-Representative Charles Schumer (D-NY), led the fight to ban many semi-automatic firearms and restrict the sale of firearm magazines deemed "assault weapons" despite having a license to carry concealed weapons, a rare privilege granted in California. 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 a poison amendment to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act; while the amendment was successfully added, the act itself failed. The act was then revived in 2005, and, despite Feinstein's best efforts, was passed without an extension of the assault weapons ban.
She was one of 16 senators to vote against the Vitter Amendment to prohibit the funding of the confiscation of legally owned guns during a disaster.
[edit] Intellectual property
Feinstein has supported Hollywood and the content industry when it has come into conflict with technology and fair use on intellectual property issues. In letters to her constituents, she has supported the introduction of the Broadcast Flag. [11] 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 pay fair market value for the performance of digital music. Additionally, the bill would require the use of readily available and cost-effective technological means to prevent music theft. Over the Air Broadcasting would not be affected. [12] Feinstein's consistent backing of the content industry and attacks on fair use have earned her poor marks with the EFF and IPac.
[edit] 2006 re-election campaign
Feinstein was easily elected for a third full term in 2006, as predicted by many news agencies. She defeated Republican Richard Mountjoy, Libertarian Michael Metti, Green Todd Chretien, and Peace and Freedom Marsha Feinland in the general election.
[edit] Ideological ratings
- The American Civil Liberties Union has given her 78%.[13]
- She has been rated by the League of Conservation Voters between 80 and 94% on environmental issues. [14]
- The American Conservative Union has given her a lifetime rating of 11 (out of a possible 100). [15]
- The National Rifle Association has given her an F rating.
- California Peace Action has given her 94%. [16]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Fa - Fe. Real Names of Famous Folk. Retrieved on October 14, 2005.
- ^ Seymour "Sy" Brody. Dianne Feinstein: United States Senator From California. Jewish Heroes and Heroines in America. Retrieved on October 14, 2005.
- ^ Millionaires populate U.S. Senate. CNN.com. Retrieved on June 13, 2003.
- ^ "Sen. Dianne Feinstein: GOP Can't Prevent Debate on Iraq". NewsMax.com, Feb. 5, 2007.
[edit] External links
- United States Senator Dianne Feinstein official Senate site
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Dianne Feinstein's Project Syndicate op/eds
- Federal Election Commission - Dianne Feinstein campaign finance reports and data
- New York Times - Dianne Feinstein News collected news and commentary
- On the Issues - Dianne Feinstein issue positions and quotes
- OpenSecrets.org - Dianne Feinstein campaign contributions
- Project Vote Smart - Senator Dianne Feinstein (CA) profile
- SourceWatch Congresspedia - Dianne Feinstein profile
- VoteCircle Profile
- Washington Post - Congress Votes Database: Dianne Feinstein voting record
- About.com Profile of US Senator Dianne Feinstein of California
- Dianne Feinstein Senate 2006 official campaign site
Articles
- Political Skeletons, Cut and Pasted A New York Times commentary which refers to this Wikipedia article
- Former Feinstein staffer edited Wikipedia entries
- Dianne Feinstein on China
- Feinstein's Iraq Conflict: Feinstein voted for appropriations worth billions to her husband's firms, Peter Byrne, North Bay Bohemian
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by George Moscone |
Mayor of San Francisco December 4, 1978–January 8, 1988 |
Succeeded by Art Agnos |
| Preceded by John F. Seymour |
United States Senator (Class 1) from California November 10, 1992– |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by Trent Lott |
Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration 2007-present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Mayors of San Francisco, California |  |
|---|---|
| Geary • Brenham • Harris • Brenham • Garrison • Webb • Van Ness • Whelan • Burr • Teschemacher • Coon • McCoppin • Selby • Alvord • Otis • Hewston • Bryant • Kalloch • Blake • Bartlett • Pond • Sanderson • Ellert • Sutro • Phelan • Schmitz • Boxton • Taylor • McCarthy • Rolph • Rossi • Lapham • Robinson • Christopher • Shelley • Alioto • Moscone • Feinstein • Agnos • Jordan • Brown • Newsom |
