Friday, April 26, 2013

Sen. Dianne Feinstein's husband gets California high speed rail deal worth nearly $1 billion. Richard Blum is principal owner of Tutor Perini

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4/17/13, "Tutor Perini Joint Venture Selected for $985 Million California High-Speed Rail Design-Build Contract," Yahoo Finance Business Wire

"Tutor Perini Corporation (TPC), a leading civil and building construction company, today announced that its joint venture’s bid, valued at approximately $985 million, was recently identified by the California High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) as the “apparent best value” for the design and construction of the initial Madera to Fresno segment of the California high-speed rail system.

The Authority’s Board of Directors is expected to approve the design-build contract for this project in the coming weeks. Once the contract is awarded, Tutor Perini’s portion of the contract value will be added to the Company’s backlog.

Tutor Perini is the managing partner of the joint venture team, which includes Zachry Construction Corporation of San Antonio, Texas and Parsons Corporation of Pasadena, California. Initial work on this project is planned to begin by July 2013. The project is anticipated to create more than 1,000 construction jobs per year over its four-year duration."...

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Citation, Tutor Perini principal owner is Richard Blum, husband of  Dianne Feinstein:

4/25/13, "Sen. Feinstein's Husband Gets Contract For CA High Speed Rail," liveleak
 
"The Perini-Zachary-Parsons bid was the lowest received from the five consortia participating in the bidding process, but “low” is a relative term. The firms bid $985,142,530 to build the wildly anticipated first section of high speed rail track that will tie the megopolis of Madera to the global finance center of Fresno. Do the division, and you find that the low bid came in at a mere $35 million per mile.

And that doesn’t include the cost of rolling stock (that’s engines and cars to the normal among us). Nor does it include the cost of electrifying the route. Does it at least include the cost of land acquisition? No, it does not.

As this fiasco progress, remember that this $35 million per mile represents the best California can do on the section of track the High on Crack Speed Rail Authority selected to go first because it will be the cheapest.

…the principal owner of Tutor Perini is Richard Blum, the husband of US Senator Dianne Feinstein (D – CA.) who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee which oversees the Dept. of Defense. Since joining the US Senate, Senator Feinstein and her husband have enjoyed billions of dollars in defense contracts. She voted for the Afghanistan War and their company is rolling in contracts directly related to the war right now.

the selection of Tutor/Perini/Zachary/Parsons, was quickly followed by a crash when news outlets revealed the winner’s checkered past with a proven record of high cost over runs. The below budget construction number does not include the cost of purchasing land or providing mitigation for damages to properties.

Engineering contacts say Tutor-Perini is noted for bidding low, targeting program inadequacies and writing change orders as fast as a waitress writing breakfast orders at a truck stop- fast and furious.

Keeping Corrupt Company

Just having Blum/Perini win the contract is corrupt enough. But it gets much more corrupt, says The National Black Chamber of Commerce:

According to the New York US Attorney’s office: “Following a four-week trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn yesterday (March 9, 2011) found Zohrab B. Marashlian, the former president of Perini Corp.’s Civil Division, an international construction services corporation, guilty of fraud and conspiracy to launder money. The charges arose out of Marashlian’s false representation to New York government agencies that Disadvantaged Business Entities (DBE’s) were performing work in connection with major public works contracts, when, in reality, Marashlian had non-disadvantaged businesses favored by Perini Corp. do the work.” Tutor Perini paid Marashlian $14 million in salary while all this was going on. Two days before Marashlian was to receive a multi-year prison sentence he committed suicide. A fellow employee is currently doing a long prison term for the same case.

Perini has been caught doing such things over and over again. They are absolutely ridiculous in California projects. … According to the Seattle News some of the Perini headlines read: “In February, Tutor-Saliba and Perini agreed to pay $19 million to settle racketeering and fraud allegations in a San Francisco airport project.” … “The companies are embroiled in an 11 – year legal battle over $16 million in extra costs on a Los Angeles subway job.” (Emphasis added)"

http://crazifornia.com/2013/04/16/dirty-business-as-usual-at-california-high-speed-rail/

http://ocpoliticsblog.com/bid-results-for-1st-high-speed-rail-build-announced-difi-conflicted/

http://www.examiner.com/article/high-speed-rail-bidding-practice-questionable

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4/21/13, "High-Speed Rail bidding practice questionable," examiner.com, Kathy Hamilton

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Another citation for Richard Blum, Tutor Perini principal, husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein:

4/16/13, "Dirty Business as Usual at California High Speed Rail," crazifornia.com

"Out of the entire universe of those who could have won the first phase construction contract for California’s high speed rail boondoggle, who would stand out as the last person who would win it if there were no political patronage.

Put another way, who is the most likely person to win it if there is political patronage?

Both questions have the same answer: Richard Blum, the husband of California senator Diane Feinstein.

So, who won the contract?  Blum, of course, as the principle owner of Tutor Perini, the lead firm in the three-firm consortium selected by the California High Speed Rail Authority.

Yes, Diane, it really does look that bad to us little people."...via Free Republic



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