milking the public purse?

As Pogo so aptly observed, "We have met the enemy--and it is us!" That is, for voting Feinstein into office, election after election. Some people in California worry about illegal aliens pouring across the border from Mexico. I worry far more about insidious parasites like Feinstein who milk the public purse for all its worth while proclaiming loudly about how she's looking out for us. Yikes!

Michael Stubblefield, Oxnard

illuminati

Congratulations to the Bohemian and Peter Byrne on the interesting and comprehensive article about Sen. Feinstein. This most illuminating story regarding "a public servant" deserves recognition and further publication!

Bill Yoes, Abilene, Texas

calling mr. smith

I am both disheartened and disgusted as a lifelong Democrat to learn that my own senator has been ripping off the taxpayers just as badly as any GOP member ever has.

I rejoiced at the recent election. As with many of my fellow citizens, I'm fed up with the lies and policies of the current administration. I did not, however, vote for the same old crap with a new name. We want reform. We want honesty. Diane Feinstein, you should at least be censured by the Senate, and at most leave the Senate.

This is not the first time your ethics have been brought into question. Many years ago, you voted for students to get tuition and books paid for to those fly-by-night colleges. Your husband owned some of those, did he not?

Enough! No representative or senator should be allowed to skate by doing this kind of blatant dishonest behavior. It's about time that both parties clean house. We need Mr. Smith to go to Washington again!

Kama M. Scott, Disgusted Voter, Reseda

crony stink

I'm in the process of moving out of Marin, but I wanted to thank you for your article. The very fact that someone has the courage to approach these issues with regard to this woman is encouraging. Sen. Feinstein was right in line voting for the Iraq war and, when Israel invaded Lebanon, she held a rally in S.F. and spoke in favor of this attack. I have not voted for the senator in two elections now because she stinks of cronyism and certainly is not representing the people of the Bay Area in her pro-war stance and her support of Israel. One painful irony is that following her vote for the Iraqi war, an elementary school was named for her in San Francisco. How many of those children, I wrote to her at the time, will die in the fields of Iraq or some other country in the Middle East due to her vote?

I would so appreciate seeing you pursue both Feinstein and Schwarzenegger in their continued cozying up to oil and big corporate interests before our state is completely taken out of the control of those of us who love her deeply. Keep up the good work. I will continue to read you, only online from now on.

Gloria Simms, Leaving Mill Valley

unleashing byrne

I am glad to see Peter Byrne unleashed once again on a hunt for evidence of graft and corruption continually squashed by larger papers and most other media far less courageous in the San Francisco Bay Area.

He has yet again done a superb job here. Frankly, we all need to remove officials who use the system for familial personal gain, as he well proves.

Janet Campbell, San Francisco

absolutely stunning

Peter Byrne's fact-laden investigative report is absolutely stunning and beautifully presented. It's Pulitzer quality and I would seriously hope that the New York Times and Washington Post reprint it in full immediately.

While we may have differing views on other issues, I certainly salute excellent investigative journalism, including the attendant diligence and courage required to produce what Byrne just did.

Bravo!

Elaine Willman, National Chair, Citizens Equal Rights Alliance

cut the cord!

Any in Congress who have a conflict of interest, questionable behavior or an ethical problem should be dismissed from any committee that is related to that problem. Sen. Feinstein is only one example. There are probably others with similar problems. The umbilical cord to special interests must be severed. We must elect people who are public servants and not corrupt politicians.

Joseph Rizzuto, Los Gatos

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