Dianne Feinstein

Peter Hall

Dianne Feinstein was born on June 22, 1933, right in the middle of "The Great

Depression." Her childhood was in San Francisco. Her mother was a former model,

and her father was a nationally recognized surgeon.

Feinstein is a devout Jew, but as a child she received a Catholic education. She

began her political career when she was appointed by the Californian Governor Pat

Brown to The California Women Parole Board. In 1969 she won a position on The

San Francisco Board of Supervisors. She served on the board for nine years, and

became its first female President. While she was serving on the board, she made

two unsuccessful bids for the Mayoral Office. Her first run was against Mayor Joseph

Alioto in 1971. Her second loss occurred in 1975, when she was running against

George Moscone and Supervisor John Barbagelata. Barbagelata won, and beat her

by one percentage point.

However, Feinstein eventually did make it to the office, and her ascension was a

result of a stunning, and deadly incident. On November 27, 1978, Dan White, a

former disgruntled City Supervisor assassinated San Francisco Mayor George

Moscone, and Harvey Milk, another supervisor. Because she was The President of

The Board of Supervisors, she was automatically the next in the line of succession.

She became the first female Mayor of San Francisco on December 4th. She served

out the rest of George Moscone's term, and won her first election to the office in

1979. She was re-elected in 1983.

During her second term as Mayor, she became a bit unpopular, because of her

proposal to ban hand guns in the city. In retaliation "The White Panther Party"

organized a recall election. She won the election, and finished her second term as

Mayor on January 8th, 1988.

Two years later Feinstein tried her luck again by running for The Governorship of

California. She lost to Republican Pete Wilson, who abdicated his seat in The United

States Senate to take command of the office. In 1992, it was discovered that she

had failed to report campaign contributions and associated costs for her candidacy.

She was subsequently fined 190,000.

On November 3, 1992, Feinstein won a special election to fill the Senate Seat that

had been abandoned when Pete Wilson was elected Governor. Wilson had

previously appointed John F. Seymour to his old seat. Senator Barbara Boxer was

elected at the same time to fill a seat to be vacated by Alan Cranston. Because

Feinstein was elected to an unexpired term, she became Senator as soon as the

results were certified. Also because the term was not finished when she was

elected, she became California's Senior Senator, even though Barbara Boxer was

elected at the same time. Feinstein has been re-elected three times, in 1994, 2000,

and 2006.

She is currently a sitting member on The Council of Foreign Relations. In December

2007 a poll was conducted to show her approval rating. The poll results concluded

that 51 percent approved of her performance, while 39 percent disapproved, 10 percent

did not declare an opinion.

Dianne Feinstein is a Democrat and holds most her party's opinions as her own.

However she does delineate from her party's platform on some key issues. For

example when Feinstein has offered her opinions on the second Iraqi war, she said

that President Bush had misled the American people on the issue of "weapons of

mass destruction." However, in May 2007 she voted for an Emergency Supplemental

Appropriations bill, which continued to fund the occupation of Iraq without a

timetable for withdrawal. Another example occurred in November 2007 when she

was one of six Democrats who confirmed Michael Mukasey, President Bush's

Republican nominee as the new Attorney General.

Dianne Feinstein has also sided with Republicans to vote on a modified version of

The FISA. Her support has caused an uproar among privacy advocates, who can't

believe she would support the bill. She has also stated that she is in favor of The

USA Patriot Act. She is also a supporter of capital punishment, and she was also the

main Democratic supporter of the failed 2006 constitutional amendment to ban flag

burning. She also supported the bi-partisan McCain-Feingold legislation. She also

heavily supports President Bush's immigration reform bill. She also mentioned that

she wanted to revise The Fairness Doctrine, which would specifically target talk

radio. Feinstein is the main supporter and cosponsor of H-1B Visa Program which

allows skilled workers from foreign countries to work temporarily in America.

However the program is very strict and requires that the workers be skilled in a

specialty, and that they have a bachelors degree and a license from the state.

Because of her views, Dianne Feinstein has been the target of numerous political

and character attacks. Her own party even tried to have her censured, because of

her votes to confirm Judge Leslie Southwick and Attorney Michael Mukasey. Her

party was also concerned about her stance on the FISA bill. The attempt ultimately

failed, but we can expect more attacks in the future.

1. Why did you support The Bush Administrations occupation of Iraq, when you have

previously stated that you think President Bush has misled the American people on

the issue of WMD's?

2. Why do you support capital punishment?

3.Why did you vote to give the executive branch complete authority of monitoring

the communications of American citizens, instead of letting the special court

established by FISA handle the issue?

4. Why do you support the USA Patriot Act? And how do you think it will keep us

safe, without jeopardizing our civil liberties.

5. Why did you try to have a constitutional amendment added that would have

banned flag burning, which is definitely an expression of an individual's freedom of

speech?

1. What is your favorite song?

2. When do plan of retiring from politics?

3. Have you ever done anything dishonest to gain an advantage for your career?

4. Are you ever going to run for President?

5. Who are you going to vote for in the current race for President?