Tom Feeney
| Tom Feeney | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 7 2003 |
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| Preceded by | First Representative (District Created After 2000 Census) |
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| Succeeded by | Incumbent |
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| Born | May 23 1958 Abington, Pennsylvania |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Ellen Stewart |
| Religion | Presbyterian |
Thomas Charles "Tom" Feeney III, usually known as Tom Feeney (born May 21 1958), is a Republican politician from the state of Florida. Since 2003, he has represented Florida's 24th congressional district (map), which takes up several portions of the Orlando-Daytona Beach area as well as portions of the Space Coast region.
He was born in Abington, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. He graduated from Penn State University in 1980, obtaining a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1983. Soon afterwards, he moved to Oviedo, Florida; a suburb of Orlando where he still lives, and opened a private practice there.
Florida legislature
In 1990, Feeney was elected to the Florida House of Representatives as a Republican from Seminole County. He served two terms there before running for lieutenant governor of Florida as Jeb Bush's running mate in 1994. After the pair narrowly lost, Feeney joined the James Madison Institute, a conservative think tank, as a director. He returned to the Florida House in 1996 and was elected as Speaker of that body in 2000.
Feeney first came to national prominence in 2000, shortly after his election as Speaker, when he led efforts to certify the state's Republican presidential electors even though it was still unclear whether George W. Bush or Al Gore had won the state's electoral votes. Feeney and his colleagues claimed that Florida's electoral votes were in imminent danger of being removed from consideration if the results of the popular vote in the state could not be determined with legal certainty. While Article 2 of the United States Constitution places this power in the legislature, many Democrats insisted that recounts needed to be completed, and that by doing so, a clear legal victor would emerge. Feeney and State Senate president John McKay argued that the state Supreme Court's verdict in favor of the Democrats' position on recounts essentially "tainted" the entire process, so that there was (as Feeney stated) "a great risk" Florida's electoral votes would be disregarded altogether in the selection of the next President.[1] The U.S. Supreme Court's verdict in Bush v. Gore rejected the argument from uncertainty by a margin of 6-3, and halted the recount process on other grounds. Bush won Florida and the election.
In 2001, Feeney was one of the lawmakers who opposed a demand by Bud Selig that the state finance a new baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins. At that time, Selig had threatened that the Marlins might leave South Florida if they did not receive a tax break.[2]
U.S. House of Representatives
Florida gained two congressional district after the 2000 census. One of them was the 24th District in the Orlando area. Some have argued that Feeney drew this district for himself [3], since it included virtually all of his state House district and term limits prohibited him from running for the state House again. (The other new district, the 25th, was drawn for fellow state representative Mario Diaz-Balart). He was handily elected in 2002, re-elected unopposed in 2004, and took 58% of the vote in 2006.
Political positions
Feeney is one of the most conservative members of the House. He drafted a "Principles Card" soon after becoming state house speaker which allowed his fellow Republicans to check if legislation was consistent with conservative principles. He modified this card when he came to Congress, calling it the Conservative Check Card.
Despite his ties to the Bush family, Feeney broke with the White House and opposed the Medicare reform package of 2003 since he felt its centerpiece, a prescription drug benefit for senior citizens, was too expensive. He was a founding member of Washington Waste Watchers, a group that combats what it considers to be wasteful government spending.
Feeney is a cosponsor of a nonbinding resolution against the use of foreign law in federal courts. When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said (of the resolution) that "[i]t's none of your business", Feeney said that Scalia's comments were "like being told your favorite baseball player disagrees with your approach to hitting."[4]
Awards
In 2006, Feeney was named a "Taxpayer Superhero" by the Citizens Against Government Waste.[5] He received a perfect score from the Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform(ATR). He was named "Guardian of Small Business" by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). The National Taxpayers Union presented Feeney with the "Taxpayers' Friend Award" in 2004[6] and in 2006.[7]
Controversies
In September 2006, Feeney was named one of the "20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress" in a report by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington; he was also listed in the first report by the organization in January 2006, when he was one of 13 named members. The organization said "His ethics issues arise from trips he has taken in apparent violation of House travel and gift rules and from his failure to disclosure his ownership of rental property."[8]
Trips
Korea
In 2003, Feeney visited South Korea on a trip sponsored by the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council (KORUSEC), despite the fact that the organization was registered with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act; he also failed to file travel disclosure forms for the trip.
Scotland
| Abramoff Scandal |
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Events & scandals
Plead guilty
Convicted
Named but not charged
Others
Lists
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In August 2003, Feeney took a trip to Scotland, apparently to golf (a violation of House rules). When Feeney reported the trip on congressional-disclosure forms, he said the National Center for Public Policy Research had paid for it, something that the Center denied. In fact, the trip was paid for by former lobbyist (now convicted criminal) Jack Abramoff, who went with Feeney to Scotland. Feeney has said "My office has never done anything for Jack Abramoff", but in March 2003, Feeney was one of ten Republican lawmakers who wrote to the Energy Department opposing changes to the Energy Star, changes also being fought by an Abramoff client.[9]
In January 2007, Feeney agreed to pay $5,643 to the U.S. Treasury to cover the trip's cost, after the House ethics committee concluded that the trip did not comply with House rules. [10] In April 2007, Federal agents asked the St. Petersburg Times for an email sent to the newspaper by Feeney's office describing the trip.[11]
Feeney was named as "Representative #3" in the Justice Department's April 23, 2007 criminal information against Mark Zachares, a former congressional aide of Representative Don Young.[12] Zachares has pleaded guilty to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from Abramoff.[13]
Orlando, Florida
In November 2003, Feeney and his wife, Ellen, spent four days in Orlando, Florida, on a trip paid for by a registered lobbying firm.
Rental property
In May 2006, Feeney reported on his personal financial disclosure form that he was the joint owner of a condominium at the Royal Mansions resort in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Feeney listed the purchase date as January of 2005, but online records of the Brevard County Appraiser's office show that the sale actually took place in late 2003. The only listed purchaser is James A. Fowler, Feeney's former law partner. Fowler said that he and Feeney purchased the condo as an investment, paying a total of $175,000.
Two identically sized units at the resort sold earlier in 2006 for $420,000 and $450,000. According to a note in the Harper's Magazine weblog "Washington Babylon," while not necessarily illegal, Feeney's failure to include the purchase as part of his 2003 financial reporting is a violation of House rules.[14]
Voting fraud
Feeney's 2006 congressional opponent, Clint Curtis has previously provided a sworn affidavit alleging that in October 2000, Feeney asked Curtis, then a computer programmer at Yang Enterprises, to design a computer program to falsify touch-screen voting results in Palm Beach County.[15][16] Although a Wired News story cast doubt on Curtis's allegations[17], Curtis subsequently passed a polygraph (lie detector) test commissioned by a Washington, D.C. private investigator.[15]
Feeney has responded that he has no recollection of even meeting Curtis; that he could not have engaged in such a scheme because Palm Beach County did not even consider obtaining touch screen machines until after the 2000 election; and that although Curtis wrote a book in the summer of 2004 accusing Feeney of a wide variety of misconduct, Curtis did not even mention the alleged scheme to commit vote fraud in the edition published prior to the 2004 election. [15]
2006 re-election campaign
In 2006, Feeney faced Democrat Clint Curtis in the November general election.
In September, Feeney's campaign launched a website that depicts Curtis as a tinfoil hat-wearing loony-bin candidate. The website is full of references to conspiracies and aluminum hats. Curtis claimed that the attention was actually helping him. [18] The website in question was created by political consultant Ralph Gonzales, who was later murdered in a bizarre double-murder/suicide. [19]
In early October, Feeney's campaign sent out flyers to 110,000 voters that showed the head of Curtis superimposed on what's supposed to be the body of Playboy magazine publisher Hugh Hefner. The flyer also mentioned Larry Flynt and Hustler magazine. Feeney said he was using such tactics to inform the voters that Curtis was endorsed by Flynt. Curtis responded that he has never met Flynt or anyone at Hustler magazine.[15]
Feeney refused to debate Curtis on substantive policy issues. It would be a disservice to voters to do so, he said. Curtis countered that Feeney was ducking him.[20]
Feeney was reelected with 58% of the vote in 2006.[21]
2008 election
Presidential candidate support
In mid-January 2007, Feeney endorsed Mitt Romney's nascent campaign for United States President. "With his record of fighting for lower taxes and balanced budgets, Gov. Romney is the right kind of leader to bring fiscal sanity back to Washington," Feeney said in a statement.[22]
Feeney's chief of staff, Jason Roe (politician), is serving as deputy campaign manager for Romney.
Re-election
In June 2007, the 24th Congressional District was one of five in Florida that Democrats hoped to win from the Republicans in 2008. At that time, the party was recruiting a candidate to oppose Feeney.[23]
See also
- 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy
- 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy, voting machines
References
- ^ Fla. Legislature Announces Special Session. The American Presidency Project (2000-12-06). Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ "Baseball commissioner warns: No new stadium, no Marlins", Associated Press, 2001-04-17. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ Mercurio, John. "Between the Lines (excerpt)", Roll Call, 2002-03-11. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ Lane, Charles. "Scalia Tells Congress to Minds Its Own Business", Washington Post, 2006-05-19, p. A19. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ Office of Representative Tom Feeney (2006-10-11). Tax Cuts and Spending Reform Slash Deficit. Press release. Retrieved on 2006-10-30.
- ^ NTU's Taxpayer Friends in the House for 2004. National Taxpayers Union. Retrieved on 2006-02-26.
- ^ NTU's Taxpayer Friends in the House for 2006. National Taxpayers Union. Retrieved on 2006-02-26.
- ^ Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL). Beyond Delay. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ Anita Kumar, "Rep. Feeney sought rule change tied to Abramoff", St. Petersburg Times, April 29, 2007
- ^ Tamara Lytle, ["'Duped' Feeney will pay for golf trip with lobbyist"], Sun-Sentinel, January 4, 2007
- ^ Anita Kumar, "FBI asks Tom Feeney about trip with Abramoff", St. Petersburg Times, April 23, 2007
- ^ Docket for Mark Zachares (pdf), April 23, 2007
- ^ Pete Yost. "Abramoff probe ensnares ex-Hill aide", Associated Press, April 24, 2007.
- ^ "Congressman Tom Feeney: An Appreciation", Harper's Magazine, July 12, 2006
- ^ a b c d Morgan, Lucy. "Blogs spin tale of computers, conspiracies", St. Petersburg Times, 2005-05-09. Retrieved on 2006-10-24.
- ^ Computer Programmer testifies that Tom Feeney tried to pay him to rig election vote counts
- ^ Zetter, Kim. "More Questions for Florida", Wired News, 2004-12-13. Retrieved on 2006-10-24.
- ^ Emily Heil, "Feeney website dubs opponent ‘Crazy Clint’", The Hill, September 28, 2006
- ^ http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070827/BREAKINGNEWS/70827073/1086
- ^ Robert Perez, "House race turns zanier: Candidate's claims spark Internet spoof", Orlando Sentinel, October 7, 2006
- ^ "STATE RACES» Florida", Elections 2006, CNN. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
- ^ "Feeney's a Fan", St. Petersburg Times blog, January 19, 2007
- ^ Brendan Farrington, "Florida will be a congressional battleground again in 2008", Herald Tribune, June 23, 2007
External links
- U.S. Congressman Tom Feeney official House site
- Tom Feeney at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Federal Election Commission — Tom Feeney campaign finance reports and data
- On the Issues — Tom Feeney issue positions and quotes
- OpenSecrets.org — Tom Feeney campaign contributions
- Project Vote Smart — Representative Tom Feeney (FL) profile
- SourceWatch Congresspedia — Tom Feeney profile
- Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Tom Feeney voting record
- Tom Feeney for Congress — official campaign site
- Beyond Delay — Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
- Altamonte Springs Community Blog
- Video of Clinton Curtis's testimony (YouTube)
| Preceded by District Created |
Representative
of the 24th Congressional District of Florida 2005–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
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