Tom Feeney

Infobox_Congressman
name = Tom Feeney


date of birth = birth date and age|1958|05|21
place of birth = Abington, Pennsylvania
state = Florida
district = 24th
term_start = January 3 2003
preceded = First Representative (District Created After 2000 Census)
succeeded = Incumbent
religion = Presbyterian
party = Republican
spouse = Ellen Stewart Feeney
alma_mater=Penn State University, University of Pittsburgh
residence= Oviedo, Florida
occupation=attorney

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 ushr|Florida|24| ( [http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/fl24_109.gifmap] ), 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. [cite web | url = http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showflorida2000.php?fileid=fla_legislature12-06 | title = Fla. Legislature Announces Special Session | work = The American Presidency Project | date = 2000-12-06 | accessdate = 2007-02-25 ] 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. [cite news | title = Baseball commissioner warns: No new stadium, no Marlins | publisher = Associated Press | url = http://www.sptimes.com/News/042701/news_pf/Sports/Baseball_commissioner.shtml | date = 2001-04-17 | accessdate = 2007-02-25 ]

U.S. House of Representatives

Florida gained two congressional districts 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 [cite news | url = http://www.fairvote.org/redistricting/reports/remanual/flnews4.htm | title = Between the Lines (excerpt) | publisher = Roll Call | first = John | last = Mercurio | date = 2002-03-11 | accessdate = 2007-02-25 ] , 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.

Feeney is a staunch advocate of a federal prohibition of online poker. In 2006, he cosponsored H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act [ [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.04777: Thomas (Library of Congress): HR 4777] ] , and voted for H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act [ [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.04411: Thomas (Library of Congress): HR 4411] ] . In 2008, he opposed H.R. 5767, the Payment Systems Protection Act (a bill that sought to place a moratorium on enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act while the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve defined "unlawful Internet gambling"). 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." [cite news | title = Scalia Tells Congress to Minds Its Own Business | publisher = Washington Post | date = 2006-05-19 | first = Charles | last = Lane | url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/18/AR2006051801961.html | page = A19 | accessdate = 2007-02-25 ]

Committee Assignments

*Financial Services Committee
**Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises
**Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
*Judiciary Committee
**Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property
**Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law
**Antitrust Task Force and Competition Policy
*Committee on Science and Technology
**Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee (Ranking Member)
*Assistant Whip

Awards

In 2006, Feeney was named a "Taxpayer Superhero" by the Citizens Against Government Waste.cite press release | title = Tax Cuts and Spending Reform Slash Deficit | publisher = Office of Representative Tom Feeney | date= 2006-10-11 | url = http://www.house.gov/list/press/fl24_feeney/DeficitCut.shtml | accessdate = 2006-10-30 ] 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 [cite web | url = http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=75 | title = NTU's Taxpayer Friends in the House for 2004 | work = National Taxpayers Union | accessdate = 2006-02-26 ] and in 2006. [cite web | url = http://www.ntu.org/main/page.php?PageID=117 | title = NTU's Taxpayer Friends in the House for 2006 | work = National Taxpayers Union | accessdate = 2006-02-26 ]

Controversies

In 2004, Clinton Eugene Curtis, a computer programmer from Florida, testified under oath that he was instructed by Tom Feeney in 2000, to create a software program that could effectively hack and change the data in all electronic voting machines. The program would use the already cast votes and turn the election 51/49 in the favor of whichever party the user desired. At the time, Curtis thought that Congressman Feeney wanted a prototype program for defensive purposes. Four years later, in 2004, Curtis dropped Congressman Tom Feeney's name during the final moments of the presidential election when the results from Ohio were still coming in. However, the investigation of the ballot tampering was halted when Sen. John Kerry conceded defeat on Nov. 4, 2004. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzBI33kOiKc YouTube - American Election Hacker Testifies ] ]

In September 2006, Feeney was named one of the [http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/summaries/feeney.php "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." [cite web | url = http://www.beyonddelay.org/summaries/feeney.php | title = Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) | work = Beyond Delay | accessdate = 2007-02-25 ]

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.

cotland

Jack Abramoff 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. [Anita Kumar, [http://www.sptimes.com/2007/04/29/Worldandnation/Rep_Feeney_sought_rul.shtml "Rep. Feeney sought rule change tied to Abramoff"] , "St. Petersburg Times", April 29, 2007]

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. [Tamara Lytle, ["'Duped' Feeney will pay for golf trip with lobbyist"] , "Sun-Sentinel", January 4, 2007] In April 2007, Federal agents asked the "St. Petersburg Times" for an email sent to the newspaper by Feeney's office describing the trip. [Anita Kumar, [http://www.sptimes.com/2007/04/23/Worldandnation/FBI_asks_Tom_Feeney_a.shtml "FBI asks Tom Feeney about trip with Abramoff"] , St. Petersburg Times, April 23, 2007]

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. [ [http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/dc/zachares_info.pdf Docket for Mark Zachares] (pdf), April 23, 2007] Zachares has pleaded guilty to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from Abramoff. [cite news | date=April 24, 2007 | title=Abramoff probe ensnares ex-Hill aide | author=Pete Yost | publisher=Associated Press | url=http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/4744394.html]

In September 2008, Feeney's campaign ran a television ad in which apologized for his bad judgment in taking the trip.cite news | url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/09/ad_wars_feeneys_mea_culpa.html |title=Ad Wars: Feeney's Mea Culpa | work=Washington Post |author=Chris Cillizza |date=September 23, 2008 ]

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.Fact|date=December 2007

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 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. "Skip" Fowler [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skip_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. [ [http://harpers.org/sb-congressman-tom-feeney-an-appreciation-1152659942.html "Congressman Tom Feeney: An Appreciation"] , "Harper's Magazine", July 12, 2006]

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.cite news
last = Morgan
first = Lucy
title = Blogs spin tale of computers, conspiracies
publisher = St. Petersburg Times
date= 2005-05-09
url = http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/2005/04/09/State/Blogs_spin_tale_of_co.shtml
accessdate = 2006-10-24 ] [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEzY2tnwExs Computer Programmer testifies that Tom Feeney tried to pay him to rig election vote counts] ] Although a Wired News story noted that Curtis had no direct knowledge of the vote counting being falsified,cite news
last = Zetter
first = Kim
title = More Questions for Florida
publisher = Wired News
date= 2004-12-13
url = http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,66002,00.html
accessdate = 2006-10-24] Curtis subsequently passed a polygraph (lie detector) test commissioned by a Washington, D.C. private investigator.

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.

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. [Emily Heil, [http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/UndertheDome/092806.html "Feeney website dubs opponent ‘Crazy Clint’"] , "The Hill", September 28, 2006] The website in question was created by political consultant Ralph Gonzales, who was later murdered in a bizarre double-murder/suicide. [ [http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070827/BREAKINGNEWS/70827073/1086 The article requested can not be found! Please refresh your browser or go back. (A9,20070827,BREAKINGNEWS,70827073,AR) ] ]

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.cite news
title = Porn Mag Used In Political Mailer Upsets Local Mother
publisher = WFTV.com
date= 2006-10-06
url = http://www.wftv.com/news/10011093/detail.html?rss=orlc&psp=news
accessdate = 2006-10-24]

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. [Robert Perez, [http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-24cong0706oct07,0,5229164.story?coll=orl-news-headlines-state "House race turns zanier: Candidate's claims spark Internet spoof"] , "Orlando Sentinel", October 7, 2006]

Feeney was reelected with 58% of the vote in 2006. [cite news | title = STATE RACES» Florida | work = Elections 2006 | publisher = CNN | accessdate = 2007-02-25 | url = http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006//pages/results/states/FL/index.html ]

2008 re-election campaign

In June 2007, Feeney's district was one of five in Florida that Democrats hoped to win from the Republicans in 2008. [Brendan Farrington, [http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20070623/APN/706230504 "Florida will be a congressional battleground again in 2008"] , "Herald Tribune", June 23, 2007] Despite the perception that Feeney drew it for himself, it is actually a fairly marginal district on paper; it gave George W. Bush 52 percent of the vote in 2000 and 56 percent in 2004. [ [http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=district-FL-24 CQ Politics | District Detail: FL-24 ] ] It also includes most of Democratic-leaning Volusia County.

In a poll released on September 18, 2008, former state representative Suzanne Kosmas, the Democratic candidate, had 42 percent of the vote, compared to 43 percent for Feeney, with the remaining voters undecided. [cite news |url=http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2008/09/democrat-suzann.html |work=Orlando Sentinel |date=September 18, 2008 | title= Poll: Kosmas has pulled even with Feeney |author=Rachael Jackson ] Filings with the Federal Election Commission showed that Feeney had raised $1.5 million as of August 6, compared to $1.2 million by Kosmas, and that Feeney had $804,000 on hand as of that date, compared to $836,000 for Kosmas.

Position on 2008 "Bailout"

On September 29, 2008, Feeney voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008cite web|title= Bailout Roll Call | url= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/29/bailout.rollcall.0929.pdf| date= 2008-09-29 Retrieved on September 29, 2008]

=See also=
*2004 U.S. presidential election controversy
*2004 U.S. presidential election controversy, voting machines

References

External links

* [http://www.house.gov/feeney/ Congressman Tom Feeney] official U.S. House site
* [http://www.tomfeeney.com/ Tom Feeney for Congress] official campaign site
* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tom_Feeney Profile] at SourceWatch Congresspedia
* [http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/community_altamonte_blog/ Altamonte Springs Community Blog]