Tom Feeney

Tom Feeney
33rd district
In office November 5, 1996 – November 5, 2002
Preceded by	Marvin R. Couch[1]
Succeeded by	Sandy Adams
Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 35th district
In office November 3, 1992 – November 8, 1994
Preceded by	Art Grindle[2]
Succeeded by	Bob Brooks
Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 37th district
In office November 6, 1990 – November 3, 1992
Preceded by	Rich Crotty[3]
Succeeded by	Lee Constantine
Personal details
Born	Thomas Charles Feeney III (1958-05-21) May 21, 1958 (age 67) Penn State University (BA) University of Pittsburgh (JD)
Occupation	Attorney

Thomas Charles Feeney III (born May 21, 1958) is an American politician from

.

Early life

He was born in

, a suburb of Orlando where he still lives, and opened a private practice.

Florida legislature

In 1990, Feeney was elected to the

]

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

recounts

needed to be completed, and that by doing so, a clear legal victor would emerge.

Feeney and then State Senate president John McKay argued 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.

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

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,^[6] 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 Florida representative Mario Díaz-Balart). He was handily elected in 2002, re-elected unopposed in 2004, and took 58% of the vote in 2006.

Feeney was 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. ^{[citation needed]}

Feeney is a staunch advocate of a federal prohibition of online

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 government spending watchdog group. ^{[citation needed]}

Feeney cosponsored a non-binding 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."^[9]

• 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

In 2006, Feeney was named a "Taxpayer Superhero" by the Citizens Against Government Waste.^[10]

He received a perfect score from 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^[11] and in 2006.

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;^[12] 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."^[13] Feeney was subsequently listed in CREW's 2007 and 2008 reports as well. ^{[citation needed]}

In August 2003, Feeney took a golfing trip to Scotland. The trip was paid for by former lobbyist (now convicted criminal) Jack Abramoff, who went with Feeney to Scotland. In March 2003, Feeney was one of 10 Republican lawmakers who wrote to the Department of Energy opposing changes to the Energy Star, changes also being fought by an Abramoff client.^[14]

In January 2007, Feeney agreed to pay $5,643 to the

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.^[17] Zachares pleaded guilty to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from Abramoff.^[18] In September 2008, Feeney's campaign ran a television ad in which apologized for his "bad judgment" in taking the trip.^[19]

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, Feeney's former law partner. Fowler said that he and Feeney purchased the condo as an investment, paying a total of $175,000. ^{[citation needed]}

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.^[20]

Feeney's 2006 congressional opponent, Clint Curtis, has previously provided an

Feeney claimed 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 mention the alleged scheme to commit election fraud in the edition published prior to the 2004 election.[21]

A three-judge panel of United States circuit judges for the

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 in a mental institution wearing a tinfoil hat. Curtis claimed that the attention was actually helping him.[25] The website in question was created by a political consultant, Ralph Gonzales.^{[citation needed]}

Feeney refused to debate Curtis. He said it would be a disservice to voters to do so. He also said that to hold the debate would acknowledge there were two credible candidates in the race. Curtis countered that Feeney was ducking him.^[26]

In early October, Feeney's campaign sent out flyers to 110,000 voters that showed Curtis' head superimposed on the body of Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner. The flyer also mentioned Larry Flynt and Hustler magazine. Feeney said he was using such tactics to inform the voters that Flynt had endorsed Curtis. Curtis responded that he has never met Flynt or anyone at Hustler.^[27] Feeney was re-elected with 58 percent of the vote in 2006.^[28]

In June 2007, Feeney's district was one of five in Florida that Democrats hoped to win from the Republicans in 2008.

]

Feeney faced former state representative Suzanne Kosmas in the November election. Kosmas and Feeney served together in the State House from 1996 to 2003, representing neighboring districts. In a poll released on September 18, 2008, Kosmas had 42% of the vote, compared to 43% for Feeney, with the remaining voters undecided.^[31] 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.^[19]

Kosmas attacked Feeney's ties to Abramoff, which helped her quickly gain her traction. The Orlando Sentinel endorsed Kosmas, suggesting Feeney was too conservative for the district.^[32] An internal poll for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee showed Kosmas leading Feeney by 23 points, 58% to 35%. Congressional Quarterly had rated the contest as "No Clear Favorite" for most of the campaign, but changed it to "Leans Democratic" in its closing weeks. In the November election, Feeney was defeated, taking 41% of the vote to Kosmas' 57% – the largest margin of defeat for a Republican incumbent in the 2008 cycle.

Florida's 10th congressional district: Results 2002-2008^[33]

Year		Republican	Votes	Pct		Democrat	Votes	Pct		Third Party	Votes	Pct
2002		Tom Feeney	135,576	62%		Harry Jacobs	83,667	38%
2004		Tom Feeney (inc.)	Unopposed	100%
2006		Tom Feeney (inc.)	123,795	58%		Clint Curtis	89,863	42%
2008		Tom Feeney (inc.)	151,863	41%		Suzanne Kosmas	211,284	57%		Gaurav Bhola	6,223	2%

External links

• Tom Feeney for Congress official campaign site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN

Party political offices
Preceded by J. Allison DeFoor	Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Florida 1994	Succeeded by Frank Brogan
Florida House of Representatives
Preceded by Richard Crotty	Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 37th District 1990–1992	Succeeded by D. Lee Constantine
Preceded by Arthur Grindle	Member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 35th District 1992–1994	Succeeded by Robert G. Brooks
Preceded by Marvin Couch	Member of the 33rd District 1996–2002	Succeeded by Sandy Adams
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by District Created	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 24th congressional district January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2009	Succeeded by Suzanne Kosmas
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by Joe Scarborough as Former US Representative	Order of precedence of the United States as Former US Representative	Succeeded by Alan Grayson as Former US Representative