Tom Feeney
Encyclopedia
Thomas Charles "Tom" Feeney III, usually known as Tom Feeney (born May 21, 1958), is an American
politician from the state of Florida
. He represented . He was defeated in the 2008 election by Democrat Suzanne Kosmas
.
, 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.
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. 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.
. One of them was the 24th District in the Orlando area. Some have argued that Feeney drew this district for himself, 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.
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, and voted for H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. 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 government spending watchdog group.
Feeney cosponsored 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."
. 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 and in 2006.
; 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." He was subsequently listed in CREW's 2007 and 2008 reports as well.
. 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 Energy Department opposing changes to the Energy Star
, changes also being fought by an Abramoff client.
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. In April 2007, Federal agents asked the St. Petersburg Times
for an email sent to the newspaper by Feeney's office describing the trip.
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
. Zachares has pleaded guilty to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from Abramoff.
In September 2008, Feeney's campaign ran a television ad in which apologized for his "bad judgment" in taking the trip.
. 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.
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.
, 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. Curtis subsequently passed a polygraph
test commissioned by a Washington, D.C.
private investigator. A Wired News
story noted that Curtis had no direct knowledge of the vote counting software having been used in a public election.
Feeney has 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.
unanimously refused to allow federal prosecutors to subpoena Feeney's sealed testimony that he had provided to the House Ethics Committee
. In July 2009, Brett Kavanaugh
, one of the judges on the panel, called for an en banc
review of the circuit's prior precedent by all of the judges in the D.C. Circuit.
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. The website in question was created by political consultant Ralph Gonzales.
Feeney refused to debate Curtis on substantive policy issues. He said that it would be a disservice to voters to do so. Feeney also said that to holding the debate would acknowledge that there were two credible candidates in the race. Curtis countered that Feeney was ducking him.
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.
Feeney was reelected with 58 percent of the vote in 2006.
of R+3, making it a fairly marginal district on paper. The district gave George W. Bush 52 percent of the vote in 2000 and 56 percent in 2004. It also includes most of Democratic-leaning Volusia County.
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 percent of the vote, compared to 43 percent for Feeney, with the remaining voters undecided. 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.
Kosmas attacked Feeney's ties to Abramoff, which quickly gained her traction in this district. The Orlando Sentinel
endorsed Kosmas, suggesting Feeney was too conservative for the district. An internal poll for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
showed Kosmas leading Feeney by 23 points, 58 percent to 35 percent. 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 percent of the vote to Kosmas' 57 percent — the largest margin of defeat for a Republican incumbent in the 2008 cycle.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician from the state of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. He represented . He was defeated in the 2008 election by Democrat Suzanne Kosmas
Suzanne Kosmas
Suzanne M. Kosmas is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party...
.
Early life
He was born in Abington, PennsylvaniaAbington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
Abington Township is a township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 55,310 in as of the 2010 census.Abington Township is one of Montgomery County's oldest communities dating back to before 1700 and being incorporated in 1704. It is home to some of the county's...
, a suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...
of Philadelphia. He graduated from Penn State University in 1980, obtaining a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law
University of Pittsburgh School of Law
The University of Pittsburgh School of Law was founded in 1895, and became a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools in 1900...
in 1983. Soon afterwards, he moved to Oviedo, Florida
Oviedo, Florida
Oviedo is a city in Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 26,316 as of the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 32,961...
, a suburb of Orlando where he still lives, and opened a private practice.
Florida legislature
In 1990, Feeney was elected to the Florida House of RepresentativesFlorida House of Representatives
The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...
as a Republican from Seminole County
Seminole County, Florida
Seminole County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. Located between Orlando to the south and Deland and Daytona Beach to the north, it is part of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. Its county seat and largest city is Sanford...
. He served two terms there before running for lieutenant governor
Lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor or lieutenant-governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a "second-in-command"...
of Florida as Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush
John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is a prominent member of the Bush family: the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush; the younger brother of former President George W...
's running mate in 1994. After the pair narrowly lost, Feeney joined the James Madison Institute
James Madison Institute
The James Madison Institute is a free-market think tank headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida in the United States. It is a member of the State Policy Network.Their views are that "the Institute's ideas are rooted in a belief in the U.S...
, 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
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
or Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
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
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
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. The U.S. Supreme Court's verdict in Bush v. Gore
Bush v. Gore
Bush v. Gore, , is the landmark United States Supreme Court decision on December 12, 2000, that effectively resolved the 2000 presidential election in favor of George W. Bush. Only eight days earlier, the United States Supreme Court had unanimously decided the closely related case of Bush v...
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
Bud Selig
Allan Huber "Bud" Selig is the ninth and current Commissioner of Major League Baseball, having served in that capacity since 1992 as the acting commissioner, and as the official commissioner since 1998...
that the state finance a new baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins
Florida Marlins
The Miami Marlins are a professional baseball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 1993 as an expansion franchise called the Florida Marlins, the Marlins are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's National League. The Marlins played their home games at...
. At that time, Selig had threatened that the Marlins might leave South Florida if they did not receive a tax break.
U.S. House of Representatives
Florida gained two congressional districts after the 2000 censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
. One of them was the 24th District in the Orlando area. Some have argued that Feeney drew this district for himself, 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
Mario Diaz-Balart
Mario Rafael Diaz-Balart Caballero is the current U.S. Representative for , serving since 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he was elected in 2010 to succeed his brother, Lincoln Diaz-Balart. The district includes the city of Hialeah, along with several of Miami's southwestern suburbs...
). He was handily elected in 2002, re-elected unopposed in 2004, and took 58% of the vote in 2006.
Political positions
Feeney was one of the most conservativeConservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
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
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
. In 2006, he cosponsored H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act, and voted for H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. In 2008, he opposed H.R. 5767, the Payment Systems Protection Act (a bill that sought to place a moratorium
Moratorium (law)
A moratorium is a delay or suspension of an activity or a law. In a legal context, it may refer to the temporary suspension of a law to allow a legal challenge to be carried out....
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
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
and opposed the Medicare
Medicare (United States)
Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...
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.
Feeney cosponsored a nonbinding resolution against the use of foreign law in federal courts. When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. As the longest-serving justice on the Court, Scalia is the Senior Associate Justice...
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."
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 WasteCitizens Against Government Waste
Citizens Against Government Waste is a 501 non-profit organization in the United States. It functions as a think-tank, 'government watchdog', and advocacy group for fiscally conservative causes...
. He received a perfect score from the Grover Norquist
Grover Norquist
Grover Glenn Norquist is an American lobbyist, conservative activist, and founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform...
's Americans for Tax Reform
Americans for Tax Reform
Americans for Tax Reform is an advocacy group and taxpayer group whose stated goal is "a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today. The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax...
(ATR). He was named "Guardian of Small Business" by the National Federation of Independent Business
National Federation of Independent Business
The National Federation of Independent Business is a lobbying organization with its headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee and offices in Washington, D.C. USA, and in all 50 state capitals...
(NFIB). The National Taxpayers Union
National Taxpayers Union
National Taxpayers Union is a taxpayers advocacy organization and taxpayers union in the United States, founded in 1969 by James Dale Davidson. NTU advertises that it is the largest and oldest grassroots taxpayer organization in the nation, with 362,000 members nationwide. It is closely...
presented Feeney with the "Taxpayers' Friend Award" in 2004 and in 2006.
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 WashingtonCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is a nonprofit 501 organization that describes itself as "dedicated to promoting ethics and accountability in government and public life by targeting government officials – regardless of party affiliation – who sacrifice the common good to...
; 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." He was subsequently listed in CREW's 2007 and 2008 reports as well.
Scotland
In August 2003, Feeney took a golfing trip to ScotlandScotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. The trip was paid for by former lobbyist (now convicted criminal) Jack Abramoff
Jack Abramoff
Jack Abramoff is an American former lobbyist and businessman. Convicted in 2006 of mail fraud and conspiracy, he was at the heart of an extensive corruption investigation that led to the conviction of White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian, U.S. Representative Bob Ney, and nine...
, who went with Feeney to Scotland. In March 2003, Feeney was one of 10 Republican lawmakers who wrote to the Energy Department opposing changes to the Energy Star
Energy Star
Energy Star is an international standard for energy efficient consumer products originated in the United States of America. It was first created as a United States government program during the early 1990s, but Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and the European Union have also adopted...
, changes also being fought by an Abramoff client.
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. In April 2007, Federal agents asked the St. Petersburg Times
St. Petersburg Times
The St. Petersburg Times is a United States newspaper. It is one of two major publications serving the Tampa Bay Area, the other being The Tampa Tribune, which the Times tops in both circulation and readership. Based in St...
for an email sent to the newspaper by Feeney's office describing the trip.
Feeney was named as "Representative #3" in the Justice Department
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
's April 23, 2007 criminal information against Mark Zachares
Mark Zachares
Mark Zachares is a former Congressional aide to Rep. Don Young and lobbyist who pleaded guilty to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from lobbyist Jack Abramoff in return for using his position in Congress to advance Abramoff's interests....
, a former congressional aide of Representative Don Young
Don Young
Donald Edwin "Don" Young is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1973. He is a member of the Republican Party.Young is the 6th most senior U.S. Representative and the 2nd most senior Republican Representative, as well as the 2nd most senior Republican in Congress as a whole...
. Zachares has pleaded guilty to accepting tens of thousands of dollars in gifts from Abramoff.
In September 2008, Feeney's campaign ran a television ad in which apologized for his "bad judgment" in taking the trip.
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, FloridaCape Canaveral, Florida
Cape Canaveral is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,829 at the 2000 census. As of 2008, the estimated population according to the U.S. Census Bureau was 10,147...
. Feeney listed the purchase date as January 2005, but online records of the Brevard County
Brevard County, Florida
Brevard County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the population is 536,521, making it the 10th most populous county in the state. Influenced by the presence of the John F. Kennedy Space Center, Brevard...
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.
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
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
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.
Election fraud
Feeney's 2006 congressional opponent, Clint CurtisClint Curtis
Clinton Eugene "Clint" Curtis is a United States computer programmer and ex employee of NASA and ExxonMobil, currently living in Northern California, who worked for Yang Enterprises in Oviedo, Florida until February 2001...
, 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. Curtis subsequently passed a polygraph
Polygraph
A polygraph measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions...
test commissioned by a Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
private investigator. A Wired News
Wired News
Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
story noted that Curtis had no direct knowledge of the vote counting software having been used in a public election.
Feeney has 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.
Sealed testimony
A three-judge panel of United States circuit judges for the District of Columbia CircuitUnited States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Appeals from the D.C. Circuit, as with all the U.S. Courts of Appeals, are heard on a...
unanimously refused to allow federal prosecutors to subpoena Feeney's sealed testimony that he had provided to the House Ethics Committee
United States House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct
The Committee on Ethics, often known simply as the Ethics Committee, is one of the committees of the United States House of Representatives. Prior to the 112th Congress it was known as the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct....
. In July 2009, Brett Kavanaugh
Brett Kavanaugh
Brett Michael Kavanaugh is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He formerly was Staff Secretary in the Executive Office of the President of the United States under President George W...
, one of the judges on the panel, called for an en banc
En banc
En banc, in banc, in banco or in bank is a French term used to refer to the hearing of a legal case where all judges of a court will hear the case , rather than a panel of them. It is often used for unusually complex cases or cases considered to be of greater importance...
review of the circuit's prior precedent by all of the judges in the D.C. Circuit.
2006 re-election campaign
In 2006, Feeney faced Democrat Clint CurtisClint Curtis
Clinton Eugene "Clint" Curtis is a United States computer programmer and ex employee of NASA and ExxonMobil, currently living in Northern California, who worked for Yang Enterprises in Oviedo, Florida until February 2001...
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. The website in question was created by political consultant Ralph Gonzales.
Feeney refused to debate Curtis on substantive policy issues. He said that it would be a disservice to voters to do so. Feeney also said that to holding the debate would acknowledge that there were two credible candidates in the race. Curtis countered that Feeney was ducking him.
In early October, Feeney's campaign sent out flyers to 110,000 voters that showed Curtis' head superimposed on the body of Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
publisher Hugh Hefner
Hugh Hefner
Hugh Marston "Hef" Hefner is an American magazine publisher, founder and Chief Creative Officer of Playboy Enterprises.-Early life:...
. The flyer also mentioned Larry Flynt
Larry Flynt
Larry Claxton Flynt, Jr. is an American publisher and the president of Larry Flynt Publications . In 2003, Arena magazine listed him as the number one on the "50 Powerful People in Porn" list....
and Hustler magazine
Hustler
Hustler is a monthly pornographic magazine aimed at men and published in the United States. It was first published in 1974 by Larry Flynt. It was a step forward from the Hustler Newsletter which was cheap advertising for his strip club businesses at the time. The magazine grew from a shaky start to...
. 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.
Feeney was reelected with 58 percent of the vote in 2006.
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. Despite the perception that Feeney drew it for himself, it has a Cook Partisan Voting IndexCook Partisan Voting Index
The Cook Partisan Voting Index , sometimes referred to as simply the Partisan Voting Index , is a measurement of how strongly an American congressional district or state leans toward one political party compared to the nation as a whole...
of R+3, making it a fairly marginal district on paper. The district gave George W. Bush 52 percent of the vote in 2000 and 56 percent in 2004. It also includes most of Democratic-leaning Volusia County.
Feeney faced former state representative Suzanne Kosmas
Suzanne Kosmas
Suzanne M. Kosmas is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party...
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 percent of the vote, compared to 43 percent for Feeney, with the remaining voters undecided. Filings with the Federal Election Commission
Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act...
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.
Kosmas attacked Feeney's ties to Abramoff, which quickly gained her traction in this district. The Orlando Sentinel
Orlando Sentinel
The Orlando Sentinel is the primary newspaper of the Orlando, Florida region. It was founded in 1876. The Sentinel is owned by Tribune Company and is overseen by the Chicago Tribune. As of 2005, the Sentinel’s president and publisher was Kathleen Waltz; she announced her resignation in February 2008...
endorsed Kosmas, suggesting Feeney was too conservative for the district. An internal poll for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. They play a critical role in recruiting candidates, raising funds, and organizing races in districts that are expected to yield...
showed Kosmas leading Feeney by 23 points, 58 percent to 35 percent. Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly
Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is a privately owned publishing company that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress...
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 percent of the vote to Kosmas' 57 percent — the largest margin of defeat for a Republican incumbent in the 2008 cycle.
Electoral history
| Year | Republican | Votes | Pct | Democrat | Votes | Pct | Third Party | Votes | Pct | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 135,576 | 83,667 | ||||||||||
| 2004 | Unopposed | 100% | ||||||||||
| 2006 | 123,795 | 89,863 | ||||||||||
| 2008 | 151,863 | 211,284 | 6,223 |
External links
- Tom Feeney for Congress official campaign site
- Profile at SourceWatchSourceWatchSourceWatch is an internet wiki site that is a collaborative project of the liberal Center for Media and Democracy...
CongresspediaCongresspediaCongresspedia was a wiki that ran from April 2006 to March 2009, designed to hold information on the workings of the U.S. Congress. It was fully contained within SourceWatch, a larger wiki meant to document the people, organizations and issues shaping the public agenda. The Congresspedia portion of... - Altamonte Springs Community Blog