Tom Feeney
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Thomas Charles Feeney III (born May 21, 1958) is an American politician from Orlando,
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. He represented . He was defeated in the
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by
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Suzanne Kosmas Suzanne M. Kosmas (born February 25, 1944) is the former U.S. Representative for , serving one term from 2009 until 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party. She previously served in the Florida House of Representatives. Early life, educati ...
.


Early life

He was born in Abington, Pennsylvania, a
suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...
of
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. He graduated from
Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...
in 1980, obtaining a
Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice 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.


Florida legislature

In 1990, Feeney was elected to the
Florida 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 Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...
as a Republican from Seminole County. He served two terms there before running for
lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
of Florida as Jeb Bush's running mate in 1994. After the pair narrowly lost, Feeney joined the
James Madison Institute The James Madison Institute (JMI) is a libertarian free market American think tank headquartered in Tallahassee, Florida in the United States. It is a member of the State Policy Network. The organization's stated mission is "to keep the citizen ...
, 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 Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
or
Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...
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 Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group. Popular may also refer to: In sociology * Popular culture * Popular fiction * Popular music * Popular science * Populace, the total ...
in the state could not be determined with legal certainty. While Article 2 of the
United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
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 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. The
U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
's verdict in ''
Bush v. Gore ''Bush v. Gore'', 531 U.S. 98 (2000), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court on December 12, 2000, that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. On December 8, th ...
'' 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 Allan Huber "Bud" Selig (; born July 30, 1934) is an American baseball executive who currently serves as the Commissioner Emeritus of Baseball. Previously, he served as the ninth Commissioner of Baseball from 1998 to 2015. He initially served as ...
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.


U.S. House of Representatives

Florida gained two congressional districts after the 2000
census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
. 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 Florida representative
Mario Díaz-Balart Mario Rafael Díaz-Balart Caballero (; born September 25, 1961) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Florida's 25th congressional district. A Republican, he was elected in 2002, and his district includes much of sout ...
). 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 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 Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
. In 2006, he cosponsored H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act, and voted for H.R. 4411, the
Goodlatte Robert William Goodlatte (; born September 22, 1952) is an American politician, attorney, and lobbyist who served in the United States House of Representatives representing for 13 terms. A Republican, he was also the Chair of the House Judiciary ...
-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 The Federal Reserve System (often shortened to the Federal Reserve, or simply the Fed) is the central banking system of the United States of America. It was created on December 23, 1913, with the enactment of the Federal Reserve Act, after a ...
defined "unlawful Internet gambling"). Despite his ties to the Bush family, Feeney broke with the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
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 non-binding resolution against the use of foreign law in federal courts. When Supreme Court Justice
Antonin Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectu ...
said (of the resolution) that " '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 Waste Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization in the United States. It functions as a "government watchdog" and advocacy group for fiscally conservative causes. The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste ...
. 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 The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is an association of small businesses in the United States. It is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, with offices in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals. The goal of NFIB is to ad ...
(NFIB). The
National Taxpayers Union The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is a fiscally conservative taxpayer advocacy organization and taxpayers union in the United States, founded in 1977 by James Dale Davidson. NTU says that it is the oldest taxpayer advocacy organization in the ...
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 Washington Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) and nonpartisan U.S. government ethics and accountability watchdog organization.''Washington Information Directory 2017-2018''; CQ Press; 2017; Pg. 327 Founded ...
; 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." Feeney was subsequently listed in CREW's 2007 and 2008 reports as well.


Trips


Scotland

In August 2003, Feeney took a golfing trip to
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. 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. 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 The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...
'' for an email sent to the newspaper by Feeney's office describing the trip. Feeney was named as "Representative #3" in the
Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
's April 23, 2007 criminal information against Mark Zachares, a former congressional aide of Representative
Don Young Donald Edwin Young (June 9, 1933 – March 18, 2022) was an American politician from the state of Alaska. At the time of his death, he was the longest-serving Republican in congressional history, having been the U.S. representative for for ...
. Zachares 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, 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. 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'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...
'' 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 Curtis, has previously provided an
affidavit An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or '' deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by law. Such a statemen ...
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. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
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 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 Circuit unanimously refused to allow federal prosecutors to subpoena Feeney's sealed testimony which he had provided to the House Ethics Committee. In July 2009,
Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael Kavanaugh ( ; born February 12, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018, and has served since Oc ...
, 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.


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. The website in question was created by a political consultant, Ralph Gonzales. 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.Robert Perez, "House race turns zanier: Candidate's claims spark Internet spoof", ''Orlando Sentinel'', October 7, 2006 In early October, Feeney's campaign sent out flyers to 110,000 voters that showed Curtis' head superimposed on the body of ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. 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. K ...
'' publisher
Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...
. 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 re-elected 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 had a
Cook Partisan Voting Index The Cook Partisan Voting Index, abbreviated Cook PVI, CPVI, or PVI, is a measurement of how strongly a United States congressional district or U.S. state leans toward the Democratic or Republican Party, compared to the nation as a whole, based ...
of R+3, making it a fairly marginal district on paper. The district gave
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
52% of the vote in 2000, and 56% in
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
. It included much of Democratic-leaning
Volusia County Volusia County (, ) is located in the east-central part of the U.S. state of Florida, stretching between the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the county was home to 553,543 people, an incr ...
. Feeney faced former state representative
Suzanne Kosmas Suzanne M. Kosmas (born February 25, 1944) is the former U.S. Representative for , serving one term from 2009 until 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party. She previously served in the Florida House of Representatives. Early life, educati ...
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. 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 helped her quickly gain her traction. The ''
Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...
'' endorsed Kosmas, suggesting Feeney was too conservative for the district.We think: Kosmas, Blythe, Putnam and Stearns would serve voters best
Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...
editorial, 2008-10-12.
An internal poll for the
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is the United States Democratic Party, Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. The DCCC recruits candidates, raises ...
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.


Electoral history


References


External links


Tom Feeney for Congress
official campaign site * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Feeney, Tom 1958 births Living people People from Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania American Presbyterians Republican Party members of the Florida House of Representatives Florida lawyers Pennsylvania State University alumni People from Orlando, Florida Speakers of the Florida House of Representatives University of Pittsburgh School of Law alumni People from Cheltenham, Pennsylvania Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Florida 21st-century American politicians People from Oviedo, Florida Conservatism in the United States