I Wish She'd Make This Into An Ad

From Suzanne Kosmas over the Tom Feeney Mea Culpa ad:

"Floridians deserve much more than just a 30 second, politically motivated 'apology' from Tom Feeney on a matter as serious as this one. Feeney has only raised more questions about his unethical behavior, particularly in light of his efforts to shut down a congressional ethics investigation," said Paul Dunn, Kosmas for Congress Campaign Manager.

Fifteen Questions for Feeney:

• Why is Feeney apologizing after claiming he did nothing wrong in the first place?


• When was the last time Tom Feeney spoke with the FBI?


• Is he still cooperating with the FBI's investigation?


• Can Feeney assure voters that their Congressman will not be indicted?


• If indicted, will Feeney resign from Congress?


• Have Tom Feeney's office records been subpoenaed?


• Why did it take Tom Feeney five years to admit a mistake?


• Why did Tom Feeney vote to block a congressional ethics investigation into members of Congress and their ties to Jack Abramoff?


• Why did Tom Feeney claim he did nothing on behalf of imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff when official records tell another story?


• Why did Tom Feeney only pay back around $5,000 for the trip when court documents have shown the actual cost was closer to $20,000?


• Why did it take Tom Feeney two years to return the $5,000?


• How can a career politician, former lobbyist and Florida House Speaker like Tom Feeney claim to have made a rookie mistake?


• Why hasn't Tom Feeney apologized for other unethical behavior through out his career?


• If Tom Feeney values honesty and integrity so highly, why did he oppose landmark ethics reform legislation passed by Congress in 2007?


• Why, for four consecutive years, has the non-partisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) listed Feeney as one of the 20 most corrupt members of Congress?

If you need a reminder, here's the ad and my thoughts on it.

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Feeney Lawyers Up

As I mentioned briefly yesterday, Republican congressman Tom Feeney (FL-24) has set up a legal defense fund to pay for his ongoing legal fees. Feeney has been implicated in the Abramoff scandal, due in large part to a golf junket to Scotland in 2003. I've discussed the details of it here, here and here.

A story in the Orlando Sentinel details the fund set up. Here's what Feeney had to say:

"Department of Justice lawyers and our lawyers have been speaking. We will cooperate," the Oviedo Republican said Friday in a brief interview. He again denied that he is the target of a federal probe.

When asked why he established the fund, Feeney said he was being cautious and that money raised through the account would be used to "demonstrate conclusively that I always have acted with honesty and integrity."

And even though the reporter didn't ask the obvious, Leonard Joseph, the executive director of the Florida Democratic Party did:

If he didn't do anything wrong and isn't the target of an FBI investigation, as he claims, why would he set up a legal-expense fund?"

Here's another question. How do you incur over $23,000 in legal bills in two months if you're not under investigation? That's what his office is reporting he spent in February and March.

The article continues the comparison between Feeney's golf trip and under-reporting to the same activity that got Bob Ney in hot water. I think this is just about right.

Abramoff organized a similar Scotland golfing trip in 2002 for former Rep. Bob
Ney, an Ohio Republican convicted last year for accepting favors from Abramoff
in exchange for congressional action.

It's sad that Feeney continues to underestimate the entire population of the US. We can add 2+2. Let's do the math.

Jack Abramoff + FBI investigation + Golf Junket + Legal Fees = Indictment

It may take a while but, based on other Abramoff indictment time lines, Feeney's indictment seems about two months away.

There's more: "Feeney Lawyers Up" >>

Feeney and Ney Went Up the Hill to Carry Abramoff's Water

Ney fell down and broke his crown.
Feeney came tumbling after.

Today, the Orlando Sentinel ran a story that uncovers Feeney's ties to Jack Abramoff's slush fund. We now know that the Scotland golf trip cost $150,226.32, about $18,750 more than Feeney reported.

ThinkProgress compares the Feeney trip to convicted felon, former Congressman Bob Ney, right down to Abramoff's instruction to underreport the trip and to show it being paid by the National Center for Public Policy Research, same group as Feeney's. And, they include this little tid bit from the Sentinel story:

Feeney has declined to answer detailed questions this week about how he
determined his $5,643 share of the trip’s expenses.

Fortunately, the St. Petersburg Times has discovered exactly how Feeney's office determine what to report, as I outlined in an earlier post.

But an e-mail obtained by the St. Petersburg Times on Wednesday shows that
Abramoff's office sent specific instructions on how to report the trip expenses to a handful of people, including Feeney's congressional assistant.

The e-mail from Holly Bowers, Abramoff's then-assistant, instructs
recipients to say a conservative think tank, the National Center for Public
Policy Research, paid for the trip at a cost of $5,643 per person.

As I highlighted, Feeney's office specifically outlined how to report the trip which, by the way, was not reported until December 29, a full four months after the trip occurred.

The hits just keep on coming. Florida Today, another of Feeney's hometown newspapers, has also been asked by the FBI for a tape of an interview Feeney conducted with the Editorial board of the paper. This is in addition to the requests to the St. Petersburg Times and Orlando Sentinel.

Feeney says the FBI says he is not a target of the investigation but it's getting harder and harder to believe that. He's just lying way too much.

• Feeney denies having a relationship with Abramoff. Abramoff was on the golf trip with Feeney and eight others, one who has already plead guilty for doing exactly what Feeney did. Feeney has visited Abramoff's restaurant and picked up a $2,000 tab on at least twice.
• Feeney didn't know Abramoff paid for the trip. The email from Abramoff's office speaks for itself. It makes it clear that 1)there was a relationship developed enough so that Feeney's office would take instructions on how to fill out a required reporting form and 2) that Feeney's office knew that Abramoff paid for the trip.

And, he sounds just like Ney did about this time.

Ney:

I am absolutely outraged by the dishonest and duplicitous words and actions of Jack Abramoff."

He has said his actions benefiting Abramoff had nothing to do with the favors he received. He said he was misled by Abramoff and his associates.

I, like these Indian tribes and other members of Congress, was duped by Jack Abramoff."

Ney has said he was misled by Abramoff about who paid for the trip. "In April, 2002, I was approached by Mr. Abramoff, who I believed to be a respected member of the community, and asked to go on a trip to Scotland which Mr. Abramoff said would help support a charitable organization, that he founded, through meetings he organized with Scottish Parliament officials."

Feeney:

Feeney has said he did no favors for Abramoff in exchange for the trip.

In a 2005 Orlando Sentinel story, Feeney, an Oviedo Republican, said he was misled about who paid for the Scotland visit. In January of this year, he used stronger language, saying he was "duped and lied to" about what he thought was a fact-finding trip with Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to corruption charges.

There's more: "Feeney and Ney Went Up the Hill to Carry Abramoff's Water" >>

Uh oh!

The noose is tightening around Tom Feeney. Remember that he strongly denied any relationship with Jack Abramoff and firmly denied that anyone knew the Scotland golf trip was tied to Abramoff. Well, once again, it turns out that was a lie:

But an e-mail obtained by the St. Petersburg Times on Wednesday shows that Abramoff's office sent specific instructions on how to report the trip expenses to a handful of people, including Feeney's congressional assistant.

The e-mail from Holly Bowers, Abramoff's then-assistant, instructs recipients to say a conservative think tank, the National Center for Public Policy Research, paid for the trip at a cost of $5,643 per person.

The email was sent to Feeney's Executive Assistant as well as to Mark Zachares, the guy who just plead guilty to this conspiracy.

Oops! Wonder what Feeney will say now.

There's more: "Uh oh!" >>

Feeney owes another $14,360

Remember the Scotland trip arranged by Abramoff that Tom Feeney went on? The one where they all played golf twice a day? Feeney reported that the cost was $5,640 and, after the Ethics committee said to, he paid it back. Turns out it was all a lie and the trip actually cost about $20,000 per person:

Zachares pleaded guilty to conspiracy and admitted in documents, among other things, that the travel report he filed upon returning from Scotland was filled with lies that were coordinated by Abramoff.

Zachares had said the trip was paid for by a conservative think tank, the National Center for Public Policy Research, that it had cost $5,643 and that the purpose was fact finding. All three were lies, according to the documents.

Feeney, 48, an Orlando-area Republican who has been contacted by the FBI as part of the Abramoff investigation, reported precisely the same details in his travel report on the Scotland trip.

When will they learn that the cover-up is almost always worse than the crime?

There's more: "Feeney owes another $14,360" >>

Department of "Just Us" Goes Soft On Loyal Bushie

Former Deputy Interior Secretary Steven Griles has been given a very sweet deal in the Abramoff investigation. Griles will be allowed to plead guilty to one count of obstruction. In exchange for the plea, federal prosecutors will seek no more than a 10-month prison sentence for Griles — the minimum they could seek under sentencing guidelines — but they will agree to let him serve half that in home confinement, according to one person involved in the case. Griles will not be asked to provide any testimoney in return. According to the AP story.

Griles lives in Virginia with Sue Ellen Wooldridge, who until January was an assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's environmental division.

The AP reported in February that Wooldridge, as the nation's environmental prosecutor, bought a $980,000 vacation home last year with Griles and Donald R. Duncan, the top Washington lobbyist for ConocoPhillips. Nine months later, she signed an agreement giving the company more time to clean up air pollution at some of its refineries.

The Justice Department planned to file papers proposing the plea deal with Griles. He was scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle in a Washington at 11 a.m. ET Friday. Huvelle will decide Friday whether to accept or reject the plea, but her decision on sentencing is likely to come two to three months later.

In government papers, Griles acknowledges he obstructed the Senate committee's investigation into Abramoff and his associates' dealings with Indian casino clients. Griles admits he testified falsely four times to the committee on Nov. 2, 2005, and once to the panel's investigators two weeks earlier.

Yep, that's our "Just Us" Department in action. By the way Giles principal claim to fame was as a well known lobbyist for polluters. Until this scandal his girlfriend was the Just Us Department's top environmental prosecutor. Talk about sleeping with the enemy.

There's more: "Department of "Just Us" Goes Soft On Loyal Bushie" >>