Tom Feeney
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Thomas Charles 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 that state's 24th Congressional District (map), which takes up several portions of the Orlando-Daytona Beach area.
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. In 1990, he 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. He then 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. He first came to national prominence shortly after his election as Speaker, when he led efforts to certify the state's Republican presidential electors even when it was still unclear whether George W. Bush or Al Gore had won the state's electoral votes.
Florida gained two congressional district after the 2000 census. One of them was the 24th District in the Orlando area. It was an open secret that Feeney drew this district for himself [1], 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 and was reelected unopposed in 2004.
Feeney is one of the conservative members of the House. He drafted a "Principles Card" soon after becoming Speaker of the Florida House that 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." Despite his ties to the Bush family, he broke with the White House and opposed the Medicare reform package of 2003 since he felt its centerpiece, a prescription drug benefit, 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 joined other Republicans on the now infamous golf trip to Scotland with Jack Abramoff in 2003, thus linking him to the Abramoff-Reed Indian Gambling Scandal. Questions also have arisen about two other privately funded trips.
In September, 2005, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Feeney one of the thirteen most corrupt members of Congress.[2]
See also
- 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy
- 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy, voting machines
External links
Categories: 1958 births | Living people | 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy and irregularities | American lawyers | Irish-American politicians | Members of the Florida House of Representatives | Penn State University alumni | Presbyterians | Members of the United States House of Representatives from Florida