Another Florida paper slams Rep. Feeney's legal defense fund
Last week, the Orlando Sentinel lambasted Rep. Tom Feeney for setting up a legal defense fund to deal with his Abramoff-related legal issues.
This week, Florida Today notes that Congressman Feeney has yet to answer the questions surrounding the scandal. That silence "increases suspicion":
Setting up the fund shows "a strong likelihood there is a criminal investigation into Mr. Feeney's conduct in regard to Mr. Abramoff, and he's going to need a lot of money," says Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Feeney has already spent $61,509 from campaign accounts on legal bills since early 2005, including $23,122 in February and March this year.
He says he'll use the fund to help cover expenses related to his voluntary cooperation with the investigation.
But the truth is he continues to refuse to answer detailed questions about the Abramoff case in public.
That silence, coupled with the legal defense fund, increases suspicion among his constituents that Feeney may have done something wrong.
And it's why he should come forward at once and answer all questions.
It does indeed increase suspicions. Rep. Feeney was named one of the 20 most corrupt members of Congress in CREW's report, Beyond DeLay.
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something's wrong
Feeney is an elected official. As such, he should be required to give account of his office when called on to do so, as a matter of fundamental law. The same goes for all elected officials. Our founders erred when they did not enunciate this. Perhaps they saw it as so fundamental a principle that it needed no exposition.
It is up the Courts to uphold the principle that accountability of office is a fundamental part of our system of elected representation.