Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas wrote to U.S. Representatives Ric Keller and Tom Feeney asking them to defend their effectiveness.  Keller apparently did.  For four years in a row, CREW has designated Feeney as one of the most corrupt members of Congress.  Feeney didn't respond to Thomas' request.  Instead, he launched into an attack on CREW:

Now compare that to Feeney, who spent his entire letter obsessing over the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. This group (CREW) lists Feeney as one of the most corrupt members of Congress, to which Tom responds it is a liberal, partisan group.

However, CREW has six Democrats on its list, including Charlie Rangel, the corrupt liberal darling of New York. And why, of all Republicans out there, would CREW decide to pick on Feeney.

And, in fact, Feeney already has admitted the big charge CREW has rung him up on and apologized for it. I'll put a link to their section on Feeney and you can draw  your own conclusions.

CREW isn't the problem, Tom. You are. Do you see John Mica, Mel Martinez or Ric Keller on that list? Why do you think that's the case?

What Feeney should have done, if either he or his press office had any sense, was admit his mistake, taken one shot at CREW, and then like Keller moved on to issues. What? Tom couldn't come up with any legislation of interest to Central Florida to mention?

Tom gets so wrapped up with things, Tom DeLay comes to mind, that he obsesses, gets tunnel vision and self-destructs. And obviously his staff either isn't smart enough or is too intimidated to call him on it.

Now that Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) and his legal woes are back in the news, we thought it would be helpful to take another look at how he arrived on CREW's list of the most corrupt members of Congress.   As you can see below, there were several reasons Feeney earned the "most corrupt" designation:

Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) is a third-term member of Congress, representing Florida’s 24th congressional district. Rep. Feeney’s ethics violations stem from his relationship with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and three trips he took in apparent violation of House travel and gift rules. Rep. Feeney was included in CREW’s 2006 congressional corruption report.

Improper Travel

Rep. Feeney traveled to Scotland to play golf from August 9-14, 2003 initially claiming that the cost of the trip was paid for by the National Center for Public Policy Research. The Center denied paying for the trip and it appears that Jack Abramoff was the person who actually footed the bill. Rep. Feeney violated House rules prohibiting members from accepting travel paid for by lobbyists and taking trips that are primarily recreational.

On January 3, 2007, the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct found that Rep. Feeney had inappropriately accepted the privately funded trip, which had no official connection to congressional duties. Rep. Feeney was directed to repay the general Treasury. The FBI is now looking into Rep. Feeney’s relationship with Mr. Abramoff. Rep. Feeney has since established a legal trust to defray his legal fees.

Rep. Feeney visited South Korea on a trip sponsored by the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council (KORUSEC), despite the fact that the organization is registered with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Rep. Feeney violated the House rule prohibiting members from accepting travel expenses from agents of a foreign principal.

Rep. Feeney and his wife traveled from Orlando, Florida to West Palm Beach, Florida to speak at “Restoration Weekend” from November 13-November 16, 2003. According to the travel disclosure form Rep. Feeney originally submitted to the House Clerk’s office, this trip, which cost $1,430, was paid for by a registered lobbying firm, something prohibited by House rules.

Financial Disclosure Forms

In his 2003 and 2004 financial disclosure forms, Rep. Feeney failed to disclose that he was the co-owner of a rental property in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Rep. Feeney violated the rule requiring members to disclose all rental property.

Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) was named one of the most corrupt members of Congress in CREW's report, Beyond DeLay, in part because of his relationship with the notorious Jack Abramoff.  That relationship continues to haunt -- and cost -- Feeney according to ABC News: 

A possible sign that the Jack Abramoff investigation continues to burrow into Capitol Hill, a congressman under scrutiny for his ties to the disgraced former Republican superlobbyist has paid tens of thousands of dollars to a legal firm specializing in forensic data recovery.

Since April, Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., has paid over $90,000 to a Washington, D.C. office of FTI Consulting, through his re-election campaign and a separate legal defense fund he began in June, according to financial filings and a news account.

The payments were for helping Feeney "voluntarily cooperate" with federal prosecutors, according to Pepper Pennington, the congressman's spokeswoman.

Among its specialties, FTI provides "electronic evidence consulting focused on time-sensitive situations," "computer forensic services" and "e-mail reconstruction," according to the firm's Web site.

Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) set up a legal defense fund because of Abramoff-related investigations.  Seems one of his major contributors is looking for a federal contract -- and has caused some problems for Feeney before.  Melanie Sloan thinks the contribution, while legal, should "raise eyebrows."  It did for the Orlando Sentinel: 

The fund that U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney set up to help pay his legal bills has received a $5,000 donation from an Oviedo businessman who is hoping for a NASA contract.

And it's the same person, Tyng-Lin Yang, whose relationship with Feeney raised questions when Feeney was Florida House speaker.

Yang is owner of Pyramid Technology, which gave Feeney's legal fund $5,000 right after it opened in June.

The fund was established to offset the legal fees Feeney has incurred since questions were raised about the lawmaker's trip to Scotland with now-disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Yang also is president of Yang Enterprises, a software and engineering company whose Web site touts its hope for a "logistics operations contract'' at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Feeney is the top Republican on the House Science space subcommittee.

The $5,000 donation is legal but should "raise eyebrows," said Melanie Sloan of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

"Lawmakers should be careful about accepting contributions any time that person or business has an interest before the lawmaker,'' Sloan said.

Fallout from Rep. Tom Feeney's relationship with Jack Abramoff continues to dog him. Yesterday's Daytona Beach News-Journal looked at how the Abramoff taint has negatively impacted Feeney who "had the aura of a rising star in party politics."  Not anymore.   CREW pegged Feeney as one of 20 the most corrupt members of Congress in our report Beyond DeLay.  As the News-Journal reports, Feeney is facing an FBI investigation -- and has established a legal defense fund:

Continued fallout from the investigation of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was convicted last year of bribing members of congress, casts a shadow over Feeney, whose district includes part of Volusia County. Feeney traveled to Scotland in 2003 with Abramoff to play golf at the Old Course at St. Andrews.

"It's sort of like a Los Angeles smog, it's settled in and it won't go away," said Aubrey Jewett, a University of Central Florida political science professor.

Jewett worked in Feeney's office on sabbatical during the year the trip took place, but recalls no conversation about the golf trip.

Neither Feeney nor his representatives have commented to reporters from The Daytona Beach News-Journal since the newspaper reported accusations that Feeney used his position as Florida House speaker to gain privileges for a computer firm he represented. A Florida House ethics panel cleared Feeney of the charges in 2002. This report relies on comments from Feeney and his supporters in other published accounts.

He originally said the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank, paid for the Scotland trip. Feeney later claimed he was misled, after revelations that Abramoff pressured Indian tribes for donations, which he used to entertain lawmakers with golf trips, sporting events and expensive meals.

A House ethics panel determined Feeney's trip violated congressional rules. Feeney agreed to pay $5,743 to the U.S. Treasury.

Feeney insisted he never helped Abramoff, but an April news report showed he was among several lawmakers who wrote to the Energy Department in March 2003 opposing changes to a federal program that were also being fought by a client of Abramoff.

FBI officials asked Feeney for information about his dealings with Abramoff, according to the April story in the St. Petersburg Times.

Feeney raised eyebrows in June when he established a legal defense fund to pay costs relating to an ongoing Justice Department investigation into his ties with Abramoff. The Justice Department did not return a call for comment.

"It looks like he needs one (legal defense fund)," said Naomi Seligman Steiner, deputy director for the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which has put Feeney on its "most corrupt" list of congressmen two years running. "He seems to have some legal issues to contend with, certainly some ethical issues."

The investigation of Congressman Tom Feeney continues.  TPM Muckraker reports that federal investigators want a copy of an interview Feeney did with Floriday Today.  Apparently, they want to know what Feeney's been saying about his relationship with Jack Abramoff. 

Meanwhile, another Florida pundit weighs in.  Jim Phillips from Orlando's WESH-TV pummeled Rep. Feeney in his commentary today: 

Last week Congressman Feeney set up a legal defense fund, all the while saying that he has done nothing unethical and is merely being "cautious."

Feeney continues to deny that he is the subject of a federal probe. This is absurd: If he's not the subject of an FBI investigation and is innocent of all charges, then why the need for the legal expense account?

I'm sorry. Keep trying to distance yourself, Congressman, from the disgraced Abramoff, who's now singing like a canary as part of his guilty plea to corruption charges.

Put plenty of money in your newly created legal defense fund. And maybe save a little for a resume. I hear the attractions are hiring.

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.

Last week, we learned that Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) was setting up a legal defense fund.   Today, the Orlando Sentinel takes issue with that move, noting that Rep. Feeney has a lot of his own assets -- and that contributions to a legal defense fund can create obligations for lawmakers.  It's a very strong editorial pointing out problems that seem obvious to everyone except the members involved:

Mr. Feeney spent more than $23,000 from his campaign account on legal expenses in the first quarter of this year. He hired Patton Boggs, one of the top law firms in Washington, D.C.

Then last week, he created a legal-defense fund. The House allows such funds to accept contributions of up to $5,000, more than twice the limit for ordinary campaign contributions.

Campaign contributions can be a way to curry favor with lawmakers, but donations to legal-defense funds take that possibility to the next level. If a lawmaker feels obligated to a contributor who helps him get re-elected, imagine the debt to one who gets him out of a legal jam.

Most people in legal trouble could only dream of persuading others to pick up the tab. Mr. Feeny is not a pauper; he has reported his assets at between $687,000 and $1.6 million. If he hopes to scrub the taint from his trip with Mr. Abramoff, paying his own legal costs would be a good start.

Last year, CREW named Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) as one of the 20 most corrupt members of Congresss in our report, Beyond DeLay:

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.

Rep. Feeney traveled to Scotland -- apparently to play golf -- from August 9-14, 2003. Rep. Feeney initially claimed that the cost of the trip was paid for by the National Center for Public Policy Research, but the Center denied paying for the trip and it appears that Jack Abramoff was the person who actually footed the bill. Rep. Feeney violated House rules prohibiting Members from accepting travel paid for by lobbyists and for taking trips that are primarily recreational.

This year, we learn from Think Progress, Rep. Feeney has started collecting contributions for his very own legal defense fund:

Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) has established the Tom Feeney Legal Expense Trust, filing papers this week with the House stating that he “has incurred legal expenses in connection with his official duties and position in Congress, and matters bearing on his reputation or fitness for office.” Feeney was recently questioned by the FBI about his connections to criminal GOP lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Feeney attended an international golfing trip with Abramoff and former Reps. Bob Ney (now in prison) and Tom DeLay (now under indictment).

Think Progress documents the "musical chairs" among the ethically challenged members of the GOP caucus:

After demoting one member of his caucus for corruption, Boehner has chosen to promote and reward two other deeply corrupt congressmen.

- Doolittle out: In mid-April, the FBI searched the Virginia home of Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) as part of “its investigation into the ties of the congressman and his wife, Julie, to disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.” Soon after, he was forced to step down from his seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee.

- Calvert replaces Doolittle: The House Republican Steering Committee voted last week to appoint Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) to Doolittle’s vacant seat. Calvert, who has a history of scandals, including extensive profiting from legislation he supported and a well-publicized escapade with a prostitute, is one of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s “20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress”

- Feeney replaces Calvert: Yesterday, Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), who was recently questioned by the FBI over his relationship to Abramoff, told the Orlando Sentinel that “he would take over as GOP leader on the space subcommittee, part of the overall House science committee.” He’s replacing Calvert, who had to abandon the position in order to accept Doolittle’s appropriations seat.

All three members, Doolittle, Calvert and Feeney, are named in Beyond DeLay, as among the 20 most corrupt Members of Congress in CREW's report, Beyond DeLay.