Ads target Feeney over war bill vote

BY EUN KYUNG KIM, FLORIDA TODAY

May 23, 2008

U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney and seven other House Republicans who voted "present" on a war funding bill will be targeted this weekend in a radio ad campaign sponsored by Democratic strategists.

The ads, which start Sunday in Florida, accuse the group of ducking responsibility on the legislation.

Last week, the House rejected funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan after Republicans held back their support, claiming that Democrats bypassed regular parliamentary procedures to prevent their input on the measure.

Republicans "played politics with our troops by employing a cheap political stunt," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee."Our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking a stand for all of us. We would expect all members of Congress to stand up for our troops."

Other Florida lawmakers being targeted are Reps. Adam Putnam and Lincoln Diaz Balart.

Pepper Pennington, a spokeswoman for Feeney, who represents northern Brevard, dismissed the claims by Democrats.

"Out-of-touch liberals, many of whom have never voted for troop funding, are politicizing this serious issue," she said. "Tom Feeney has a strong and consistent record of fighting for veterans' needs and has always voted to fund our troops in harm's way."