High cost of golf scandal; US politican must pay for illegal St Andrews junket

By Derek Watson, The Express (Scottish Edition)

January 6, 2007

A lavish golfing junket cost a US congressman thousands of pounds after he was found guilty of breaching ethics rules.

Republican Tom Feeney, from Orlando, Florida, had accepted the trip to the Old Course, St Andrews from a disgraced lobbyist at the centre of a bribes scandal which has rocked US politics.

Healso made a VIP trip to Edinburgh Castle and ran up a bill of GBP 3,000 in four days as a guest of the right-wing National Center for Public Policy (NCPP) in 2003.

The world-famous home of golf has also been named as the venue for a string of other trips which broke corruption rules, including one in 2000 by former leader of the House of Representatives Tom DeLay. The leading Republican was forced to resign after being indicted for improper fundraising.
His trip later led to top Scottish Conservatives, including David McLetchie, being interviewed by police over a dinner they attended with DeLay's party.

Feeney, a former running mate of President George Bush's brother Jeb, the Florida Governor, initially claimed in disclosure documents that the trip was above board and paid for by the NCPP.

But, when it emerged that the trip had in fact been financed by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and would be in breach of rules, he claimed he had been "duped" and asked the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to investigate. Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe public officials and is helping prosecutors investigating Bush administration officials, is serving six years for a fraudulent business deal.

Rules prohibit politicians accepting such trips from individual lobbyists. The new Democratic administration is expected to pass new laws to tighten up rules on ethical standards today. Jason Roe, Feeney's chief of staff , said he would pay $5,643 and added: "He's personally and professionally embarrassed and considering it an expensive lesson." Gary Ruskin of the Ralph Nader group Congressional Accountability Project said new proposals didn't go far enough and added: "Members of Congress love to travel on other people's dimes, especially when it's the sort of lavish trip to Scotland Tom Feeney took with Jack Abramoff and his merry band of influence peddlers." Last year, Feeney was labelled one of "the 13 most corrupt members of Congress" by watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.