‘Representative No. 3’

Palm Beach Post Editorial

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Among the latest to claim the "I was stupid, not corrupt" defense is Florida Congressman Tom Feeney.

Rep. Feeney says he did not know that felonious lobbyist Jack Abramoff paid for his 2003 golf junket to Scotland. Rep. Feeney also says he did not know that the cost for his travel was more than $5,643.

Playing dumb is Rep. Feeney's only defense as, after a lull, the feds press the Abramoff case again. Court documents unveiled last week in another branch of the Abramoff scandal describe Rep. Feeney as "Representative No. 3." Representative No. 1 was Bob Ney, R-Ohio, another Abramoff golf buddy and traveling companion who last year pleaded guilty to taking bribes. Representative No. 2 was Tom DeLay, R-Texas, yet another high-flying duffer who resigned from Congress after being indicted in a different scandal.

Moreover, a congressional aide who accompanied Abramoff and Rep. Feeney on the trip just became the 11th person to plead guilty or be convicted in the Abramoff scandal. Rep. Feeney says he didn't know that Abramoff paid for the trip, a violation of House rules, even though Abramoff's firm e-mailed Rep. Feeney's staff instructions to list the trip's cost at $5,643.

And Rep. Feeney says he didn't know that figure was way low - investigators have put the average cost per participant at $20,000 - even though the group flew to Scotland on a private jet and got lavish meals and golf at the exclusive Royal & Ancient Golf Club.

Rep. Feeney has said that he flew just one way on the jet, paid some expenses himself and was "duped and lied to." He also says that he never did anything for Abramoff. But the St. Petersburg Times reported that in 2003, before being invited on the golf trip, Rep. Feeney wrote the Energy Department opposing a rule change that an Abramoff client also sought to kill. Rep. Feeney's office said it would discuss that when the time is "appropriate." Which is something his behavior was not.