Florida can't take any more Feeney

Politics often lead to the greatest sound-bites a blogger or a comedian could ever hope for.

Election season is particularly excellent fodder for entertainment. President Bush, the leader of the free world, was caught muttering "Bushisms" like, "Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country."

A more local politician recently said something that was particularly outrageous.

However, earlier this summer, following the decision of the California Supreme Court to overturn the gay marriage ban, Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla., who also happens to represent the UCF community, said, "The California Supreme Court effectively thwarted the will of the people by overturning a voter-approved gay marriage ban. I'm appalled that unelected judges have irresponsibly decided to legislate from the bench and overturn the will of the people. Florida's hardworking families should know that I will continue to fight to prevent San Francisco taxes and values from infiltrating our community."

Evidently, some Floridians regard San Francisco as if it were the Communist Red Scare all over again. According to Feeney, we are supposed to fear and loathe San Franciscoans just because their values might be different from those of a few archaic fundamentalists here at home who believe that the world should never change.

Feeney's reign of crassness needs to come to an end this year.

He is one of the most staunchly conservative representatives in the House of Representatives and has impeded too many positive proposals to remain our representative.

Feeney was famous for drafting the "principles card" - a checklist of conservative principals and values.

Other Republican representatives were supposed to consult the card (which later became known as the "conservative check card") when deciding on whether to support legislation.

The problem with a cut and dry system like the principles card is that it imposes Feeney's own ideologies on every other politician who may not feel the same as he does about a certain proposal.

Perhaps one of Feeney's biggest political blunders is the free golf trip to Scotland that he took in 2003.

Feeney initially said that the trip was paid for by the National Center for Public Policy Research, but it was actually funded by lobbyist and now-convicted criminal Jack Abramoff.

Once Feeney admitted that Abramoff paid for the trip, he denied that he had helped Abramoff or his clients in any way that would cause a conflict of interest. This was also false. Feeney sent a letter to the Department of Energy a few months before the trip that stated his opposition to a proposal that would increase Energy Star standards.

One of Abramoff's clients was Atofina Chemicals, who sent a similar letter to the department.

Florida has long been a moderately conservative state, but Feeney just stomps all over moderation and impartiality.

According to Govtrack, a nonpartisan online group that tracks the voting history of the House and Senate, there are only five politicians in Congress that vote further to the right than Feeney.

Here are a few examples of Feeney's votes (all from 2008) that bring into question what is actually on his principles card:

He voted against a bill that would strengthen enforcement against pay discrimination.

He voted against the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which toughens federal regulations of tobacco products.

He opposed a bill that would expand a 2003 AIDS initiative with added accountability provisions.

He opposed the 2008 Foreclosure Prevention Act, and he opposed a roadway bill that would strengthen infrastructure inspection standards.

Democrats have balked at Republican presidential nominee John McCain for months, saying that his administration would be more of the same.

If you're happy with the way the economy is going, satisfied with the state of the higher education system and content with the faltering environment, then by all means vote for Feeney, because you are guaranteed to get more of the same.

The congressional watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Feeney one of the "20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress" in 2006. We're not directly supporting any of the other candidates for District 24 simply because we haven't seen the promise of change that this area needs from any of them.

One thing is for sure though - Central Florida can't withstand another term of Tom Feeney.