Another Abramoff Target?
Florida Republican Tom Feeney, who has found himself on the periphery of a scandal that has already nabbed former Reps. Bob Ney and Tom DeLay, may be closer to the center of the probe than many thought. The congressman, the Orlando Sentinel reports, has paid almost $28,000 to a Baltimore company that specializes in data recovery.
The company, FTI Consulting, can recover deleted emails and unearth other electronic information, and aides confirm that Feeney has turned documents over to the Justice Department. The FBI had contacted the Sentinel regarding emails between reporters and former Feeney Chief of Staff Jason Roe regarding a 2003 trip Feeney took to Scotland to play golf, a trip paid for by Abramoff.
Feeney paid about $5,600 for the trip, which he said was the amount owed, though records show Abramoff paid about $20,000 per person for the trip.
Feeney's district, which contains suburbs north of Orlando, is not a rock-solid Republican seat. The three-term incumbent has won easily, though former State Rep. Suzanne Kosmas is hoping to give Feeney a strong race. The congressman, though, just can't help opening himself up to new attacks: Tonight, Cassidy and Associates lobbyist Todd Boulanger, a close associate of Abramoff, holds a fundraiser for the increasingly embattled incumbent.