We'd add: 'And What --- if Anything --- Did he DO About It?!'
By Brad Friedman on 10/9/2006, 5:17pm PT  

The Clint Curtis campaign for the U.S. House (FL-24) issued a press release late last week asking "What Did Feeney Know About Colleague Mark Foley's Predatory Behavior And When Did He Know It?". (Press release posted in full at the end of this article.)

It was not without reason that we asked the same question of Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Abramoff) last week at the end of a blog item on the latest misstep in the corrupt Congressman's crazy smear campaign he's running against Curtis. A smear campaign that, we might add, seems to be helping Curtis enormously!

For evidence of that, see this local Florida news report (includes video) blasting Feeney for sending porn mailings to local moms, and this darn-near accurate feature article in Saturday's Orlando Sentinel calling on Feeney to take a lie-detector test!

The question of what Feeney knew about Foley, when he knew about it and what he did about it is an appropriate one. Feeney, as Deputy Whip, is a member of the House GOP leadership who had reportedly been informed long ago of the "Foley Problem." Feeney is also a Florida caucus colleague of the now-disgraced child predator and proudly worked with Foley on bills such as the PROTECT Act of 2003 to punish those who would exploit children.

For background, as briefly as we can give it (regular BRAD BLOG readers may skip this graf) Curtis is running to unseat Feeney this year. Curtis alleged in December of 2004 that Feeney had asked him to create a vote-rigging software prototype to be used for flipping the votes in South Florida when both men worked at Yang Enterprises, Inc. (YEI), an Oviedo, FL, software firm. Curtis was a programmer, and Feeney was their general counsel and registered lobbyist (in addition to his day job as Speaker of the Florida House). As early as 2001, Curtis also alleged that YEI --- where Feeney maintains his campaign headquarters even today --- was harboring communist Chinese spies and overbilling state agencies by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Both of those claims have since been borne out (see this summary of the extraordinary Clint Curtis story); Curtis has also told his story in sworn video-taped testimony before a congressional panel and passed a polygraph test, which Feeney, for his part, still refuses to take.

Despite Feeney's silly and shameless use of doctored photos and doctored facts on his campaign's smear website and smear blog --- which has only just now been updated to disclose that its "Paid for by Tom Feeney" after an FEC complaint was filed --- and despite Feeney's various misfired attempts to tar Curtis with ridiculous and self-disproving claims, we'll avoid such cheap and childish shots at the Congressman. At least for the time being.

We will, however, suggest that Mr. Feeney --- who has been mighty quiet about the Foley scandal since it broke --- may want to go on record, sooner rather than later, about exactly what he knew and what he did, or didn't do, about the Foley issue over the past several years.

While we're at it, was Feeney one of those dozens of folks in Congress who recently received subpeonas on this matter? I'm sure he'll have no trouble telling us whether that answer is either yes or no.

As we all know, it's not the crime, but the cover-up that gets 'em every time. We're waiting Mr. Feeney. You may wish to make your move before someone else does it for you. Just trying to be helpful here.

For more info on The BRAD BLOG's continuing investigative series on
The Clint Curtis/Tom Feeney/Yang Enterprises Vote-Rigging Scandal series, please see:
- A Quick Summary of the story so far.
- An Index of all the Key Articles & Evidence in the series so far.
- Curtis is now running for U.S. Congress against Feeney.
To support or for more info, see: www.ClintCurtis.com

Clint Curtis' complete press release follows in full...

What Did Feeney Know About Colleague Mark Foley's Predatory Behavior And When Did He Know It, Asks Clint Curtis, Florida Democratic Candidate For Congress

Candidate Clint Curtis Calls on Deputy Whip Tom Feeney to Clarify Personal Knowledge of Rep. Foley's Sexual Overtures to Minors

For Immediate Release

TITUSVILLE, Fla./EWORLDWIRE/Oct. 6, 2006 --- Clint Curtis, Democratic challenger to Rep. Tom Feeney in Florida's 24th Congressional District, today called on his opponent, a Deputy Whip in the GOP House leadership, to fully explain his involvement in the latest scandal embroiling the House Republicans. As reported by AP, the GOP House Leadership were informed of disgraced Rep. Mark Foley's (R-FL-16) abhorrent sexual predatory behavior with minors in the congressional page program nearly a year ago yet apparently took no action until forced to by public outcry last Friday.

As a member of the GOP leadership, Feeney worked closely with Foley as a fellow Deputy Majority Whip in the House, as a colleague in the Florida caucus, and on legislation for the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children. Like Mr. Foley, Mr. Feeney has often trumpeted his work to protect children against sexual predators. "If Mr. Feeney knew of and let continue Mr. Foley's sexual overtures to a 16-year old male high school student interning with the Congressman, his sincerity in protecting children is definitely in question."

"Feeney owes a full explanation to all Floridians in the 24th District and across the state --- about when he learned of Foley's predatory behavior and what actions, if any, he took to protect the kids in this matter. As part of the Republican leadership, he should be calling for legal and ethical accountability," said Curtis. "The voters of Florida need to know so they can make an informed decision about their leadership in Congress."

New revelations indicate the GOP leadership was aware, as far back as 2001, that Foley had a "page problem," according to ABC News. The report also says that staffers had gone so far as to "warn" pages “to "watch out for Foley" over the years.

Curtis charges that the GOP leadership once again put partisan politics above everything else --- even above the children that work with them. "We can't trust them to protect our children - or our country?"

Foley is the fourth Republican to resign from the House under an ethical cloud in the past year, joining indicted former Majority Leader Tom Delay of Texas, and soon-to-be-jailed Bob Ney of Ohio, who pled guilty in the ongoing influence-peddling investigation of Jack Abramoff. Mr. Feeney is the only remaining congressman not yet indicted, to have received a posh golf junket to Scotland which was paid for by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Once again this year, Feeney has been listed as one of the "Most Corrupt Members of Congress" by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

Clint Curtis is the Democratic Candidate for Congress in Florida's 24th District. A computer programmer, election integrity advocate and whistleblower, Curtis has charged that his opponent Rep. Tom Feeney, among other well-documented misdeeds, asked him to create an electronic vote-rigging computer program while they both worked for the same computer firm in Oviedo, Fla. in 2000.

For more information, see www.clintcurtis.com or http://www.citizensforethics.org/.

CONTACT:
Clint Curtis
Clint Curtis for Congress
P.O. Box 1456
Titusville, FL 32780
PHONE. 321-795-7922
EMAIL: ClintCurtis@ClintCurtis.com
http://www.ClintCurtis.com

HTML: http://www.eworldwire.com/pressreleases/15635
PDF: http://www.eworldwire.com/pdf/15635.pdf

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Article Categories: Florida, Tom Feeney, Clint Curtis, Mark Foley