LAT: Golf, and Playing by the Rules (DeLay, Ney, Feeney lobbyist junkets)

[DeepModem Mom]

Golf, and Playing by the Rules
Lobbyist who arranged a junket for DeLay also set up St. Andrews trips for two of his colleagues.

By Chuck Neubauer and Walter F. Roche Jr., Times Staff Writers


WASHINGTON — A group of congressional figures has joined House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) under an ethics cloud stemming from foreign golf junkets arranged by a lobbyist facing influence-peddling investigations.

DeLay landed in trouble last month over a 2000 trip to Scotland with the lobbyist. But two other congressmen and three House aides also played St. Andrews on separate junkets with the lobbyist that may have violated House rules, records show.

And, like the Texas Republican, all omitted disclosing the key role of beleaguered lobbyist Jack Abramoff. He privately raised tens of thousands of dollars for private jets and boasted of setting up golf junkets, according to documents, congressional testimony and interviews.

One of Abramoff's golf guests was Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio), chairman of the little-known but powerful House Administration Committee. He said in congressional filings that his trip on a chartered jet in 2002 was sponsored and paid for by an obscure conservative think tank, the National Center for Public Policy Research.... (The Center denies this.)

***

The same nonprofit organization also was listed by then-freshman Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) after he flew to Scotland with the lobbyist in August 2003. But in response to inquiries by The Times, the center said it did not provide "a single dime" for the Feeney junket....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-golf9mar09,0,222243.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[Stevious]

1. kick

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/latimests/20050309/ts_latimes/golfandplayingbytherules

:kick:

[yellowcanine]

2. Isn't Ney up to his neck in the Ralph Reed Indian Casino scandal?

And Feeny - he was the infamous Speaker? of the Florida Legislature who led the successful drive to have the state representatives choose their own electors in case Al Gore was named as the winner.

[redqueen]

3. You just have to admire those republican values... lie, lie, lie.

I sincerely hope these crooks get their due. However as a result of their persistent attempts to weaken the rules, I doubt it will happen.

[rodeodance]

4. bring them Down!!!

[The Backlash Cometh]

5. kick!

[newscott]

6. Interesting a representative from Ohio and one from Florida

You can draw your own conclusions. :tinfoilhat:

[DeepModem Mom]

8. Hmmmmm...... n/t

[The White Tree]

7. Quite the Old Boys network these guys seem to have going

[realFedUp]

9. Picking up divets

I hope DeLay gets more jail time
than Martha had.