Feeney and the FBI Anniversary Week 7 Deadly Questions for "Representative #3"

QUESTION #6: Did Tyng-Lin Yang contribute to your legal defense fund so that he could get a NASA contract?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 21, 2008

TALLAHASSEE - In U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney's (R-24th) long history of shady business, some tales are sad and some are absurd. But there are a few whoppers that are just outright shameful.

Only Florida's most dishonest member of Congress can take public corruption this far. In this latest case, Feeney has accepted contributions to his legal defense fund from an individual who's vying for the Congressman's favor.

We're only two days away from the first anniversary of the public relationship between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the man it affectionately refers to as "Representative #3".

To celebrate the occasion, the Florida Democratic Party is asking Feeney "Seven Deadly Questions" that he has left unanswered.

Question #6: Did Tyng-Lin Yang contribute to your legal defense fund so that he could get a NASA contract?

Facing mounting legal bills after his dalliance with convicted super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Tom Feeney created a legal defense fund in June 2007. Call the move a tip from disgraced former Republican majority leader Tom DeLay.

Feeney, who repeatedly attacks the integrity of anyone who questions his dealings with Abramoff, said he started his own fund to, in his words, "demonstrate conclusively that I always have acted with honesty and integrity." [Orlando Sentinel, 8/17/07]

Unexpected costs resulting in financial hardships can certainly turn the screws on anyone; just ask Floridians today who are feeling the brunt of the Republican recession and housing crisis. But the high-dollar amounts linked to Feeney's legal cover show just how desperate he is to keep the FBI off the trail.

Feeney has spent at least $61,509 from campaign accounts on legal bills since early 2005. He raised $33,500 for the legal defense fund in the first weeks after it opened in June 2007. [Florida Today, 6/26/07; Orlando Sentinel, 8/17/07].

One Feeney faithful is Tyng-Lin Yang, who gave $5,000 to the legal defense fund. Yang and his wife have donated more than $18,000 to Feeney's campaigns in the past seven years.

Feeney and Yang's relationship goes back a long way. Feeney once worked as a lobbyist for Yang Enterprises and was accused, while he served as Florida House speaker, of using his position to intervene in a contract dispute with the state.

Yang's business interests are ambitious; one company he owns hopes to win NASA operations contracts. Tom Feeney is currently the highest-ranking Republican on the House Science Committee's Space and Aeronautical Subcommittee

"Tom Feeney knows the price of good legal representation goes up threefold when the evidence is against you, and he also knows that people hate to contribute to a losing cause," Florida Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski said. "No wonder pay-to-play Feeney has to turn to someone who could personally benefit for contributions to his legal fund. At this rate, voters will end Feeney's career in November unless the FBI gets him first."

The Florida Democratic Party will release one deadly question a day through April 23, exactly one year after news broke that Tom Feeney was under investigation by the FBI.

Read more about the infamy of Tom Feeney at: http://www.feeneysfullofit.com.