"Honorable" Thomas Feeney –

From only a few years of research and immersion in Florida politics comes a very stark example of the Orwellian Doublespeak which has permeated American politics, yet somehow always manages to go unreported in the press. U.S. Congressmen Tom Feeney from Oviedo who currently sits on the House Judiciary committee exemplifies how a politician can steadfastly maintain a public persona of transparency and service while knowingly leading a political double-life. Feeney whose public persona is the feisty Irishman, though he is not Catholic, will tell you face-to-face and on his U.S. Congressional website that as Americans each of us has a duty to stand up and defend our Constitutional rights for the sake of the common good. He will cite our Founding Fathers’ original intent, lament and lambaste our “activist” judiciary, rely on “Constitutional” rationale to satisfy the events of the 2000 Florida presidential recount where he was Florida’s Speaker of the House, etc. So in true Orwellian form our COngressional Big Brother in 2005 at a UCF Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government forum which was titled Money & Politics: Are Elections For Sale? , Congressman Feeney, a political science major and law school graduate, spoke on the topic of campaign finance along with fellow U.S. Congressmen Alan Boyd and Jim Davis. Mr. Feeney is on the record which is available at the UCF - Lou Frey Institute website under 2005 Money & Politics: Are Elections For Sale?, Campaign Finance & The Congress as saying,



“… I believe that the First Amendment Free Speech clause was primarily directed at free speech in the political realm.“

“But free speech most importantly means the right to speak about your government, about what you like and don’t like, which candidate you like and don’t like. And free speech means unfettered speech.”



However, what is likewise on the public record, yet more obscurely obtainable are the court briefs and documents filed by Mr. Feeney and his law partner in 2001 at the time he was still Florida Speaker of the House and just coming off the “Constitutional” victory of the Florida presidential recount. In this case filed in the Ninth Judicial Circuit (downtown Orlando), Kelly v. Oliver, CIO 01-567, 826 So. 2d 317,PCA (2002), Mr. Feeney, the self-proclaimed First Amendment Constitutionalist, yet real-life Orwellian stooge at the beck and call of the Republican Party of Florida who created him, went to court and defended the Republican Party of Florida’s “right” to demand its party loyalty oath.

Our Chairman happened to be at that Lou Frey Institute event and heard Mr. Feeney speak in front of an audience that had alot, if not strong majority, of college students who seemed to be inspired by his solemn "talk tough" First Amendment remarks. This made our Chairman's blood boil and during the Question & Answer period challenged Mr. Feeney about his First Amendment views regarding the Republican Party's party loyalty oath. Caught off-guard, Congressman Feeney quickly morphed out of his Constitutional gravitas and became quite care-free and jocular and said to the effect that well that is a special case, then asked if there were any "Doug Guetzloe people" in the audience. Our Chairman made a special trip back out to UCF to buy the DVD of this event but unfortunately only the speeches, not the Question & Answer period, were on it.

Some Republicans who have signed this party loyalty oath as Orange County Republican Executive Committee members are current Orange County Mayor and former Florida Representative and Senator Richard Crotty, current Orange County Property Appraiser, former Orange County Commissioner and former Maitland Councilman Bill Donegan and current Florida House Representatives Dean Cannon from Winter Park. In fact Mr. Donegan gave a speech at the OCREC meeting immediately following Mr. Crotty's appointment to be Orange County Chairman stating that if it had not been for Mr. Crotty's active membership and participation in OCREC that he probably would not have been appointed by Governor Bush. Cannon is slated to be the Speaker of the Florida House in 2011. Here are Cannon's 2004 and 2008 qualification papers to serve as Orange County Republican Executive Committee (OCREC) Precinct 515 Committeeman.

Click here to read the wording of the Republican Party party loyalty oath and understand how it undermines an elected official's First Amendment rights and undermines the constituents whom that person represents.