Wake up and good morning. That disgraced ex-Florida House Speaker and former congressman Tom Feeney (left) was picked just before the Christmas holidays as the new chief of Associated Industries of Florida -- the pushy business lobbying group in Tallahassee -- is not exactly breaking news does not mean I can't express dismay now. After all, he starts his job next week.
AIF, formerly led by Barney Bishop (right) until he was pushed out last summer, always has chosen its own prickly way in lobbying for its business members. But Feeney?
Feeney was state House speaker from 2000-2002, when he was elected to Congress from Central Florida. Feeney twice won re-election. Then he fell out of favor after becoming a crony of corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who paid for the congressman to play golf in Scotland. In September 2006, Feeney was named one of the “20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress ...