"A congressional watchdog group is right to ask for an investigation of two overseas trips that U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, took that may have violated House ethics regulations.

In 2003, Feeney -- whose congressional district includes northern Brevard County -- went on a golf-playing junket to Scotland paid for by prominent Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who's under investigation for bilking Indian tribes he represented.

Exactly what went on should be clarified, and Feeney's actions appropriately sanctioned if any misconduct occurred.

But what rankles us more profoundly than his possible missteps is the routine flippancy with which elected officials take such excursions.

Technically permissible or not, junkets are just occasions for influence peddling. And time spent on them is time not spent conducting the real business of taxpayers."

Get the Story:
Influence peddling (Florida Today 3/15)

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