Feeney aide mixed state, campaign work [FL's very conservative House Speaker under FL media fire]

Feeney aide mixed state, campaign work

By S.V. Date, Palm Beach Post Capital Bureau

TALLAHASSEE -- A top legislative aide to House Speaker Tom Feeney has been working on his congressional campaign from his Capitol office, a possible criminal violation of state election laws.

Bridgette Gregory, a 27-year-old former waitress and more recently a fund-raiser for the state Republican Party, is paid $55,644 a year even though she has neither the bachelor's degree nor the technical experience that the state's job description for her position requires.

Feeney's congressional campaign also has paid Gregory $11,000 to persuade lobbyists to give him the maximum $1,000 per person and $5,000 per political action committee to aid his bid for a congressional seat he hopes to carve for himself in east-central Florida.

According to a Palm Beach Post review of thousands of pages of e-mails, Gregory has mixed this work, arranging campaign fund-raisers in January and February for Feeney's bid for Congress and fielding queries from contributors and consultants from her office in Feeney's suite.

Feeney, R-Oviedo, had a news conference Wednesday to denounce The Post as it was printing this report. Gregory declined to answer questions at the news conference.

"The only fund-raising that has occurred in the speaker's office, that any of us are aware of, is the president-speaker" charity ball, he said before telling The Post that he would not answer any detailed questions.

The Post review, however, found instances of Gregory's conducting campaign and state Republican Party business using her state computer:

• On Dec. 3 and Dec. 6, Gregory exchanged e-mail messages with party operative Eric Eikenberg regarding a proposal to handle accounting work for Feeney's campaign.

• From Dec. 18 to Dec. 22, Gregory traded e-mails with a lobbyist for the Southern Co., an Atlanta-based energy company, about how its political action committee could donate to Feeney's campaign.

• From Dec. 28 to Jan. 9, Gregory exchanged e-mail messages with lobbyists and other staff members regarding a fund-raising trip to South Florida. Feeney had two congressional fund-raisers in Fort Lauderdale on Jan. 10 and a luncheon to raise money for state House candidates on Jan. 11 in West Palm Beach.

• On Jan. 14 and 15, Gregory traded e-mails regarding a fund-raising trip to Chicago; the trip did not materialize.

• On Feb. 14 -- a week after The Post filed public-record requests regarding Gregory's work -- she sent and received e-mails regarding arrangements for a fund-raiser Feeney had at the Orlando Airport Hyatt hotel on Feb. 15.

• State election law mandates that "no candidate shall, in the furtherance of his or her candidacy . . . use the services of any officer or employee of the state during working hours," a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail.

Both the Leon County state attorney and the Florida Elections Commission would have jurisdiction for such violations, said state Division of Elections Director Clay Roberts. A separate law prohibits the use of state property for "personal gain,"which courts have interpreted as including political activity, according to an opinion issued last year by Charles Canady, general counsel to Gov. Jeb Bush.

Campaign calls on state phone Gregory also used her state-paid cell phone in the days before Feeney established his "exploratory" campaign committee to call lobbyists who have since pledged their support for Feeney, records show.

"She's worth her weight in gold," said Pat Gartlan, the southeastern regional director for the United States Chamber of Commerce, a Washington-based business lobbying group. "In fund-raising, no one can touch her."

Gregory called Gartlan on Aug. 30. Gartlan said he does not remember the specifics -- he said he has known her for years from previous political campaigns -- but that he will support Feeney in his bid for Congress. "We get very involved for guys and gals who support the business community."

St. Joe Co. lobbyist Chris Corr, who has helped Feeney on numerous campaigns, shows up once on Gregory's phone log, on Aug. 29. "She is a friend of mine, the speaker is a friend of mine," Corr said this week. "We talk regularly, mostly about campaign issues." Later that day, Corr told The Post that Gregory probably called him that day about a going-away party for a mutual friend in the speaker's office.

On Dec. 14, Corr and other St. Joe lobbyists gave Feeney $4,000 for his congressional committee.

House records show that Gregory took an unpaid leave of absence from the speaker's office from Sept. 4 to Oct. 15, with taxpayers continuing to pay for her health insurance. Feeney's congressional campaign paid her $11,000, according to Federal Election Commission records. The campaign also paid Gregory's 20-year-old sister, Meridy, $3,730 from July 24 to Dec. 12.

Bridgette Gregory lives and works in Tallahassee; Meridy Gregory lives in Orlando and works out of Feeney's Orlando law office there.

Feeney reported no other employees of his congressional committee to the Federal Elections Commission on the report he filed in January, the most recent filing date. He confirmed Wednesday that Bridgette Gregory is essentially his entire campaign apparatus.

"She's coordinating most aspects of the campaign," he said.

Feeney, 43, is finishing his second year as House speaker and his 10th year in the House, a tenure sandwiched around a stint as Bush's running mate during the failed 1994 campaign.

Feeney hopes to draw a new congressional district centered on his Seminole County home and toward that end collected $402,303 last year -- 19 percent of the total coming in during Gregory's leave, 81 percent after her return to her state job.

The FEC filing detailing expenses and contributions for the first three months of this year is not due until April.

Feeney said Wednesday that Gregory had repaid $336 worth of personal phone calls she made to family and friends before her leave of absence.

He added that none of the calls had involved political fund-raising.

Gregory's cell phone records after her return from leave are not available.

Feeney's office said itemized call lists cannot be obtained for the cellular service plan the office switched to in September -- just before Gregory began her six-week leave.

The Post asked for copies of Gregory's daily calendar but was told she keeps neither an appointment book nor any schedule on her computer.

Gregory holds the third-highest paid job in Feeney's office despite her lack of a bachelor's degree, which along with three years of experience in "research, analysis, program planning and evaluation-- is a prerequisite for her position.

Her salary exceeds that of nine of the 23 House staffers who need law degrees for their positions.

She came to Feeney's attention while she helped organize fund-raisers for the state Republican Party from June 1997 to December 1999. She came to the attention of Republican Party operatives while she waited tables at the Tallahassee Hooters restaurant from 1994 to 1996.

Feeney said her lack of a bachelor's did not concern him and that she is "within a couple classes" of her degree.

"She also struck me as extremely bright and capable," he said.

Her November 2000 application to Feeney's office states that she received an associate's degree from Tallahassee Community College in 1996 and was four classes short of graduation at Florida State University. Gregory has not been enrolled as a student since 1998, according to the FSU registrar's office.

Although her job description has as its first task "analyzes legislation to determine its consistency with principles enunciated by the speaker," records that Feeney's office provided contained no analysis of legislation in 2001.

Feeney said Wednesday that Gregory's role is more "to keep an eye on policy and big picture" matters, and he praised her closeness to the various interest groups. "She is very familiar with the Tallahassee lobbying corps," he said. "Bridgette's ability to know the players is rather extraordinary."

Another of her tasks included writing letters notifying Feeney's appointees to various state boards and commissions. The Post review found that a majority of these letters contained at least one spelling, punctuation or grammar error -- including, in several cases, variant spellings of her own name.

A Jan. 8, 2001, letter under Feeney's letterhead to Seminole Tribe Chairman James Billie began: "Please except my sincerest congratulations."

Feeney awarded Gregory a 13 percent raise in June in "appreciation for your exemplary work performance." In September, Gregory got an additional 2.5 percent raise that all state workers received. The chore of writing appointment letters, meanwhile, was transferred to another employee.

The Post found similar errors and discrepancies in Gregory's employment application.

In her résumé, Gregory claimed having worked for the "Joint Underwriters Association" from May 1996 to May 1997, during which time she "implemented accounting practices to ensure budgets were balanced."

According to records at the state's Joint Underwriting Association for homeowner insurance, Gregory worked from late October 1996 to May 1997 as an $8-an-hour part-time clerk in the accounting department.

Feeney and his office initially wrote an alternative job description for Gregory -- one that did not mention the requirement of a four-year degree and three years of experience -- after The Post requested one.

Only after The Post questioned when it was written did Feeney's office produce the long-standing state job description with the actual educational and experience requirements.

Staff writer Jim Ash contributed to this story. s_v_date@pbpost.com

Right now I think you're talking about allegations. If substantiated, then they should be addressed. I'm a taxpayer and I don't condone payments to anyone which aren't consistent with the law.

The Water Pump deal cost the taxpayers over $70 million dollars. That's not an allegation, it's a fact which has been widely reported. JEB entered into a legal settlement with one of his partners who'd sued him in advance of the 1998 election which, conveniently, sealed the settlement from prying eyes. I don't know if JEB did anything wrong, after all he's an expert (I'm sure) in third world water pumps. Still without JEB's involvement, I have to wonder if his firm would have gotten the financing and made the sale.

Does no one work in law enforcement in this entire nation? The list of Gov Bush's alleged wrongdoing by some journalists is a mile long and then some. Was Gov. Bush just such a genius while he was engaged in all this alleged wrongdoing that absolutely no one could figure out how to bring an investigation, indictment, and prosecution? Was there no such thing as the Dem Party or a FL Dem governor or a Dem anyone who might have been interested in any of this? Nothing ever came of any of these tired allegations against him. If something had, I would say you have a point. But nothing did. And, so, I have to conclude the reason for a;ll this inaction is people had nothing on him, although his political enemies -- you included, BTW -- wish something had happened.

And, BTW, what I said -- "political enemy" -- as it pertains to you, means, in my book: someone who NEVER has anything positive to say about Gov. Bush, despite all the good he has done for the people of this state.

I am clarifying what I meant by that because to others who are more experienced in politics than me, such phrase might have a more sinister definition, though I did not intend that with respect to you. I just think you are way off base with him.

And, IMO, you are equally off base with your assessment of Feeney in this situation. What Feeney did here is not the worst act ever done by mankind, but it was a stupid decision, and one he could easily correct. But his subsequent acts, to hold a news consference to uphold his original idiotic decision, and then to rewrite the job description to cover up, only compounds the problem and further inflames voters, especially women voters.

Also, here is what FL First Lady Columba Bush said about the situation you mentioned, and this is from a St. Petersburg Times interview she did, which is posted in full on the state's web site here.

Excerpt:

Mrs. Bush has declined media requests for sit-down interviews since June 1999, when she was fined by U.S. Customs officials because she didn't declare $19,000 worth of clothes and jewelry she bought on a Paris shopping trip. The story made news around the world, and made Jeb and Columba Bush the butt of jokes, many of them about Columba's expensive tastes. She favors designer clothing and expensive jewelry.

Mrs. Bush apologized at the time, saying, "The embarrassment I brought on myself made me ashamed to face my family and friends."

She also said: "I did not ask to join a famous family. I simply wanted to marry the man I loved."

Mrs. Bush now says the event made her media-shy.

"Like I say, we all make mistakes," she said last week. "I just had to start doing more good things.

"There's always going to be people criticizing him or criticizing me, but we try to focus on what's important," she said. "That's probably why I am so careful in what I do and what I say, because I know people are listening. I want to do my best."

And, to tell you the truth, if there an election was held tomorrow and the only two candidates running were Columba Bush and Tom Feeney, I would vote for Columba Bush over Tom Feeney, because at least she can admit when she makes a mistake -- and appropriately, she is able to feel embarassment by such a lapse in judgment.

Tom Feeney, on the other hand, apparently believes he is immune from all possible error, which causes me to feel great unease as a voter.

In addition, here in yesterday's NYT article about Alliance, the NYT correctly notes that Gov. Bush, although being criticized, is in fact pushing for an investigation into Alliance.

From NYT, "At The 11th Hour, He Bought Enron, But Why?" by Leslie Wayne, 3/3/02:

Another hypothesis involves Gov. Jeb Bush, one of the three trustees of the Florida fund, officially called the Florida Retirement System. In this highly partisan state, where the presidential vote count in 2000 further inflamed political passions, the question is whether Governor Bush, a Republican, was behind the Enron stock purchases. That suggestion has been denied by the fund's executive director and its two other trustees, who said the governor had no role in picking stocks, whether of Enron or of any company.

Governor Bush, who is being criticized for having supported Enron's business interests on the local level and for having invested in an Enron partnership, is in fact among those calling for an investigation of Alliance.

Finally, here's an example of the kind of thing I really believe not every governor would do, but Gov. Bush did:

From a recent article in an Osceola paper (I will post the URL):

But 13-year-old Chris Cotter got a brief audience with Bush, an E-mail pal of Chris since the boy wrote to the governor following his election to office.

He said the governor even took time to help him with a history report for his Neptune Middle School class on homeland security in the wake of Sept. 11. Before the start of the meeting Chris had a chance to finally meet his idol, shake his hand and take a picture with him.

“It means a lot,” Chris said afterward. “I’ve been wanting to meet him for a long time. He told me it was nice to e-mail me and... Actually I don’t remember what he said, I was so excited.”

So, whenever you and a handful of other disgruntled members of the GOP complain Gov. Bush just doesn't spend enough time on party politics, as a teacher, I have to say I believe he is doing more important things than party politics.

BTW, the media hasn't let up on your pal, Mr. Feeney, as there's an interesting blurb in FL media about an open letter he wrote to the Palm Beach Post, demanding an "apology" after the article was published? An apology? For what? How about an apology from HIM to FL voters???

And, this week, the opposition, DU, is right on the money with their criticism, which I believe many swing voters will recognize as being right on the money. The only problem is they have the wrong photo, as they should have featured a photo of Mr. Fenney here:

#6 Tom Feeney

Why did Florida House Speaker Tom Feeney call a news conference last week to defend one of his top legislative aides against questions about her job? Well, to be honest we're not really sure. But since he did, we thought we'd give you a bit of background on the 27-year-old policy staffer, Bridgette A. Gregory. Miss Gregory has no college degree, no technical experience for her job, and used to work as a waitress at Hooters. She is paid $55,664 per year. She can't spell, including, in some cases, her own name. Her work duties have got nothing to do with her job description. Oh yes, and she's apparently been working on Feeney's congressional campaign from his Capitol office, which is illegal. But she has a lovely set of gams and according to Tom Feeney himself, is "underpaid." That's why he gave her a 13 percent raise last June in "appreciation for your exemplary work performance." He added, "Oh, Miss Gregory, I think you dropped your pen."

With respect to the Water Pump sales to Nigeria please note that I haven't said anything JEB did was illegal. My point is that I doubt you or I would have received such favorable consideration for financing at the EX-IM Bank (or US AID or whatever agency took the hit) if our expertise in water pumps rivalled JEB's. I am, however, hard pressed to believe that simply because no law was actually broken that it isn't a blatent case of wallowing at the public trough from a man whose idea of public service doesn't even seem to include such minor matters as serving in the armed forces. Let's face it, even Prince Edward (who is evidently more at home in a tutu than a field jacket) gave a go at the Royal Marines.

As I've tried to point out in previous posts - if laws were broken, whoever broke them (presumably Feeney, if these allegations are true) should pay the price. If Feeney broke the law, and particularly if he did so knowingly, then I'll be more than happy to see the book thrown at him.

If you are a teacher (and not some kid on JEB's PR team) the paragraph above should finally make my position clear.

(and not some kid on JEB's PR team)

LOL...I am truly a FL certified teacher -- I do not work for Jeb Bush. Click on my screen name, and you can read some of my essays about what he's done to help teachers.

I guess you just can't handle the thought that some women might be both (1) beautiful and (2) smart. Too tough for you, huh....so you have to resort to a "kid" label. LOL....

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