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.

Feeney also traveled to Korea on the dime of the Korea-U.S. Exchange Council, a group registered as a foreign agent.

Both actions are prohibited.

But Feeney says he was misinformed about who was actually paying for the trips and believed he had informal approval from the House Ethics Committee.

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.

For Feeney, that could have meant doing more to represent residents in his district still suffering from hurricane damage, and helping counties such as Brevard that still have not received all of their emergency hurricane money from FEMA.

That's not as fun as playing golf in Scotland, but it's his job, or should be.