ABC News is reporting that Florida Congressman Tim Mahoney had a mistress and paid hush money and Rep. Rahm Emmanuel is also involved in the cover-up:
Freshman Democratic lawmaker Tim Mahoney of Florida won his congressional district in 2006 after incumbent Republican Rep. Mark Foley resigned weeks before the election. ABC News had found that Foley had sent inappropriate online communications to teenage males in the House Page program.
Now, just two years later, ABC News is reporting another scandal just three weeks before Election Day, this time involving Mahoney.
According to the investigative report released today, Mahoney paid a previously undisclosed $121,000 settlement to a former staffer, who was also his mistress, in order to stop her suing him for sexual harassment.
ABC reports that senior Democratic lawmakers, including Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, were aware of Mahoney’s personal troubles and were working to keep the matter quiet before Election Day, Mahoney staffers said.
However, a spokeswoman for Emanuel disputed that account and said there was only one brief conversation between the two lawmakers in 2007 when rumors of the affair reached Emanuel. The spokeswoman said re-election prospects were never discussed. “Upon hearing a rumor, Congressman Emanuel confronted Congressman Mahoney, told him he was in public life and had a responsibility to act accordingly and appropriately, and urged him to do so. They had no further conversations on this topic,” said the spokeswoman.
The affair reportedly began in 2006, when Mahoney, who is married, was running for Congress. Mahoney fired her in January 2008, and she began legal proceedings in February that concluded with a settlement in March.
This is far worse than what Mark Foley ever did. All Foley ever did was to send suggestive emails to congressional pages. The Democrats are circling the wagons around Mahoney. This sleazebag should be tossed out of office immediately!
UPDATE: FoxNews.com is reporting a second affair.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A married congressman who faces accusations that he had an affair with a former aide and paid her to keep quiet about it also was having an affair with a second woman around the same time, a person close to his campaign told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Details of the second affair came hours after Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney held a news conference to address a story, first reported by ABC News, that he had been involved with the former aide. Mahoney acknowledged he had caused "embarrassment and heartache" to his family but denied doing anything illegal.
Mahoney, 52, won his seat in 2006 while promising to return morals and family values to Washington in the aftermath of the resignation of former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley. Foley stepped down when it was revealed he sent lurid Internet messages to male teenage pages who had worked on Capitol Hill. Foley was later cleared of criminal wrongdoing by state and federal authorities.
Mahoney's seat was already considered to be one of the more competitive House races, and he has been facing a tough challenge in a district that traditionally leans slightly Republican. He faces former Army officer Tom Rooney, a lawyer whose family owns the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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