Congressman Tim Mahoney of Florida – the Democrat who took Mark Foley’s seat in 2006 — asks the House Ethics Committee to investigate whether he paid hush money to a former mistress.
Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) requested an ethics investigation of himself yesterday after ABC News reported that he paid hush money to a former mistress who once worked on his staff and was threatening to sue him.
According to ABC News’s Web site, which cited anonymous sources, Mahoney, 52, paid $121,000 to former staffer Patricia Allen and arranged a $50,000-a-year job for her at a Nashville-based public relations agency. Mahoney won the seat in 2006 after GOP Rep. Mark Foley resigned amid reports that he sent sexually themed electronic messages to male former congressional pages.
“While these allegations are based on hearsay, I believe that my constituents need a full accounting,” Mahoney, who is married, said in a statement yesterday that did not address whether the allegations were true. “As such, I have requested the House Ethics Committee to review these allegations. I am confident that when the facts are presented that I will be vindicated.”
Hey, Tim, if you had the affair, wouldn’t you know?