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(D-FL, Tim) Mahoney tied to $121K sex scandal
Politico.com on Yahoo ^ | 10/13/08 | Glenn Thrush, Josh Kraushaar
For the second consecutive election year, West Palm Beach has produced a potentially devastating congressional sex scandal – but this one involves a Democrat.
ABC News reported Monday that Rep. Tim Mahoney — the Florida Democrat who replaced disgraced Republican Mark Foley in 2006 — paid $121,000 to a staffer with whom he had an affair. The news gives Republicans a desperately needed new line of attack just three weeks before Election Day.
Mahoney, 52, paid former staffer Patricia Allen $61,000 — plus $60,000 in legal fees — after she threatened to sue him for sexual harassment and intimidation, the network reported, citing unnamed Mahoney staffers and Allen’s legal papers.
The congressman – who promised to restore honor and morality in a district rocked by revelations of Foley’s inappropriate behavior toward House pages – reportedly moved the 50-year-old Allen from a job in his office to a $50,000 position with an agency that handles his campaign advertising.
A Mahoney spokesman didn’t comment on the story but said the first-term representative never used campaign funds to pay off Allen.
The National Republican Congressional Committee blasted copies of the story shortly after it appeared on ABC’s Web site – and Mahoney’s Republican opponent Tom Rooney has planned a press conference on the story with NRCC Chairman Tom Cole in the district on Tuesday.
The scandal breaks at the worst possible time for Mahoney. He was facing a highly competitive race against Rooney, one of the GOP’s leading recruits. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has already spent $430,000 on ads on behalf of Mahoney.
A poll conducted for Rooney in September showed Mahoney with a 48 to 41 percent lead.
Now Democratic operatives are privately glum about their prospects of holding onto the seat.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
(D-FL, Tim) Mahoney tied to $121K sex scandal
Politico.com on Yahoo ^ | 10/13/08 | Glenn Thrush, Josh Kraushaar
For the second consecutive election year, West Palm Beach has produced a potentially devastating congressional sex scandal – but this one involves a Democrat.
ABC News reported Monday that Rep. Tim Mahoney — the Florida Democrat who replaced disgraced Republican Mark Foley in 2006 — paid $121,000 to a staffer with whom he had an affair. The news gives Republicans a desperately needed new line of attack just three weeks before Election Day.
Mahoney, 52, paid former staffer Patricia Allen $61,000 — plus $60,000 in legal fees — after she threatened to sue him for sexual harassment and intimidation, the network reported, citing unnamed Mahoney staffers and Allen’s legal papers.
The congressman – who promised to restore honor and morality in a district rocked by revelations of Foley’s inappropriate behavior toward House pages – reportedly moved the 50-year-old Allen from a job in his office to a $50,000 position with an agency that handles his campaign advertising.
A Mahoney spokesman didn’t comment on the story but said the first-term representative never used campaign funds to pay off Allen.
The National Republican Congressional Committee blasted copies of the story shortly after it appeared on ABC’s Web site – and Mahoney’s Republican opponent Tom Rooney has planned a press conference on the story with NRCC Chairman Tom Cole in the district on Tuesday.
The scandal breaks at the worst possible time for Mahoney. He was facing a highly competitive race against Rooney, one of the GOP’s leading recruits. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has already spent $430,000 on ads on behalf of Mahoney.
A poll conducted for Rooney in September showed Mahoney with a 48 to 41 percent lead.
Now Democratic operatives are privately glum about their prospects of holding onto the seat.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...