Home  News Local News Paying hush money to mistress?
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Paying hush money to mistress? |
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Sunday, 19 October 2008 |
Two years ago Democrat Tim Mahoney easily won Florida’s District 16 (parts of Palm Beach and Martin County) Congressional seat after the incumbent, Republican Mark Foley was forced to step down after revelations that he was guilty of sending suggestive e-mails to male teenage pages working on Capitol Hill. At the time Mahoney promised to return morals and family values to the district and Washington. Now, Mahoney, who is up for reelection in November, is being accused of two extramarital affairs.
Mahoney was accused through a report first aired by ABC News, of having an affair with a former aide whom he fired, but paid to $121,000 to keep the affair quiet. Although not admitting to the allegations of the affair, Mahoney during a televised news conference with his wife, issued a statement apologizing to his family while denying that he had done anything illegal. In the statement Mahoney said he took full responsibility for his actions and the pain caused to his wife Terry, and daughter, Bailey. He said that no marriage is perfect, but the private life of he and his family is their private life.
After making that statement on Tuesday, hours later there was a report of another illicit affair with another woman. Reports are that someone close to Mahoney’s reelection campaign told the Associated Press that Mahoney also had an affair with a high-ranking Martin County female official around the same time he was having the alleged affair with the first.
In the first allegation, Mahoney who is in a competitive elections with Republican Tom Rooney, in what is regarded as a traditional Republican district, was accused of paying the aid whom he is alleged to have had an affair with during his 2006 election campaign to avoid a sexual harassment lawsuit. Mahoney, joined by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has called for an investigation by the House Ethics Committee, into his conduct. He said he never misused campaign funds and was confident he would be cleared of any misdeed.
According to reports on Tuesday night, a person, speaking on condition of anonymity and close to the Mahoney campaign told the AP that Mahoney had the second affair with the official in 2007, while he was lobbying with FEMA for a $3.4 million reimbursement for Martin County for damage caused by hurricanes in 2004. FEMA approved the money late last year. The report stated that Mahoney's congressional staff declined to comment on the second allegation, but did acknowledge Mahoney lobbies for FEMA funding throughout his district.
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