Democrats ditch Rep. Mahoney amid sex scandal

Democratic Party operatives are cutting Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) loose in the wake of allegations of an extra-marital affair that has significantly hurt his reelection prospects.

Before the controversy erupted, Mahoney’s party had already pulled resources from his district and decided against purchasing more television advertisements in the final three-weeks of the campaign. Democrats  have no plans to reinvest after Mahoney’s comments in the past 24 hours failed to knock down an ABC News report that the Florida Democrat made a $121,000 payment to a former congressional staffer with whom he had an affair and subsequently fired from his campaign.

{mosads}“It was dark this week and plans are to be dark for the next two weeks,” said one Democratic strategist, referring to the absence of television advertisements. “When you have a choice between investing in an ethically challenged member in an expensive market and challengers in less expensive media markets, my guess is they’ll do the latter.”

One Democratic poll had shown Mahoney with a big lead a few weeks ago, but it now appears Republicans could defeat the freshman lawmaker and retake the seat. Mahoney himself was elected in 2006 after a sex scandal involving inappropriate communications between underage congressional pages and former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.). Mahoney ran on a campaign to restore moral dignity to the office.

The favorable political climate for Democrats makes abandoning him easier. Democrats hope to expand their House majority by dozens, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced Tuesday that it had added eight challengers to its Red to Blue program, expanding it to target nearly one-third of GOP-held seats.

Some House Democratic aides said the party is glad to be rid of Mahoney, who is a difficult personality and whose alleged actions are hard to defend.

Mahoney and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday both called for an ethics committee investigation into the matter. Pelosi said the ABC News report was the first time she had heard about the issue and called on the ethics panel to “immediately and thoroughly investigate” the matter.  

Mahoney attempted damage control at a Tuesday press conference, but did not deny the affair occurred or that he paid the woman involved, former aide Patricia Allen, $121,000 in a legal settlement.

Instead, he called the sex scandal allegations against him “false” and argued that the alleged hush money he paid his former mistress is a “private matter.”

In a statement delivered in his district with his wife, Terry, by his side, Mahoney said he takes “full responsibility” for his actions and the pain he has caused his family.

He also offered vague statements about an arrangement he had with Allen, which allegedly included more than $120,000 and a job to ward off a threatened lawsuit after Mahoney apparently fired her.

The lawmaker did not address all aspects of ABC’s allegations, but he did say that he has “not misused campaign funds, and I’m confident that, when all the facts come to light, I will be cleared of any wrongdoing.”

Democrats skewered Republican leaders two years ago over claims that they knew about Foley. On Tuesday, Republicans were more than happy to give Democrats a dose of their own medicine.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) lambasted the response of Democratic leaders, including Pelosi, Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) and DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) as “entirely inadequate.”

Emanuel and Van Hollen both admitted to confronting Mahoney about rumors that he was having an affair and telling him to change his behavior if the rumors were true. It was unclear, however, to what degree they followed up with Mahoney.

{mospagebreak}Republicans were particularly eager to hit Emanuel, who knew about the Foley scandal before it unfolded in the press.

At least two GOP candidates — Tom Manion, who is running against Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.) and Keith Fimian, who is running against Gerry Connelly for retiring Rep. Tom Davis’s (R-Va.) seat — called on their Democratic opponents to return campaign donations received from Emanuel and Van Hollen.

Manion in a release pointed out Murphy had called on his opponent to return campaign funds he received from then-Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) during the Foley scandal.

{mosads}Boehner and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) accused Democrats of trying to forestall any more embarrassing revelations in the matter by calling for an ethics committee investigation. The ethics committee is notoriously slow to act and its deliberations and activity are secret.

After Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio), who chaired the ethics panel, passed away suddenly in August, Pelosi failed to name a formal chairman, instead allowing Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas), the next most senior member, to head the committee temporarily as the “acting chairman.” Some GOP aides and outside ethics experts argue that the decision not to name the next official chairman has slowed down the selection of the committee’s top aide (a position that has been vacant for months and does most of the heavy lifting in all investigations) because whoever is the next official chairman will want to name his or her own person to that key position.

“The American people, beginning with the people of Florida’s 16th congressional district, deserve to know the facts immediately about Congressman Mahoney’s conduct,” Boehner said in a statement. “They are also entitled to know immediately what House Democratic leaders knew about it, when they knew it, and what they did with the information.

“Congressman Mahoney and House Democratic leaders must provide these answers to the American people at once,” he continued. “They should not be permitted to hide behind the shield of a nonfunctioning House ethics committee or any convenient loopholes in House rules.”

Republicans claimed that Democrats are especially vulnerable on ethics issues because they won their majority in part because they promised to run “the most honest, open and ethical Congress in history.”  

Cole held a press conference Tuesday with GOP candidate Tom Rooney, who is expected to catapult to victory in a district whose constituents are sex-scandal- fatigued. Cole used the time to accuse Mahoney of trying to stonewall on the specifics of the allegations and Democratic leaders of trying to stall any new disclosures until after the election by using the ethics committee as a fig leaf for decisive action.

“It’s clear Speaker Pelosi would like to sweep this under the rug through a lengthy investigation rather than shine a light of truth on the facts,” Cole said in a statement.

Democrats would not say whether they believed ethics committee members should return to Washington immediately to launch an investigative subcommittee to look into the Mahoney matter.

A Pelosi spokesman, however, emphasized that Pelosi urged the ethics panel to investigate the allegations as soon as she learned of them.

“She believes the investigation should proceed without delay,” said Nadeam Elshami, a Pelosi spokesman.