Palm Beach Post pulls endorsement of Mahoney

The Palm Beach Post on Thursday rescinded its endorsement of Rep. Tim Mahoney, citing the freshman Florida Democrat’s evasiveness in response to allegations that he paid off a former employee to keep her quiet about an affair.

“It is rare that a newspaper rescinds an endorsement, but in the race for District 16, The Post no longer can support U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Palm Beach Gardens, and recommends that he withdraw and that voters choose Tom Rooney,” the paper's editorial read.

{mosads}The Post had endorsed Mahoney for reelection on Sunday, the day before ABC News reported that Mahoney used $121,000 in campaign funds to bribe Patricia Allen into keeping an apparent affair a secret.

“Rep. Mahoney has been far too evasive about the $121,000 he paid to silence a former campaign and congressional staffer with whom he had an extramarital affair and whom he later fired,” the Post wrote. “Though he has more or less admitted to the affair with Patricia Allen, Rep. Mahoney has not said why he put his mistress on the payroll and why he gave her the settlement … Rather than speak directly to his constituents, whose votes he is seeking, Rep. Mahoney has called for a congressional investigation that would not be over until after the Nov. 4 election.” 

The Post also mentioned its own reporting that Mahoney has had at least one additional affair in explaining its decision to now support Rooney, Mahoney’s Republican challenger.

The paper had high praise for Mahoney’s legislative accomplishments, but wrote that “his actions — and his lack of action — show that he can't be trusted.”

“Considering how he got to Washington, he should have known better than most how important trust and ethics are,” the editorial read.

And while mentioning the resignation of Republican Rep. Mark Foley, which helped hand Mahoney the congressional seat, the Post had harsh words for how congressional Democrats have reacted to the Mahoney scandal compared with their reactions to the revelation that Foley had been sending sexually explicit e-mails and texts to underage, male congressional pages.

“In 2006, [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi promised that Democrats would ‘lead the most honest, the most open and the most ethical Congress in history.’ If that’s true, now is the time for her and other members of the House leadership to tell the public, as Democrats demanded of Republicans two years ago in the Foley case, what they knew and when they knew it,” the Post wrote.