Foley replacement has sex scandal of his own

(By Ed Morrissey, Hot Air) - Remember Mark Foley? He embodied the fecklessness of the Republican efforts in 2006’s midterm elections when his strange entreaties to underaged pages got uncovered. He lost his West Palm Beach seat to Tim Mahoney, who ran on family values — understandably effective against Foley — and joined the Democratic tidal wave of victory over the “culture of corruption”.

Now, however, it turns out that Tim “Faith and Family” Mahoney has a sex scandal of his own, although somewhat more pedestrian than Foley’s:

West Palm Beach Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL), whose predecessor resigned in the wake of a sex scandal, agreed to a $121,000 payment to a former mistress who worked on his staff and was threatening to sue him, according to current and former members of his staff who have been briefed on the settlement, which involved Mahoney and his campaign committee.

Mahoney, who is married, also promised the woman, Patricia Allen, a $50,000 a year job for two years at the agency that handles his campaign advertising, the staffers said.

A Mahoney spokesperson would not answer questions about the alleged affair or the settlement, but said Allen resigned of her own accord and “has not received any special payment from campaign funds.”

Senior Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives, including Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), the chair of the Democratic Caucus, have been working with Mahoney to keep the matter from hurting his re-election campaign, the Mahoney staffers said.