Opinion: Rep. Tim Mahoney, who replaced scandal-scarred Rep. Mark Foley, now has his own

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Remember Rep. Mark Foley? Republican. Florida. Suggestive text messages. Congressional pages. Scandal. One of several. 2006. GOP loses the House of Representatives.

Well, according to ABC News, Foley’s Democratic successor, Rep. Tim Mahoney, now has a mistress problem. Actually, a mistress payoff problem. To buy her silence. And avoid her lawsuit for something.

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

Senior Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives, including Rep. Rahm Emanuel, chair of the Democratic Caucus, have been working with Mahoney to keep the matter from hurting his reelection campaign, the Mahoney staffers said.

Good luck with that 22 days out.

A spokesperson for Emanuel denies that account, but said Emanuel did confront Mahoney ‘upon hearing a rumor’ about an affair in 2007 and ‘told him he was in public life and had a responsibility to act accordingly.’

The spokesperson added that it was a ‘private conversation’ that had nothing to do with Mahoney’s reelection prospects.

Mahoney’s district leans Republican. President Bush won 54% of its vote in 2004 and 53% in 2000. Mahoney’s in an already tough reelection race against Republican Tom Rooney, grandson of Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney.

Coincidentally, it was ABC News in 2006 that broke the Foley story right before that election that cost Republicans control of the House.

Thank goodness those reformers got into office after 2006 because now things have totally changed there in Congress and everything’s just fine. Our blogging buddy Frank James has the full Mahoney story over at the Swamp.

-- Andrew Malcolm

Speaking of the full story, you can get instant alerts on every Ticket item sent to your cellphone by registering here at Twitter free.

.