The Democrats may have just lost a seat that was going for them. Florida Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney, who replaced Mark Foley after his page scandal, is now embroiled in his own sex scandal. That is fast work for a politician. Foley only resigned in 2006. In D.C., it usually takes an average of three years for members in engage in a lobbyist scandal, five years for a sex scandal and ten years for a criminal conspiracy.
Following a standard political response, Mahoney has asked for the House ethics committee to investigate his own behavior. This is a standard move since (1) your opponents will do so anyway and (2) the congressional ethics rules are written so loosely by the members themselves that most anything short of a murder in plain view is deemed (in the double negative world of Washington) “not unethical.”
ABC News reported that Mahoney (who is married with kids) had an affair with with Patricia Allen during his campaign in 2006 and then hired her for his congressional office. He is accused of giving her $121,000 to avoid a sexual harassment lawsuit and arranging for a job with the company that handles his campaign ads.
For the full story, click here.
Years ago my political science professor explained to me after working for years on the Hill that the three things that take you down in DC are the three B’s–booze, babes (a more sexist term was used but it was the wild ’70′s), and bribes. In this case, I suspect our good Congressman imbibed number one that led inevitably to number two, that eventually forced him to do number three. Nothing really changes!
I will never understand why these nubs want to have a job where there is such an air-ing of their private lives, when they KNOW they have these skeletons. I mean if this guy was joe schmo running a company or as some anonymous office exec, who the hell would care? But no, these morans (intentional misspelling) have to run for public office, so they can be utterly humiliated…
It’s a learning curve, mespo. Apparently, Mahoney is just getting up to speed on the importance of the other ‘three B’s’ in DC
- brains, bucks, and, balls.
Patty C:
I agree, bit I thought the positive B’s were bucks, big bucks, and bigger bucks. Silly me.
Yeah! Keep it simple… I like it!
LOL
p.s. You could be Secretary of the Treasury…!!!
I realize that when you are involved in politics, your life is basically on display. However, what a person does in their personal life is just that…PERSONAL. I don’t care if my neighbor has an affair with someone at his office, it’s not my business. If my congressman or even, God forbid, the President, has an affair, why does this have to be a public scandal?? Granted, these guys must realize that what they do will be thrown right back at them later on down the line because somebody, somewhere is watching and waiting for the opportunity to sling some mud. I just think it’s pathetic that it makes national news. Guys think with their dicks, ok? We know this already. Why do we need to humiliate the wives of these guys further by plastering the “scandal” across the news and television? Doesn’t anyone have anything else better to do??
Peanut:
“However, what a person does in their personal life is just that…PERSONAL.”
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As long as it stays that way fine. Here however out public servant put his paramour on the public dole to shut her up and avoid the suit. That’s misuse of public funds and unethical. And, my dear peanut, that is why the affair is no longer PERSONAL.
I agree with you there and most definitely the man should lose his job, but do I need to know about it? If your neighbor loses his or her job, is it your business to know why? No, it’s not. My point is that, yes what he did was wrong and he should be held accountable, but it’s not my business to know about it. Also, his wife has not not only been humiliated in private by this, but has now been humiliated publicly as well. Where is the justice in that? What reason can you give me that will justify doing that to another person? Would you like your neighbors to know your husband or wife was sleeping with their co-worker or boss? Of course you wouldn’t and why is that? Because that kind of thing is NOT THEIR BUSINESS! The guy was wrong, no doubt, but it’s not news…there are many men who think with their dicks and try to cover there ass by doing something incredibly stupid, but that’s not news.
I’m not surprised at all…
that Congressional seat is obviously ‘haunted’!
Good work JT!
Everytime I see ya on MSNBC’s Countdown w/KO I yell at the kids to pipe down beacuse a REAL American is about to speak!
For one person’s perspective on how you can make a decision to support Obama AND vote for John McCain, see the YouTube video below:
Feel free to forward this to any “undecided” voters you know of. This will be a VERY close election and we need every single vote we can get. Demonizing Obama will get us a few votes (and also lose us at least a few votes) but I hope that a rational, positive thought process will persuade a few people who are still on the fence.
Regards, Dan
mespo727272 1, October 14, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Michael:
“If you have eaten pork you have sinned equivalently to having a homosexual relationship. Now you might say that Jesus, Paul actually, made eating pork kosher. If you use that point though then you have to take notice that Jesus never referred to homosexuality.”
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Good to “read” you back. I agree it’s an abomination to eat pork and
I suggest separate high schools to accommodate the bar-b-que eating horde. I think we have that already and they call it the North Carolina School System. Jesus never talked about bar-b-que either but of course, the “true believer” knows it is a stoning offense. In our case, I hear the “stones” are hush puppies, and you get slaw with that.
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Good to see you Michael and no offense. I worked in a well established family BBQ house when I was in high school.
Excusssssse me? BBQ an abomination?
Mespo, I’m shocked and surprised…
…Ssssssacriledge with a capital ‘S’ !
Note: 6 ‘S’ s.
p.s. ie spicy, smokin’, sizzlin’, etc…
Thanks mespo for explaining this to ‘Peanut’ a smidge.
Sometimes it helps to scratch beneath the surface a bit for the youngsters to understand the broader implications in American politics.
Most informed people would not disagree that on the surface what seems to matter to the uninformed, but nonetheless legal voting public, is superficial or even prudish. However it doesn’t take much for other equally small, ‘cloistered’ minds to invoke inflated rules governing ‘supposed’ ethics violations’ or ‘suspicions of misconduct’ in an attempt to sway an election – especially in desperate last
-ditch attempts to ‘win’ – when their side is so obviously destinedto ‘lose’.
Enter the OEC which was recently created, for this sort of scenario EXCEPT ‘FLA’ and the US DON’T HAVE 60 DAYS BEFORE THE ELECTION!
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/mahoney-says-he-wants-ethics-investigation-2008-10-13.html
Patty C:
You saw right through my ruse. I adore that spicy pig flesh.
Peanut:
“I agree with you there and most definitely the man should lose his job, but do I need to know about it?”
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Peanut, I dub you Ostrich!
How long before Timmy makes his wife appear with him in a show of support? Listen to the tape. ‘Guess what’,this guy is a pig. And guess what, Floridians are still free to have a pig as one who represents their values.