Posted by Tina
Maybe a better question would be should the scandal hurt democrat chances in this election cycle? When the Mark Foley scandal broke democrats on the Hill were outraged that Republican leaders hadn’t done anything substantive about the behavior. Hourly new reports lasted for weeks. The election hung in the balance…let’s see what happens when a Democrat is caught in scandal. Will the media excuse the behavior or ignore it?
Political scandals slip under radar with attention focused on election, by Lucy Bannerman
* With the eyes of the media fixed firmly on the race to the White House, the scandal of the Democratic congressman, his mistress and the $121,000 (70,000) allegedly paid to keep her quiet has slipped off the radar of most US news channels. *** When the politician in question is Tim Mahoney, the South Florida representative who promised to clean up Washington after sexual peccadilloes forced his predecessor, Mark Foley, out of office and his party into disrepute, it was only a matter of time before his Republican rivals ramped up their cries of liberal media bias. *** Mr Mahoney, who denies paying hush money to a former mistress, did not address the alleged affair with Patricia Allen, 50, directly in a statement but said that he had not misused campaign funds. *** Combined with the financial dealings of the lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is now in prison, the news that Mr Foley had sent lurid internet messages to teenage boys in Capitol Hill in 2006 affected the Republicans in the midterm elections. *** While the Foley affair dominated the news, less airtime has been given to Democrats such as William Jefferson, who is campaigning in Louisiana despite bribery and corruption charges. *
Yes…there is a pattern of double standard coverage….
FBI Reported to Begin Probe of Florida Congressman, by Emma Schwartz, Rhonda Schwartz and Vic Walter
* The FBI has reportedly begun its own preliminary investigation into an ABC News report that West Palm Beach Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL) hired an alleged mistress to work on his official staff and then paid her $121,000 to keep her from going public and filing suit after she was fired. *** FBI agents have reportedly contacted members of Mahoney’s staff and Tuesday sought legal files surrounding the secret settlement, according to current and former Mahoney Congressional and campaign staff workers. *
Two years ago, everyone was talking about Mark Foley, who had just resigned as a Republican congressman from Florida after a sex scandal. One year and 49 weeks ago, a Democrat, Tim Mahoney, was elected to Foley’s seat. Guess who’s got a sex scandal now? *** ABC News, which also broke the Foley story, reports that Mahoney “agreed to a $121,000 payment to a former mistress who worked on his staff and was threatening to sue him. . . . 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.” *** According to ABC, Mahoney met Allen during his run for Congress in 2006. She became a volunteer for his campaign, then joined his congressional staff, but returned to the campaign staff “after complaints about the affair circulated in Florida.” *** But alas, the relationship did not work out: Friends of Allen told ABC News that Allen sought to break off the affair when she learned Mahoney was allegedly involved in other extra-marital relationships at the same time. *** Her friends say she told them Mahoney threatened that ending the relationship could cost her the job. *** “You work at my pleasure,” Congressman Mahoney told Allen on a January 20, 2008 telephone call that was recorded and played for Mahoney staffers. ABC News was provided a copy. . . .“If you do the job that I think you should do, you get to keep your job. Whenever I don’t feel like you’re doing your job, then you lose your job,” Mahoney can be heard telling Allen. *** “And guess what? The only person that matters is guess who? Me. You understand that. That is how life really is. That is how it works,” Mahoney says on the call. *** “You’re fired,” Mahoney tells her. “Do you hear me? Don’t tell me whether it’s correct or not.” *** Mahoney’s scandal is different from Foley’s in several respects. Whereas Allen is a mature woman (ABC puts her age at 50), Foley directed his attentions toward teenage boys. Mahoney’s scandal involved money; Foley’s did not. And whereas Republicans were eager to get rid of Foley once his creepy behavior became public, ABC reports that “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.” *** Mahoney, according to ABC News, ran for Congress in 2006 promising “a world that is safer, more moral.” *