The Crooks Still Inhabit Congress

Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) easily won reelection in Louisiana despite law enforcement finding $90,000 stashed in his freezer, while the same could be said of Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), who as Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee was in charge of writing tax law, but never could figure out how to pay all those taxes he owed over the years.

At the same time, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) won reelection despite the fact that he called his constituents racists and rednecks. It truly is amazing to see the cognitive dissonance involved in that one. Murtha will be reelected until he either dies in office or retires. And even then, I'm not sure that he wont continue to be reelected.

These three members of the House, along with their fellow Democrats will be setting policy for the next two years. Get used to higher taxes and fees, because that's their policy prescription.

On the other hand, we do get to say goodbye to Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL), who was bumped from Congress after he was found to be engaging in multiple affairs and may have used federal funds in the process of silencing his paramours.

At the state level, New York's State Senate appears on the verge of having a Democratic majority for the first time since the Great Depression. I'm sure that will work out famously.

UPDATE 11/05/2008:
This came in after I had already finished blogging for the evening, but Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK/Felon) was reelected by his constituents in Alaska. Nice.

Media Reports Rep. Emanuel's Role In An Obama Administration; Ignores Role In Mahoney Mess

There are numerous reports (see here, here and here for a sampling) today suggesting that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) would have a very prominent role in an Obama Administration, perhaps as Obama's chief of staff. Good for him. Bad for the rest of us.

Maybe, just maybe, someone might actually question Emanuel about what he about the Mahoney mess, and when he first learned that Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL) admitted to extra marital affairs and the possible use of federal funds in paying for the silence of his paramours. It would be nice if someone from the media would ask Emanuel about what role he played in keeping Mahoney's mess from the media and to attempt to bury the story before the election to keep Democrat hopes for a big sweeping victory in the House. I wont hold my breath for any of this.

The media has all but ignored the Mahoney story despite the salaciousness of the scandal and the fact that it involves the admission of multiple extramarital affairs and the allegations of abuse of power by Mahoney, which was covered up by top Democrats, including Emanuel, who hand picked Mahoney as a replacement to the disgraceful Mark Foley, a Republican who admitted to sending inappropriate emails to House pages.

That goes to the judgment and character of Emanuel, who pushed for Mahoney over local Democratic party candidates.

Mahoney Mess: Threesomes and Sex For Political Favors?

Florida Congressional District 16 is the district that just keeps on giving. First they had Mark Foley, who proceeded to send salacious emails to Congressional pages. That cost him his seat, and the GOP lost control of the House because the leadership wasn't up front and forceful about dealing with the mess.

Now, we've got his successor, Rep. Tim Mahoney who has admitted to extramarital affairs.

ABC News now reports that he pressured his staffer into engaging in threesomes and to use her to curry political favors with big name donors.

But a document obtained by ABC News reveals new allegations of threatening behavior and sexual harassment toward a female staffer, that go far beyond Mahoney’s public confession, including claims that he urged one of his mistresses to serve as a “tease” for big donors.

The former Congressional staff member, Patricia Allen, was paid $121,000 by Mahoney after she was fired and threatened to sue.

(snip)

The settlement was reached after Allen hired a lawyer who sent the Congressman a "demand" letter, listing specific examples of Mahoney's alleged "gross misconduct" and "stalking" including:

"a) Calling Allen late in the evenings and demanding "phone sex;"

b) Demanding that Allen answer his calls or face termination;

c) Demanding that Allen attend fundraisers and "tease c-ck" to bring in more donations from the male members of the public;

d) Demanding that Allen engage in sexual conduct with another woman for his enjoyment."

Mahoney was chosen by Democrat Rahm Emanuel to run for the seat in the wake of the Foley mess. What did he know, and when did he know it.

UPDATE:
ABC broke the story, and has been running it via the Blotter, but it simply hasn't gained traction the way you'd think because we're talking a Democrat here and not a Republican. This is the same that gave the nation Mark Foley and GOPers in charge lost bigtime because of claims of salacious emails to pages.

Here, we've got real sex, money, power, and abuse of power and the office of a member of Congress, and nothing but crickets from the rest of the media. This is the kind of story that should be banner headlines because of the salaciousness and sleazy attitudes of the key player, and questions should be asked of the Democrat leadership who knew or may have known of key details far earlier than previously admitted - that would be Emanuel who has admitted to knowing but trying to contain the story. The GOP lost the House under much less serious charges.

Bias? What bias?

UPDATE:
I decided to run some numbers for Mahoney and Foley for their comparable scandals. Resist they have. I'd compare the reaction from Foley to Mahoney. It's no comparison.

They swarmed over Foley. According to Google, there were 10,700 for Foley in 2006. For Mahoney, there's not nearly that kind of reaction. Mahoney gets 3,307 hits according to Google.

Oh, and Mahoney has now dropped out of planned debate for today. The GOP challenger was there by himself and simply fielded questions.

UPDATE:
Ace links. Thanks!

Mahoney Mess: Divorce Filings and Media Incuriosity

Why is the media continuing to essentially conduct a blackout on news about Democrat Tim Mahoney and his affairs (the extramarital affair with a campaign staffer and then the affair with a FEMA worker)? Well, this is a self-answering question: the answer is already in the question. Mahoney is a Democrat.

Just two years ago, the media circled around Rep. Mark Foley (R), and seized on GOP leadership's knowledge and actions on the scandal to play up the fact that the GOP were corrupt or somehow damaged. It helped play a role in costing Democrats the election.

Here? You're getting crickets, despite the fact that Mahoney was Democrat leader Rahm Emanuel's pick for replacing Foley. How and why Emanuel chose Mahoney is a mystery to local Democrats, who were pretty much ignored in the process because Mahoney was quite wealthy. Money talked, and Emanuel pushed Mahoney.

It's also apparent from various sources that Emanuel and other Democrat leaders knew about at least one of the affairs and did nothing.

Now, sometimes the ethics panel starts investigations after an official complaint is filed by a member, and occasionally it launches a probe on its own. What it doesn't normally do is this -- announce that it is "reviewing" a topic without actually forming an investigative subcommittee. The statement also sparks more questions: Who exactly is the committee going to interview? Will it seek testimony from Democratic leaders?

This last issue is important, because Reps. Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), the current and former chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, have both acknowledged talking to Mahoney about the allegations before the story broke.

Democrats demanded hearings in which GOP leaders had to testify as to their knowledge of Foley's mess in 2006. Where is Speaker Pelosi and Emanuel to testify here on Mahoney?

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) has issued a statement saying, "In 2006, House Republican leaders voluntarily testified under oath in the matter of disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley. Will House Democratic leaders, including Speaker Pelosi, Congressman Emanuel, and Congressman Van Hollen, agree to do the same? The American people deserve to know what House Democratic leaders knew about Congressman Mahoney's reprehensible actions, what they did with the information."

So much for the most ethical Congress mantra that Pelosi has chattered about for two years without so much as taking a single step to deal with any number of Congressional Democrats who have engaged in unethical or illegal actions, including William "Cold Cash" Jefferson and Charlie "I am the tax man" Rangel.

Emanuel and the leadership had been trying to keep the story buried until after the election, but ABC News managed to break the news. It's been an incurious media since then that hasn't forced the Democrats to answer for their actions in the same manner in which Republicans were raked over the coals in 2006. That cannot be attributed to anything other than bias in the media. After all, we're talking about the same kinds of salacious issues that newspapers usually love to cover: sex, power, politics, and corruption.

Meanwhile,
Mahoney's wife is finally taking action - she's filing for divorce. I hope she takes him to the cleaners.

Don Surber has more.

UPDATE:
Jammie reports that Mark Foley has been sighted, and now supports Sen. Barack Obama for President. Obama can have him. Foley also expressed some pleasure at watching Mahoney's meltdown and all signs point to the Republicans picking up the seat.

UPDATE:
Drudge is now carrying the following from Mark Foley:

FOLEY: 'An online article posted today on Variety's website innaccurately reported that I was supporting Barack Obama. The story on Variety's website, based on a second or third-hand account of my private conversation, is incorrect. I have already voted by absentee ballot in Florida. Although I didn't vote for Senator Obama, I intend to keep my choice private.'

Great reporting by the drive-by media in claiming that Foley was voting for Obama.

Mahoney Mess: Admission of Multiple Affairs

Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL16) admits that he had multiple affairs while serving as Representative of the 16th Congressional District in Florida.

Let me just be explicit that I am admitting to it...to having affairs," Mahoney said in an interview this afternoon with reporter Terri Parker at WPBF News 25, ABC News' affiliate in West Palm Beach. "My personal behavior has been unacceptable."

How nice of him to make that admission. How about a follow up question from ABC News (or anyone else): where did the money come from that was used to silence those women involved in the affairs. What about the FEMA funds? His personal behavior extended into the public conduct of his office as a public servant. He's an absolute disgrace and should be tossed from his seat.

Sadly, no one has bothered to question Rep. Rahm Emanuel who pushed to get Mahoney elected from this district. What else did he know, and when did he know it?

Meanwhile, Mark Foley could not be reached for comment.

Mahoney Mess: FBI Investigates Salacious Details, Local Democrats Bitter

As I suspected yesterday, the FBI is looking at whether federal funds were involved in the payoffs of Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-FL) to keep two affairs out of sight. However, I wasn't thinking big enough. It's even juicier than I thought. The FBI is looking at two salacious lines of inquiry:

Federal agents also are examining whether a second affair Mahoney was having with a high-level official in his Florida district was the reason behind his decision to push for federal emergency funds for her county, the official said.

The person spoke to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation.

The FBI is looking into whether Mahoney hired the first mistress—and put her on the federal payroll—so she would not reveal their affair, the person said. The woman, Patricia Allen, has not returned calls for comment.

The agency also wants to know whether any sexual favors were exchanged for Mahoney helping Martin County secure a $3.4 million reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for hurricane damage there while having a second affair with a high-level county manager.

So, even with what would appear to be on its face a blatant abuse of federal funds, abuse of his position as Congressman, and the salaciousness of the scandal, it barely cracks the headlines.

This is the same district that saw Mark Foley, a Republican, have a sex scandal of his own - if you count salacious emails as a sex scandal. That scandal, and the subsequent bungling by GOP leaders, helped cost the GOP their majority in 2006. Of course, the media was more than happy to assist in that endeavor.

Now, we're watching as real federal funds were involved to buy silence, sexual favors exchanged for federal funds, and a federal job offered to keep silent.

The Democrat leadership knew, or had reason to know of the affairs and sat on it. The media isn't willing to dig deeper and find out just what the Democrat leaders knew - and I suspect it's because the media knows what they'll find out - that they knew and did nothing except hope that the issue blows past the election and that they did all they could to keep it from breaking in the news. ABC News broke both the Foley story and the Mahoney story - and should be commended for that fact. However, they and none of the other big media outlets are doing anyone any favors by avoiding the 800 pound gorilla of what the leadership knew and did to keep this story out of the press.

That this story isn't plastered in the headlines like the Foley story is a testament to the bias within the media to avoid running stories detrimental to Democrats, especially at election time.

After all, this story has everything - a compelling story line, sex, money, and power.

Some Democrats are questioning how the DCCC pushed Mahoney on the district because he was a multimillionaire, overlooking other candidates. That may be sour grapes from David Lutrin, but he's getting to say I told you so because the DCCC didn't bother to vet Mahoney nearly as well as they should; and Mahoney's more closely tied to Rahm Emanuel than the media is letting on. The Democrats were chasing the money and former GOPers to run for office over established Democrats. In more conservative leaning districts, the crossover appeal is definitely a plus, but it looks real bad for Emanuel for backing Mahoney without doing his due diligence.

I'll give the AP credit for their story above for including Mahoney's political affiliation up front. Mighty charitable of them. I can't say the same of other outlets.

And speaking of the subject of name that party and media bias, why exactly is the non-affair story involving John McCain back in the news? Someone decided that this was the only way to divert attention from the active and festering Mahoney mess?

Florida Democrat Tim Mahoney Had Two Ongoing Affairs?

As if being married wasn't enough, Tim Mahoney had not only one affair with someone working in his office, Patricia Allen, but had a second affair at the same time. If he had all this time on his hands to juggle his affairs, where did his constituents fit in?

Hours after a married congressman addressed a report that he had an affair with a former aide and paid her to keep quiet about, details of a purported tryst with a second woman surfaced.

Though Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney did not directly mention allegations first reported by ABC News, that he had been involved with the former aide, he issued a statement apologizing to his family but denying he'd done anything illegal.

Later Tuesday, a person close to his campaign told The Associated Press that Mahoney also was having an affair with a second woman around the same time.

Mahoney, 52, won his seat in 2006 while promising to return morals and family values to Washington in the aftermath of the resignation of former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley. Foley stepped down when it was revealed he sent lurid Internet messages to male teenage pages who had worked on Capitol Hill. Foley was later cleared of criminal wrongdoing by state and federal authorities.

Democrat leaders in the House ought to be pressed on when they learned of the affair, and what they did. It is apparent that Rahm Emanuel knew and if that's the case, this situation isn't all that different from how the GOP handled the Mark Foley mess. Democrats used the failure of the GOP leadership to catapult into control of the House.

Given the way that the Democrats under Speaker Pelosi have run Congress into the ground with never before seen low approval ratings and no accomplishments to speak of, the GOP should be pouncing on this as a way to gain back many of the seats lost in 2006. However, they have to overcome a media that is quite reluctant to press home the point.

UPDATE:
The FBI is now taking a serious interest in Mahoney's actions.

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.

A spokesperson for the FBI said she had been instructed to say "no comment" to press inquiries.

It would be unusual but not unprecedented for the FBI to open an investigation into a member of Congress three weeks before the election.

If the Democrats had their way, news of Mahoney's affair wouldn't have come out until after the election, and they were trying quite hard to ensure that. ABC News broke the news on the affair, just as they did with the Foley mess.

UPDATE:
Still more details about that second affair, and it's just as damning as the first affair and subsequent coverup:

On Tuesday night, a person close to the Mahoney campaign told the AP that Mahoney also was having a relationship with a high-ranking official in Martin County in his Florida district around the same time of the purported affair with Allen.

The person close to the campaign spoke only on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to openly discuss Mahoney's private life.

The person said Mahoney was having the relationship with the official in 2007 while he also was lobbying the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a $3.4 million reimbursement for Martin County for damage caused by hurricanes in 2004. FEMA approved the money late last year.

Mahoney's congressional staff declined to comment on this alleged tryst, but noted Mahoney lobbies for FEMA funding throughout his district, and that Martin County has received $43 million from FEMA since 2004. Mahoney didn't take office until 2006.

I think I see the FBI's potential line of inquiry - who got FEMA money via Mahoney and whether favors were done to obtain such funds.

UPDATE:
Copious Dissent notes that some reports on Mahoney's actions are avoiding mention of his political affiliation. Why am I not surprised. It's time to play name that party!

UPDATE:
Gay Patriot notes the media discrepancy between the Foley coverage and Mahoney coverage. I'm not surprised, it's what the media does. Heck, Rahm Emanuel, who knew of the affair, wasn't even questioned by Chris Matthews. The media isn't even bothering asking the questions they asked of GOP leadership despite evidence that federal funds may have been involved in silencing one of the two women Mahoney had an extramarital affair with.

Meanwhile, it appears that Mahoney is considering quitting the race. He's probably being pressured by Pelosi and the other Democrat leadership to quit to avoid this story spiraling out of control, but I'm still curious as to what the leadership knew, when they knew, and the steps they took to keep it out of the press - particularly the part about how federal funds may be involved.

UPDATE:
The quip of the day has to come from Don Surber, who caught the Palm Beach Post's endorsement of Mahoney:

Mahoney has delivered.”

On Sunday, the PBP endorsed Democratic Congressman Tim Mahoney: “Tim Mahoney has had a productive two years in Congress, and on Nov. 4 voters should give him two more years.”

Florida Congressman Pays $121,000 To Former Mistress?

Florida Congressman Tim Mahoney has been trying very hard to keep this news from going public, but it's now being reported that he apparently paid $121,000 to a former mistress and promised much more.

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.

So, who is this Democrat Tim Mahoney?

He's the guy who replaced disgraced Republican Mark Foley who was forced to resign over the page scandal (and for which no criminal charges were ever brought). (HT: Florida Lady at LGF)

What is it with Florida?

UPDATE:
As Ace notes, don't expect the media to take this up as a sign that the Democrats are thoroughly involved in a culture of corruption that protects their own from "indiscretions" and demands that the Democrats lose power in Congress.

There will be no such calls. The media will simply note this as an isolated instance, and not the reason for sweeping the Democrats from power, which in part is what happened in 2006.

UPDATE:
I think someone ought to investigate and see whether this is true. Speaker Pelosi claims that she just learned about this growing scandal. I don't quite believe her given that Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) and the Democratic caucus have been working to keep this matter hushed up.

You wouldn't want to spoil the "most ethical Congress ever" with yet another scandal not with the November elections fast approaching.

Throw in the fact that Emanuel was on the forefront of those Democrats screaming for Foley's head on a platter and you get the idea of the stench of hypocrisy emanating from Congress these days.