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December 2, 2008 3:45:10 AM CST

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GOP Moves In for Kill Over Sex Scandal

Posted Oct 15, 08 1:50 AM CDT in US,  Opinion,  Politics 

(Newser) – Collateral damage from a sex scandal linked to Florida congressman Tim Mahoney is spreading rapidly, and Republican leaders are hoping it could effect the presidential election, reports the Washington Post. GOP leaders are now demanding an investigation be broadened to include whether House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional Democrats knew about Mahoney's alleged payoff to a former mistress who worked for him. Meanwhile, the FBI has opened its own probe, according to ABC News.

Pelosi has called for a House ethics investigation, but there are already signs Mahoney could lose his seat over the scandal. Democrats would "gladly sacrifice" the unpopular Mahoney for the 20-plus seats they hope to pick up Nov. 4, writes Chris Cillizza in the Post. What they don't want just now is for the scandal to become a key topic of the national political dialogue, he notes.

Sources Washington Post, ABC News

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    Oct 13, 08 4:23 PM CDT
    Mistress Got Hush Money From 'More Moral' Fla. Rep. Maybe it’s Florida? Two years have passed since Mark Foley, Palm Beach’s Republican Congressman, was forced to resign after sending lewd messages to male pages. His successor, Democrat Tim Mahoney, who ran on a ticket of “restoring America’s values,” gave a former mistress $121,000 and a $50,000-a-year job to keep quiet about his philandering, ABC News reports. More »

Florida Democrat Tim Mahoney. He allegedly paid $121,000 to a former staffer who had also been his mistress.   (AP Photo/J. Pat Carter, File)
Republican congressional committee chairman Tom Cole has called for an ethics probe of Florida Democrat Tim Mahoney to be broadened.   (Getty Images)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for an House ethics probe of Florida Democrat Tim Mahoney concerning his alleged payoffs to a former mistress.   (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for an ethics investigation in Congressman Tim Mahoney's alleged payments to a staffer to dodge a sex harassment suit.   (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Nancy Pelosi • Mark Foley • Tim Mahoney • Tom Cole • National Republican Congressional Committee • Patricia Allen


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