Claim: Mahoney paid mistress $121K

WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep Tim Mahoney, D-Fla., allegedly agreed to pay $121,000 to a former mistress who threatened to sue, current and former employees said.

Mahoney said he wanted the House Ethics Committee to look into a report that he paid a former mistress more than $120,000 in hush money, The Hill reported. In a statement, Mahoney didn't directly address the ABC News report, but said, "I am confident that when the facts are presented that I will be vindicated."

Mahoney, who is married, also allegedly promised Patricia Allen a $50,000-a-year, two-year job at the agency handling his campaign advertising, staffers briefed about the situation told ABC news.

A Mahoney spokesperson declined to answer questions about the alleged affair or settlement, but said Allen left Mahoney's employment on her own and "has not received any special payment from campaign funds."

Mahoney was elected two years ago after the resignation of Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., whose salacious Internet messages to teenage boys and congressional pages created a national scandal and outrage.

House senior Democratic leaders, including Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., chairman of the Democratic Caucus, have been working with Mahoney to keep the matter from hurting his re-election campaign, Mahoney staffers said.

A spokesperson for Emanuel denied that account to ABC, but said Emanuel confronted 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."