Tim Mahoney

Timothy Edward Mahoney (born August 16, 1956) is an American politician and businessman who served as the U.S. representative for from 2007 to 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected in November 2006 after his opponent, six-term Republican incumbent Mark Foley, resigned on September 29, 2006, after questions were raised about an email exchange with a congressional page.

Mahoney was born in Aurora, located in Kane County, Illinois, but was raised in Summit, New Jersey. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in computer science and business from West Virginia University in 1978 and a Master of Business Administration from George Washington University in 1983. After graduating university, Mahoney became a computer executive working for Tecmar. In 1986, he moved to Florida, where he became president of Rodime. He co-founded Union Atlantic, LLC, in 1995, and in 1998, he bought vfinance.com, a website for entrepreneurs, and merged the two. Mahoney served as chairman and COO of vFinance, and also formed the Center for Innovative Entrepreneurship, a nonprofit organization centered around measuring the impact of "innovative entrepreneurship" on the economy.

In 2006, Mahoney ran for U.S. Congress to represent as a Democrat, challenging the incumbent Representative, Republican Mark Foley, in what was initially rated as a safe seat for Foley. After Foley was forced to resign due to a scandal involving him sending sexual messages to a congressional page, the race became more competitive, and Mahoney narrowly beat the replacement nominee, state representative Joe Negron, in the November election, with 49.55% of the vote. Mahoney was sworn in on January 3, 2007, to the 110th Congress. While in Congress, Mahoney joined the moderate Blue Dog Coalition and New Democrat Coalition groups, and has been described as a moderate and conservative Democrat.

In October 2008, media outlets began reporting allegations that Mahoney paid hush money to a mistress to conceal an extramarital affair. Mahoney's wife filed for divorce in October 2008, and Mahoney, running for re-election, lost the November 4 election to Republican nominee Tom Rooney by 20 points. Mahoney left office in January 2009, and continues to reside in Palm Beach Gardens.

Early life, education, and career Mahoney was born in Aurora, Illinois on August 16, 1956, the son of an AT&T computer programmer. He grew up in Summit, New Jersey, and graduated from Summit High School in 1974. Mahoney obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in computer science and business from West Virginia University in 1978 and a Master of Business Administration degree from George Washington University in 1983.

After purchasing the website, Mahoney served as chairman and chief operating officer of vFinance, Inc., which he expanded into a venture capital and financial services firm located in Boca Raton. The company initially grew quickly after buying several other broker-dealer and financial services customers, including its acquisition of Sterling Financial Investment Group. Mahoney continued to upgrade the website, and added numerous features which customers could use.

Elections 2006

Mahoney ran for Congress as a first-time political candidate in 2006 to represent . The district comprised eight counties, including part of Palm Beach County and St. Lucie County. Mahoney said that he decided to run largely due to frustration with Congressional Republicans and the Bush administration. Mahoney was unopposed in the September 5 Democratic primary election. In the general election, Mahoney faced six-term Republican incumbent Mark Foley, who had represented the district since 1995 and went unopposed in the Republican primary. George W. Bush won the district with 54% of the vote, a margin of greater than 8% over Democratic nominee John Kerry, in the 2004 presidential election. In the previous 2004 election for the seat, Foley won with 68% of the vote over the Democratic challenger. Mahoney was behind Foley in polls for the race, and trailed by double digits, despite spending almost $400,000 of his own money in the race. At the time, the race was not expected to be competitive, with Foley predicted to win easily over Mahoney. Mahoney also criticized Foley's voting record and his support of the Bush administration's positions, including their policies on the Iraq War and government spending.

On September 28, 2006, ABC News reported that Foley had sent email messages, from his personal AOL account, to a then-16-year-old former congressional page, asking the page to send a photo of himself to Foley, among other things that were overtly sexual in nature. The messages showed Foley, under the username "Maf54", trying to meet the teenage page, as well as referencing the page's sexual orientation. Mahoney called for an investigation into the matter, and Foley resigned the next day. Mahoney's campaign included the slogan "Restoring America's values begins at home." Congressional Quarterly (CQ) shifted the race from safe Republican to tossup, and eventually to favoring Mahoney.

Foley's resignation originally left Mahoney without a Republican opponent in the election. Under Florida law, Negron's name did not appear on the ballot; he only received votes cast for Foley, whose name remained on the ballot. Negron ran on a campaign which reminded voters to "Punch Foley for Joe", and said that the district's voters would not be "defined by the disgraceful actions" of Foley. Mahoney was endorsed by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, citing his successful business career and his moderate policies. However, while Mahoney still led in the polls, multiple predictors changed their ratings from favoring Mahoney to tossup. While Negron carried most of the more conservative areas of the district near Fort Myers, Mahoney carried the two largest counties in the district, Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties, by a combined margin of 10,723 votes, far more than the actual margin of victory. Negron called Mahoney to congratulate him, and publicly conceded to his supporters at the Hutchinson Island Marriott.

Mahoney was sworn in on January 3, 2007, to the 110th U.S. Congress.

2008

Mahoney ran for re-election to Congress in 2008, and went unopposed in the Democratic primary. Mahoney faced Republican challenger Tom Rooney in the general election. Rooney defeated State Representative Gayle Harrell and former Palm Beach Gardens councilman Hal Valeche in the Republican primary. Mahoney had been a top target for defeat in 2008, due to the district's Republican voting history, and was seen as the only Democrat from South Florida to be vulnerable to defeat. However, Mahoney initially led in surveys of the race. At one point in the campaign, Mahoney was shown to have a 20-point lead in the polls. In September 2008, a poll of 400 likely voters conducted by Rooney's campaign showed Mahoney with a 48 to 41 point lead over Rooney with a margin of error of 4 points.

Revelations of his extramarital affair severely hampered his re-election chances. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a House Ethics Committee investigation concerning the matter. Two days later, CQ Politics changed their forecast on the race from "No Clear Favorite" to "Leans Republican". Mahoney pulled out of attending a debate with his opponent due to the organizers refusing to prohibit television media from covering the event, leaving Rooney as the sole candidate at the debate. Due to his conservative positions on gun rights, Mahoney was endorsed by the National Rifle Association of America. In light of the scandal, Democratic Pennsylvania State Representative Timothy S. Mahoney issued a press release explaining that he was not involved in an extramarital affair, due to both politicians' similar names. Mahoney raised over $3 million, and spent $2,756,453 on the race. However, in the November election, Mahoney was soundly defeated by former assistant state Attorney General Tom Rooney. Mahoney won only 40% of the vote to Rooney's 60%, the largest margin of defeat for an incumbent in the 2008 cycle.

Political positions

Mahoney was generally considered to be a moderate Democrat, and he considered himself to be a conservative Democrat. Mahoney also was a member of the New Democrat Coalition, a centrist group of Democrats in Congress.

Committee assignments Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Committee on Agriculture Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry

Caucus memberships Blue Dog Coalition New Democrat Coalition

Electoral history Election box begin no change| title=Florida's 16th congressional district election, 2006 However, Mahoney ultimately decided not to run, stating that he would instead work with the Democratic Party to "elect moderate Democrats who will work for the people of Florida" and defeat Republicans in the state. Rooney was re-elected against Democrat Jim Horn in 2010 by a margin of 33.7%.

In March 2013, Mahoney, along with fellow Congressmen Allen Boyd and Mike Arcuri, formed Cannae Policy Group, LLC, a government affairs firm located in Washington, D.C. The firm takes its name from the Cannae Tactic, a strategic military move which involves a double pincer movement that was originally used in the Battle of Cannae. Mahoney also is owner and founder of Caribou, LLC, an advisory firm which he founded in 2009, and has served on the board of directors of Agrify, a developer of growing solutions for indoor cannabis & hemp cultivation, since December 17, 2020.

In 2021, Mahoney wrote an op-ed published in the Treasure Coast Newspapers in which he stated that congressmen Bill Posey, Brian Mast, and other Republicans in Congress should apologize and resign for "sedition" related to attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election and the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol. Regarding former president Donald Trump's residency at Mar-a-Lago, Mahoney stated that Trump should "live up to his agreement" set in 1993, which prohibited permanent residence at the club.

Personal life Mahoney has a home in Palm Beach Gardens, though he was described in the official House roll as residing in Venus. Mahoney, a Methodist, describes himself as a "fundamental Christian".

Controversies

Residency scandal On September 18, 2008, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call ran an article questioning Mahoney's residency status. It alleged that Mahoney had registered to vote at "a horse barn" for the purposes of having residency in his congressional district, while his primary residence was actually in another district. The issue came to light after Mahoney missed a rent payment on his Capitol Hill apartment in July 2007. The case itself was dismissed on September 6, 2007. While Mahoney's opponent, Tom Rooney, attempted to make light of the allegations, the attack proved ineffective after Democrats revealed that Rooney himself was registered to vote at a dog track. While members of the House are only required to live in the state they wish to represent, it has become a strong convention that they live in or near the district they represent as well.

Sex scandals On October 13, 2008, ABC News reported that Mahoney had agreed to a $121,000 payment to a former mistress who worked on his staff and was threatening to sue him. considered it ironic that a sex scandal of his own coming to light a month before the election, especially since he first campaigned against such corruption. Some professional political pundits, including Charlie Cook, reclassified the race as "Leans" or "Likely Republican." The FBI investigated whether Mahoney hired the first mistress and put her on the federal payroll in order for her to keep their affair secret.

Mahoney admitted to having "numerous" affairs, stating that he had "certainly more than two." Mahoney's wife Terry filed for divorce in Palm Beach County court on October 20, 2008. According to jail records, Mahoney was booked at 7:12 a.m. and was released at 11:15 a.m. on his own recognizance. Mahoney said that he planned to plead innocent due to his "conscious decision not to drive."