But his standard of ethics seems to be “Well, it wasn’t illegal.”

Responding for the first time to allegations he paid $121,000 to prevent a lawsuit by a former staffer with whom he had an affair, Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney this morning acknowledged causing "pain" to his family, but said he didn't break any laws and would fight for his reelection.

Mahoney, accompanied by his wife, appeared before local reporters for less than two minutes in a meeting room at the PGA National Resort. He read a prepared statement and did not take questions.

"I have not violated my oath of office, nor have I violated any laws, and I consider this to be a private matter," said Mahoney.

Except you ran as the guy with great family values who was going to bring a higher moral tone after the Mark Foley dirty email scandal. Now it appears that he was boffing a campaign aide during that very campaign, and has since paid her off to keep the matter out of court. That makes it a public matter.

Now if only the press will spend some time running down the story about Barack Obama’s girlfriend who Michelle ran off…