Tim Mahoney

Timothy Edward Mahoney (born August 16, 1956) is an American politician and businessman who served as the U.S. representative for FL's 16th congressional district from 2007 to 2009.

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.

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.

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 graduating university, Mahoney began his career in the computer business.

After seven years, he attained wealth when a company he was working for, Tecmar, which sold personal computer accessories, was sold.

In 1986, he moved to Florida, where he became president of Rodime.

In 1986, he moved to Florida and became president of Rodime Systems, a division of Rodime Inc. Rodime, for which Mahoney was also vice president of marketing and sales, manufactured disc drives that were packaged for the retail market by Rodime Systems.

Rodime's manufacturing plant was relocated to Singapore in 1989, and Mahoney sold Rodime Systems.

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 1995, Mahoney and his business partner, Lenny Sokolow, started Union Atlantic, LLC, a venture capital firm.

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.

His inability to get the firm listed on vfinance.com, a website for venture capitalists, led him and Sokolow to purchase the website in 1998 for $100,000, merging it with Union Atlantic.

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.

vFinance employed more than 200 workers in 30 offices around the U.S. and managed greater than $1 billion in assets.

Mahoney continued to upgrade the website, and added numerous features which customers could use.

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.

Mahoney, who was inspired by Ronald Reagan to originally become a Republican, switched his party affiliation to the Democratic Party in 2005, although still holding his conservative viewpoints, due to alleged "disillusionment" while in the GOP.

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.

In 2006, Mahoney ran for U.S. Congress to represent FL's 16th congressional district 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 ran for Congress as a first-time political candidate in 2006 to represent FL's 16th congressional district.

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 2006, 42% of the voters in this district were registered Republicans, and 36% were registered Democrats, with the district having a CPVI of R+2.

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.

Sokolow replaced Mahoney as chairman and COO in 2007, and vFinance eventually merged with National Holdings Corporation.

Mahoney also co-founded and served as president of the Center for Innovative Entrepreneurship (CIE), a nonprofit organization.

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.