By Molly K. Hooper, CQ Staff

Rep. Tim Mahoney , facing allegations that he paid off a former mistress, said Tuesday that he broke no laws, and he apologized for his family’s “embarrassment and heartache.”

“I would have come forward earlier but making sure my family is OK is far more important than any political career,” the Florida Democrat said Tuesday at a news conference in West Palm Beach. “I have not violated my oath of office, nor have I violated any laws, and I consider this to be a private matter.”

ABC News reported Monday that Mahoney got involved with a woman he met during the 2006 campaign. She was given a job in his Florida office and was moved to the payroll of his re-election campaign, the report said. Mahoney eventually fired her, leading to a threatened lawsuit, settlement talks and a $121,000 payoff split between the woman and her lawyer, ABC News said.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif., called for an ethics investigation. Mahoney said he, too, requested an ethics probe.

Mahoney is in the midst of his first re-election campaign, and it’s a tough one; on Tuesday, CQ Politics changed its rating on the race from toss-up to leaning Republican.

House Minority Leader John A. Boehner issued a written statement criticizing Mahoney’s party for the handling of the matter.

Democratic leaders including Caucus chair Rahm Emanuel of Illinois and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the campaign committee chairman, need to start answering questions and taking action, Boehner wrote. “The collective response from Speaker Pelosi, Congressman Emanuel, Congressman Van Hollen and Congressman Mahoney has been entirely inadequate,” Boehner wrote.

Americans are “entitled to know immediately what House Democratic leaders knew about it, when they knew it, and what they did with the information. They should not be permitted to hide behind the shield of a nonfunctioning House ethics committee or any convenient loopholes in House rules,” Boehner’s statement said. “If this truly is the most honest, open, and ethical Congress in history, as Democratic leaders claim, it’s time for them all to open up and be held accountable.”

A spokeswoman for the campaign arm of the House Democratic leadership confirmed that Van Hollen had spoken with Mahoney some time ago about rumors that the Florida freshman was entangled with a former mistress.

“After a rumor recently surfaced on a blog about Mr. Mahoney’s affair, the chairman spoke briefly once with Mr. Mahoney about his responsibility as an elected official to act appropriately and urged him to come clean with his constituents if there was any truth to the rumor,” said Jennifer Crider, communications director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Mahoney said he has asked that the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct “investigate the false allegations that have been repeated in the press.”

“I want to be clear that I have not misused campaign funds and I’m confident that when all the facts come to light, I will be cleared of any wrongdoing,” the congressman said Tuesday in his Florida district.

Mahoney, who is married, won his seat in Congress two years ago after a sex scandal ended the career of Republican Mark Foley (1995-2006).