Florida Congressman Tim Mahoney has called for an ethics investigation of himself amid reports that he had an affair and then paid the woman to keep quiet.

Minutes later Monday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also called for an investigation.

ABC News reported on its Web site Monday that Mahoney agreed to pay $121,000 in March to a former mistress and staffer after being threatened with a sexual harassment lawsuit.

The network, citing unnamed sources, says the congressman began an affair with Patricia Allen in 2006 while he was campaigning for Congress.

Mahoney, a Democrat, won the race after former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley resigned when it was revealed Foley sent lurid Internet messages to male Capitol Hill teenage pages.