Nevada Sen. John Ensign resigns amid ethics probe

By Eric W. Dolan

Nevada Sen. John Ensign (R) announced Thursday he will resign his seat on May 3, due to a Senate ethics committee investigation over his extramarital affair with a former campaign aide.

"It is with tremendous sadness that I officially hand over the Senate seat that I have held for eleven years,” said Ensign. "The turbulence of these last few years is greatly surpassed by the incredible privilege that I feel to have been entrusted to serve the people of Nevada. I can honestly say that being a United States Senator has been the honor of my life."

The senator, who has served since January 2001, was a rising star in the party when he admitted to an extramarital affair in 2009. His parents reportedly wrote a $96,000 check to his former mistress and her family, leading to an investigation by the Federal Election Commission, which was later dismissed.

It was later revealed that Ensign may have violated Senate ethics rules by arranging for his former mistress's husband to take a job as a lobbyist with a Nevada consulting firm in an attempt to hush the matter up.

Ensign, 51, a staunch conservative with a record of strong family-values stances, had vowed to remain in office after describing the affair as "absolutely the worst thing I've ever done in my life" at a news conference.

He said he and his wife, Darlene, had reconciled thanks to marital counseling and that his marriage is "stronger than ever."

“While I stand behind my firm belief that I have not violated any law, rule, or standard of conduct of the Senate, and I have fought to prove this publicly, I will not continue to subject my family, my constituents, or the Senate to any further rounds of investigation, depositions, drawn out proceedings, or especially public hearings," Ensign said. "For my family and me, this continued personal cost is simply too great."

"To the people of Nevada, I humbly say thank you for what you have given to me through the years," he added. "To my family, thank you for the support and love that you have shown me. To my staff, thank you for coming on this incredible journey with me and for standing by me despite the obstacles."

If Ensign Votes To Repeal DADT, Expect the Right To Suddenly Care About His Infidelity

by Kyle via Right wing watch

As we know, there is one sin that any Republican member of Congress can commit for which they will never be forgiven by the Religious Right, and that is not supporting their anti-gay agenda.

Whereas a Republican like Sen. David Vitter could admit to involvement with prostitutes and still receive the support of Religious Right groups when he sought re-election, other Republicans like Rep. Joseph Cao found out the hard way that if you don't toe the anti-gay line, you will find yourself on the receiving end of Religious Right attack ads.

Which brings us to Sen. John Ensign, the Republican Senator from Nevada who has been embroiled in a controversy for over a year now stemming from an extra-marital affair he with a staffer and a subsequent effort to keep it quiet.

Since the story broke, the Religious Right has had next to nothing to say about Ensign's infidelity, with the small exception of FRC's Tony Perkins saying it was "disappointing." But I suspect that that is about to change if this report from Greg Sargent turns out to be true:

Another step forward on Don't Ask Don't Tell, ladies and gents.

In a letter to constituents who have inquired about his position on DADT, GOP Senator John Ensign strongly suggests he is leaning towards supporting repeal of the policy, another sign that there may be enough tacit GOP support in the Senate for repeal to get it past a GOP filibuster.

"It is my firm belief that Americans, regardless of their sexual orientation, should be able to fight and risk their lives in defense of this great nation," Ensign writes in the letter, which I've obtained. "As a nation currently engaged in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, the focus of all decisions affecting military readiness, recruiting and retention, and unit cohesion should be to maximize the success of ongoing operations."

In the letter, Ensign adds the caveat that he's still awaiting a Pentagon report, due out on December 1st, that will gauge the impact of repealing the policy. Asked for comment, Ensign spokesperson Jennifer Cooper reiterated this point: "Senator Ensign is waiting on the report from the Pentagon and the testimony of the military chiefs to see if any changes to this policy can or should be done in a way so as not to harm the readiness or war fighting capabilities of our troops."

Ensign has already stated that he intends to run for re-election in 2012, so don't be surprised if you suddenly start hearing the Religious Right attack him for his immorality and infidelity - and not because he had an affair and tried to cover it up (which, to date, they haven't cared about at all) but because he committed the even bigger sin of supporting equality.

Paper: GOP senator likely to be indicted

By Raw Story Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign is likely to be indicted for a $96,000 payment he made to the husband of the aide with whom he had an affair, a leading Nevada political reporter says.

John Ralston of the Las Vegas Sun reports that prosecutors looking into the scandal surrounding Ensign's affair with former aide Cynthia Hampton are focusing on the payment made by Ensign's parents to the Hamptons. Critics have charged that Ensign used his parents to pay off the cuckolded husband, Doug Hampton.

But prosecutors believe the money may have been a form of "structuring," an illegal activity where transactions are reclassified to avoid reporting rules. While Ensign's defenders sat the payment to the Hamptons was a "gift," federal prosecutors believe it may have been a severance payment to Ensign's aide, in which case it broke the law surrounding reporting of severance payments.

Ralston reports:

Two former federal prosecutors in the past two weeks have said there is enough evidence to indict Ensign. “Just based on what the senator has said himself and what Mr. (Doug) Hampton has said … under the federal standard of probable cause, there’s enough to indict the senator now,” ex-prosecutor Stan Hunterton, a well-respected local attorney, said March 19 on “Face to Face.” Then, Thursday on the program, Melanie Sloan, the former federal prosecutor who now heads a D.C. watchdog group that has filed several complaints against Ensign, said, “I completely think” Hunterton is right

The Ensign saga began to emerge in June 2010, when Ensign confirmed reports of his having an affair with Cynthia Hampton between December 2007 and August 2008. It later emerged that Ensign's parents had given $96,000 to the Hamptons, a move that was widely interpreted as a roundabout pay-off.

In October, the New York Times reported that Ensign arranged for a new job for Doug Hampton after Hampton confronted the senator about the affair. Ensign's lobbying effort on behalf of his aide was reportedly a violation of Senate ethics rules.

Last month, the Times obtained emails showing Ensign trying to land another job for Hampton, this one with a small energy investment company, PS2A, which at the time was seeking Ensign's help on a number of projects. Ethics lawyers told the Times that "the case could pose legal problems for Mr. Ensign."

And last week it was reported that the Department of Justice had expanded its investigation of Ensign's activities, issuing subpoenas to six Nevada companies that had contact with Ensign.

"If Ensign gets indicted, he will become a national and state nightmare for the GOP," Ralston reports. "National Democrats will brandish him as a symbol of corruption (they may anyhow) and local Democrats will wrap the junior senator around the GOP Senate nominee’s neck...."

Ralston also notes that the Justice Department's failed prosecution of Alaska GOP Sen. Ted Stevens in 2008 "has cast a shadow over the Ensign case. ... The department is being very deliberate in assembling a case against Ensign."