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twitterTHE SENATOR’S SCANDAL :
For Ensign, a new lot in Congress
Suddenly unpopular and much less powerful, senator adjusts to a low-key position in Senate politics
Harry Hamburg / Associated Press
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., leaves a Republican policy luncheon Tuesday in Washington. Ensign was well received by his peers, fellow Republican senators said.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009 | 2 a.m.
In Today's Sun
Sen. John Ensign with his wife, Darlene, and Cynthia and Doug Hampton.
Related Document
Sun Coverage
Sun Archives
- Ensign apologizes during lunch with GOP senators (6-23-2009)
- Back in Washington, Ensign received warmly (6-23-2009)
- Ensign back in D.C.; group plans ethics complaint (6-22-2009)
- In state GOP, Ensign finds few defenders (6-21-09)
- War of words between Ensign and Hampton escalates (6-20-09)
- Ensign's office says Hampton made 'exorbitant demands' (6-19-2009)
- Spouse in Ensign affair sought help in letter to Fox News (6-19-2009)
- Ensign's office: Woman's husband approached media with story (6-18-2009)
- Unanswered: Why he told (6-18-2009)
- Ensign resigns GOP leadership post (6-17-2009)
- Ensign fallout could weaken GOP efforts to rebuild party at state, national levels (6-17-2009)
- Ensign's mea culpa tops bad day for GOP (6-17-2009)
- Ensign acknowledges extramarital affair (6-16-2009)
Ensign Admits Affair
U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., acknowledged an extramarital affair with a campaign staff member Tuesday afternoon at the Lloyd George Federal Building in Las Vegas.
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- Sen. John Ensign read a statement about his extramarital affair with a member of his campaign staff at a press conference on Tuesday, June 16, 2009.
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Beyond the Sun
Washington — Republican Sen. John Ensign is adjusting to his new political life, and it is a bit complicated.
On the one hand, he is the humbled senator who won applause Tuesday from his Republican Senate colleagues after apologizing for an affair with the wife of a senior staff member. Peers characterized his two-minute talk during their weekly luncheon as “contrite,” “heartfelt” and “sincere.”
And on the other hand, he is facing a backlash from conservatives calling for his resignation in both Washington (Fox News’ Sean Hannity) and Nevada (activist Chuck Muth), amid continued questions about the affair, his past absence in 2002 and early claims of extortion that have gone unresolved.
One thing is clear: The once-rising national star who pledged to use his growing political influence to rebuild Nevada’s troubled Republican Party will instead likely be using this time to lie low, toil away at policy and repair his own image with colleagues here and voters at home.
Probably no fundraising to boost the party’s fortunes. No appearances on the talk shows. No early stumping for Republican candidates who will run in 2010.
The senator who had a prime opportunity to help the party at home and nationally from his perch as the No. 4 Republican leader in the Senate is now, again, just one of 100.
“What he had worked for in the last three or four years is gone,” said Jennifer Duffy, a political analyst who monitors the Senate for the Cook Political Report.
“Even if he is asked to be a on a Sunday show in the next year, he probably shouldn’t do it.”
Besides the damage to his reputation and influence, he has taken practical losses.
In stepping down from his leadership position as chairman of the Senate’s Republican Policy Committee, Ensign forfeits his $1 million-plus policy office budget and a staff of 20 researchers, legislative analysts and others who supplied him with a steady stream of initiatives. (He maintains his Senate office.)
The committee provided Ensign a platform to become a national figure — enabling him to visit Iowa, as he did this month, to great speculation that he was eyeing a presidential run in 2012, and creating a sought-after voice for him on national issues.
It also afforded him the chance to tap campaign donations that might not be as plentiful now.
In Nevada the lost potential is clear. The state Republican Party suffers from an infrastructure deficit (it has no executive director). It lacks an obvious leader (Gov. Jim Gibbons’ approval rating is lower than the state’s unemployment rate, 10 percent and 11.6 percent, respectively).
Ensign could have provided direction for the Nevada party.
“I think people were looking to Ensign to fill that role, but I don’t know if he can do that right now,” Duffy said.
Nationally, while the Ensign affair may not be as salacious as the past dalliances of others with prostitutes or the men’s restroom sting that caught Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig, Washington seemed particularly concerned that the woman involved was on his staff.
When the affair started in December 2007, Cynthia Hampton worked on Ensign’s campaign committees, and was promoted within a few months to treasurer of one after her predecessor left. Her husband, Doug Hampton, was one of Ensign’s top aides in the Senate office, and the couple’s teenage son worked as a summer intern on the National Republican Senatorial Committee headed by Ensign.
The couple left the senator’s employment in May 2008. The affair continued until August.
One immediate political casualty is likely Ensign’s ability to campaign early for the candidate who will try to defeat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid next year.
Home state senators are expected to help raise money and stump for their party’s candidate — and Ensign was ready to do so in the race against Reid.
Surely, though, Ensign will reemerge on the campaign trail, and a spokesman for the party’s national senatorial campaign committee, Brian Walsh, downplayed the setback, saying the election remains 17 months away, “a lifetime in politics.”
Reid and Ensign have spoken several times since Ensign first called him a week ago to inform him of the affair. They spoke again Tuesday, though a Reid aide could not say what was discussed.
When asked about Ensign at a press briefing, Reid offered a history lesson, praising Ensign’s father, the casino mogul Mike Ensign.
“I have known the Ensign family for many, many years,” Reid said. “Everyone knows that Sen. Ensign and I had a very difficult race in 1998. We have become friends since then. I’m concerned about his family, and I hope he works his way through this.”
On Tuesday, Ensign sought the comfort zone of his Republican Senate peers, attending the weekly private luncheon he once organized when he was policy chairman.
Ensign spoke briefly at the start of the closed-door lunch, apologizing for having put his colleagues and his family in this position, those present said. No questions were asked. Applause was given.
Ensign was “very, very sincere, very heartfelt and very well received by the conference,” said Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee. “I just appreciate the way that he was today and I think everybody in our conference did. He was obviously somber, serious.”
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch said Ensign appeared “humble,” while Sen. Johnny Isakson of Georgia described the Nevadan as “contrite.”
“He expressed some great regret and I think it was sincere,” said Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is readying a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee, seeking an investigation into questions that remain about the affair — such as how the Hamptons were compensated, why they left their jobs and whether any severance pay was offered to Cynthia Hampton, as some news outlets have reported.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, the minority leader from Kentucky, dismissed calls for an investigation, saying, “I think Sen. Ensign will address whatever needs to be said from here on.”
Ensign “apologized and indicated that he was going to do his job,” McConnell said.
But others were not so sure the issue was over.
Muth, the Nevada conservative activist, said Ensign should resign “for the good of the state, the good of the Republican Party.”
Hushed talks continue about Ensign’s sudden absence in 2002, which the Associated Press has reported involved his marriage.
Ensign’s office said Doug Hampton’s attorney demanded an “outrageous” sum of money and the senator came forward because the husband was approaching the media with the story — though the senator’s office has stopped short of saying Ensign was being blackmailed as sources identified as close to Ensign initially told some news outlets.
“This is not a clean have-a-press-conference-and-get-out,” a Democratic strategist said. “There are a lot of unanswered questions. I just think most people think there’s a lot more to come.”
Discussion: 33 comments so far…
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I just don't understand why so many successful politicians shoot themselves in the foot on the way up.
Even doing damage control. Ensign could have put this to rest by making a statement and leaving the "extortion stuff" out. Now this situation will linger, investigations will occur, more newsprint-he must have some desire to self destruct.
While it is easy to jeer and call him a hypocrite, our political system looks and feels like a cheap dimestore novel and people lose heart.
I must say, the freakish visage lurking to the right of my screen of Vanilla Ice is too much to bear.
Hannity? You must be kidding. A blazen liar and a tv idiot who disrespects most people, but the main thing about him is his support for the war criminal Bush. Ensign should quit and go home to run a parlor. He is a fake as we now know. His applications of the double standard has a jack in the box feel to it like many others. This country is in big, big trouble due to these so called leaders and it all goes to the fake G. Bush.
The Ensign matter will play itself out and there will be an outcome that will take several months to unravel. Ensign's office has always been extremely responsive and professional in my dealings with them. Ensign has been a refreshing breath of conservatism, and has been his own person in Washington. Kool aid drinking leftist liberals who are too ignorant and intolerant to smell their own rot in similar matters , and even worse, need to grow up. I am disappointed that Hannity called for Ensign's resignation. Ensign deserves a chance to grow,heal and move on in his life and as a Senator.
And Bill Clinton should have resigned. The hypocrisy is endless.
Give Reid credit. He could have stuck a fork deep in Ensign, but was gracious.
This story is not going to end soon. There is still something going on that we aren't hearing, and I think this might have been swinging gone out of control.
Ensign is not a very smart guy. He's put himself in an untenable position.
Reid and other dems probably like a weak Ensign, than a stong replacement, Heller, Heck, or the Mayor of Reno,etc. When I heard Hannity on TV he was kind of wishy washy about Ensign resigning, but he can't get enough of Newt Gingrich and Dick Morris-who have their own dirty laundry. Hannity is stupid so he needs guests to provide content for his shows.
I noticed Ensign is letting his hair go, it needs a dye job, and some mouse, maybe Gov. Palin has some mouse grease.
I'm all for Republicans blowing money on worthless employees. Maybe Ensign can go with Gov. Sanford on his next hike.
Apparently, mred, Sanford wasn't writing a book, or hiking, like his staff and wife had told the press. He was in Argentina. The governor of the state disappeared to a foreign country... without even so much as a text message to the lieutenant governor. Unbelievable.
This story finally details how Ensign's personal affair has damaged Nevada's interests in Washington. While I could care less about whether he's invited to be a talking head on Faux News again, his fall from power in the national republican party does great damage to our state's interests.
One can't help but think that the re-election campaign song for Senator John 'John' Ensign should be courtesy of the wise and timeless pen of the sage Warren Zevon...
Stay classy, Las Vegas
Mr Bad Example--W Zevon, 1992
I started as an alter boy, working at the church
Learning all my holy moves, doing some research
Which led me to a cash box, labeled "Children's Fund"
I'd leave the change, and tuck the bills inside my cummerbund
I got a part-time job at my father's carpet store
Laying tackless stripping, and housewives by the score
I loaded up their furniture, and took it to Spokane
And auctioned off every last naugahyde divan
I'm very well aquainted with the seven deadly sins
I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in
I'm proud to be a glutton, and I don't have time for sloth
I'm greedy, and I'm angry, and I don't care who I cross
I'm Mr. Bad Example, intruder in the dirt
I like to have a good time, and I don't care who gets hurt
I'm Mr. Bad Example, take a look at me
I'll live to be a hundred, and go down in infamy
Of course I went to law school and took a law degree
And counseled all my clients to plead insanity
Then worked in hair replacement, swindling the bald
Where very few are chosen, and fewer still are called
Then on to Monte Carlo to play chemin de fer
I threw away the fortune I made transplanting hair
I put my last few francs down on a prostitute
Who took me up to her room to perform the flag salute
Whereupon I stole her passport and her wig
And headed for the airport and the midnight flight, you dig?
And fourteen hours later I was down in Adelaide
Looking through the want ads sipping Fosters in the shade
I opened up an agency somewhere down the line
To hire aboriginals to work the opal mines
But I attached their wages and took a whopping cut
And whisked away their workman's comp and pauperized the lot
I'm Mr. Bad Example, intruder in the dirt
I like to have a good time, and I don't care who gets hurt
I'm Mr. Bad Example, take a look at me
I'll live to be a hundred and go down in infamy
I bought a first class ticket on Malaysian Air
And landed in Sri Lanka none the worse for wear
I'm thinking of retiring from all my dirty deals
I'll see you in the next life, wake me up for meals
It's amazing what happens when you don't keep your fly zipped.
I'm sure the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce is pretty upset with Sen. Ensign since he knocked a hole in their advertising slogan - "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas".
Las Vegas "leadership" will certainly try to find a replacement for Ensign soon enough, as I suspect they don't like anyone creating a mess in their back yard.
Could be that this story has many chapters yet to be told.
Thanks for staying on this story Lisa! Just for kicks, did Ensign lose a prime parking lot spot TOO? ROTFLMAO!
What is it with readers of this paper? Most you guys whether it's this article or others sound like a bunch of crotch y old men. A bunch of liberal loons! That is exactly how you come across. "Right-Wing" "Coversative news channel" what a bunch of radical brain-wash talk. I watch all news channels and I can tell you all that The #1 best source of information comes from FOX NEWS period! I find myself going there for the real scoop on stories. There is a reason they are #1 in ratings because unlike your "villiage idoit" remarks and clear bias political leanings, people go there for the national news. Now for Ensign, though I don't like what he did, he is still a fine politician and has much for our state. I feel he will be fine and "a reasonal person" will come to realize this. I remember when when the "great Bill Clinton" couldn't keep his you know what in his pants and underwent scrutiny as well. What the hell did all the liberals say, they all wanted to look the other way. What a collection of hypocrites you are! In addition, I'm more than sure that all these nay-saying, liberal nut cases weighing in have things in their past that they wouldn't want people knowing about as well. That I'm sure of, why because we ALL do, unless of course your perfect like some of these Pri Madonnas!
And as we Nevadan's debate the carousing of our own John Ensign.............South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is on TV confessing to his marital infidelity!!!
Keep up the Famliy Values GOP..........the GOP meltdown continues !!!!!!
Ensign and Sanford, like I said above take a hike.
We couldnt' write this stuff if people paid us to! Another married, Christian, Republican with kids cheating on his wife - with another married woman with kids? Turns out Republican South Carolina Governor Sanford has returned from his little "hike" - only to drop another bomb-shell on the Republican Party - ROTFLMAO!
The Republican National Committee needs to hold an emergency meeting and come up with a plan to clean their own house - and begin by JUST TAKING OUT THE TRASH! Open the doors, open the windows, turn on the air, blow-out the stink...and get a team in their to begin a complete renovation and repair project!
Oh, my, it's Christmas in June for the Democrats!
Unpopular! Ensign has hit the jackpot. How else to get your name in headlines everywhere?
Ensign is clearly a hypocrite. Hypocrites cannot be trusted. Politicians cannot be trusted. I'm sure this won't affect his chances for re-election.
Again, you brain dead liberals! Do you think, even for a moment that there are not Democrats out there right now having extramarital affairs? Can you be that closed minded as you come across in here? I really do not think that anyone is that stupid. As we already know it goes on in both parties, period! Ain't right but it does fool. Pull your biased head out of your backside! Man, I just can not stand the stereotypical LIBERAL!
Hey, "DesertSun" we know half the people are out there lying and cheating - in both political parties that is NOT the point!
It's NOT O.K. with the half of us that do NOT lie and cheat on our loved ones!
JEEEEESHE! What is it with these radical, right-wing, neo-con, nut-case, psuedo-christian, married-with-kids Republican men?
Now, before we can even get all of the facts on Ensign's lying and cheating - Governor Mark Sanford, (Republican-SC) is back from his little "hike" only to drop the bomb-shell that he was really in Agrentina with HIS mistress - and she's a married woman with kids TOO!
I'm stunned, Stunned, STUNNED at this level of STUPIDITY!
The Republican National Committee obviously needs to hold an emergency session and come up with a plan to get their house in order NOW!
May I suggest: Leave the doors open, throw open the windows, turn on the air, and begin by TAKING OUT THE TRASH! The Republicans need to come up with a comprehensive plan to clean, repair and renovate their house from the foundation to the roof and wall-to-wall!
ROTFLMAO!
Hey all. Tomorrow (June 25) on Face to Face, we are talking with the group that filed the ethics complaint against Sen. Ensign. Plus, we are looking at the political fallout in Nevada as a result of the scandal. That's at 5:30p, 6:30p, & 8pm on Las Vegas ONE, Cox Cable Channel 19.
DesertSun;
What Sir, is a
Pri Madonna? I kind of like the thought of Pre-Madonna, but that is another matter.
Careful, man. Your eye que might be showing.
How about that new Republican sitcom,
Sanford & sons? I'll bet the boys would love a family outing with dad right about now. After all, they missed Father's Day.
All this coming from a guy who can't spell desert?
Ensign's a hypocrite. Sanford's a hypocrite. Both were leaders in the GOP. This just goes to show how incompetent the average neocon has become when it comes to character judgment!
The Philandering Twins, Sanford and Ensign. Rush "OxyContin" Limbaugh. Gingrich and his harem of ex-wives?
Welcome to the new definition of family values!
Perfect example why democrats never run on a "truth and family values" platform. what?
DessertSun, some liberals have no qualms with extramarital affairs..... HOWEVER don't you Ultra Conservatives go and tell people how to live their life and what a good American is when you don't abide those values yourself!
The GOP is a sinking ship... too bad, Ron Paul needs to start a new party, like at libratarian party or something...
Yo, "gotjobs" this is the reason the Republicans need to shut up and stop using their sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, our form of christianitism is right (and everybody else is wrong) hypocritical and arrogant attitudes!
Democrats care deeply about really important social issues like: National Security (and Our Troops); Peace (and only Just Wars); Universal / National Healthcare; Equal Rights, Equal Protection, Equal Oppportunity and Equal Pay Under The Law in the Workplace (and everywhere) - Democrats care deeply indeed!
But, we don't think it is the government's business to tell us what we can or can not do in the privacy of our homes - here's what the Republican's just don't get - PRIVACY!
Repeat after me: "It's none of your business - so, stop being innappropriate, rude, mean, nasty, nosey and judgemental jerks!
Decent people work their problems out in private, and if they can't, they do what's right for the children's sake and get a divorce BEFORE they get involved with someone new!
This is not rocket science - it's simple stuff that most of us learned in the sand-box as kids!
I am sooo glad that taxpayers fund Congress's health insurance and prescription drugs; I'm sure we're paying for Ensign's Viagra.
Most of us probably wouldn't mind if this had been a one night stand, regretted in the morning when he sobered up, but c'mon -- a nine month affair with an employee, who was herself the wife of another employee and friend? Even for Sin City that's over the top!
And there's even MORE "NLV-Indep13" - it was a 9 month affair with his wife's best friend of over 20 years, and the wife of a guy he called his one of his "best friends" - and both the other woman and her husband were employees of Ensign!
DessertSun get into the shade. Your brain is cooked if you think Fox is a reliable source of anything but lies. Sean Hemorrhoid and Bill O'really are the poster boys for sleaze. Don't confuse me with the facts, my mind is already made up. #1 in spin, not news. "The real scoop", more like pooper scoop. By the way, those red underlines mean the word is misspelled.
Nice. I never would of thought there were so many English majors in this blog. I am not concerned about my spelling. I never claimed to be a great speller. Sooooo (yes I know I didn't spell that right and still don't care), getting back on point...is that many in here sound like a bunch crotchy old men. With a SLANTED Liberal view.
"JEEEEESHE! What is it with these radical, right-wing, neo-con, nut-case, psuedo-christian, married-with-kids Republican men?"
So, can the English majors somehow, someway see this statement maybe construed as SLANTED (and radical)?
When politicians play up their morality to get elected and then behave in ways that contradict that election stance they appear the hypocrite and lose all credibility. With no credibility why stay in office?
I wonder about the interpersonal dynamics when the Hamptons and Ensigns shared time together.
John cheating on his wife and wondering how much his mistress had told her husband as well as whether his wife knew. Meanwhile, Cindy, who is reported to be the senator's wife's best friend,
hiding this devastating affair from her and for at least some time not telling her husband. It's enough to turn your hair gray.
A sleazy affair with a woman not his wife never hurt Bill one iota. John ought to be hard to beat in 2012. Same difference.
JEEEESHE "afveteran" you are such a partisan hack and shill - are you a professional prostitute, or is this just a hobby? Guys like you are an embarrassment to the veterans and military families community - could you please, PLEASE, come up with a different handle out of respect to the rest of us?
We already have too many lunatics in the vet community tarnishing our image!