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twitterEthics group amends John Ensign complaints
Published Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009 | 10:18 a.m.
Updated Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009 | 11:46 a.m.
John Ensign
Sun Coverage
WASHINGTON -- An ethics group today filed supplemental complaints over Republican Sen. John Ensign’s actions in securing employment for the husband of the former staffer with whom he was having an affair, and also asked that fellow Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma be investigated for his role.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington amended complaints it had previously filed with both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Senate Ethics Committee after new questions about the senators’ actions were raised by last week’s New York Times story.
Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW, said today that “Sen. Ensign should be investigated by both the FBI and the ethics committee and the committee should also delve into Sen. Coburn’s role in the tawdry affair. The American people deserve to learn the truth about their elected representatives.”
Ensign told the Sun and other reporters today that, "I'm fully planning on working, staying in office.”
Today was the first day most senators were back on the Hill since last week's Times story raised new ethical questions about the senator's actions surrounding his affair.
After Ensign sought employment for Doug Hampton, a former top aide whose wife, also an Ensign staffer, was having an affair with the senator, the paper said Ensign knowingly allowed Hampton to lobby him in violation of the one-year ban on former staffers lobbying Congress.
Several Republican colleagues interviewed declined to offer their support.
Discussion: 42 comments so far…
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The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Ensign needs to hang in there until the Sun and its liberal clones stop printing negative & erroneous material about him.
LOL
afveteran...
Hahahahaha! Good One!!! Dang, that was funny.
Anyway, Ensign is toast, and he knows it.
let's have us some fun with this liitle maggot...
yee haa!!!
I believe John Ensign should continue as our Senator. He has done a good job so far. If we can forgive and excuse former President Bill Clinton's conduct as our commander and chief while serving it leaves the door open for other's who commit adultery.
hey johnnie scum bag...
you know what you should do asap...
i mean stat...
endorse sue lowden...
right away...
she is the only friend you have partner...
you know what they say...
scum bags of a feather...
flock together...
hee hee hee...
look at how pathetic the stupid pathetic lying republican party is...
sad...
truly sad...
who the hell would want to join the stupid pathetic lying republican party these days...
nobody!!!
No doubt about it. Las Vegas definitely is at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to intelligence.
The Senate ethics committee won't do squat, so he will "stay in office". At least until 2012. As for " fully planning on working " the question is for who?. If he retains his seat in 2012, we truly are the dumbest city/state not just in the USA but on the planet.
Comment removed by staff.
Here's a comment the author of the story above, Lisa Mascaro.
I am no fan of John Ensign, but The Sun and Ms. Mascaro could enhance their credibility greatly if they published an unbiased story concerning the identity of the people and the money behind Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
In addition to those questions about CREW, I would like The Sun to give us a report on how many Congressional ethics complaints CREW has filed over the years; how many were sustained as valid by the investigating body; and how may criminal prosecutions resulted from them.
The reason I ask these questions is that Ms. Mascaro covered politics in Los Angeles for many years, and she knows that there are groups of ineffective crazies who make complaints to everyone, such as to the California Fair Political Practices Commission. The complaints by the crazy groups go nowhere.
So Las Vegas Sun, are you brave enough to tell us about the bonafides of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington?
Ensign and ethics.
What is the point in the complaints?
He does what he wants to do.
John Ensign--and Vitter, Sanford and Craig, all demonstrate the fraud and hollowness of the holy roller crowd called "Christians." Real Christians hold each other accountable to what they say they believe, and do not protect them from their transgressions.
These in the Religious Right are politicos, and are no more Godly or Christians than the Hoover Dam. They would rather spout off about gays or abortion, than keep the articles of their own faith.
Wikipedia places Mr. Ensign as a member of the Foursquare Gospel Church. That says a lot about those hypocrites and apostates that you don't hear from them, now doesn't it!
Saint Paul warned us about these kinds of people. He said they would teach against adultery, and then go out and do it, and then God's name would be blasphemed for their actions. (Romans 2)
When the likes of the Christian Coalition, the American Family Association and The Family Research Council wake up to what they have allowed, then they will be believable. Right now they only deserve scorn and mockery. Their brand of Christianity is nothing I want to be associated with.
Conspiracy to commit bribery, probably as a response to attempted blackmail/extortion. It could not be more obvious. Investigate and prosecute. What's the holdup?
If ENSIGN goes down for this, then EDWARDS needs to go down. BILL CLINTON needed to go down for his antics and LETTERMAN too.
@tannsummers -
You confuse easily, 'eh?
Are they going to investigate David Letterman?
@LarryVegas-
Is Letterman in the Senate? LOL.
When caught, Ensign came forth with truth and fessed up he'd been pranking with another woman. He even tried to help her financially after he fired her off the payroll.
When caught, Bill Clinton obstructed justice and tried to hoodwink a special prosecutor. He escaped because the people in his party refused to believe his lies.
Big difference.
afvetran, wow! that is SOME KIND OF SPIN! whew!
John, you ought to get together for some quality time with Mark Sanford, to hone the message.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics was founded by Democrats.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics is funded by Democrats.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics is run by Democrats.
They rarely if ever go hard on Democrats, like Rangel. If you Google "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics Rangle" then you hit a page on their web-site that is nearly a political ad for Rangel. It practically says Rangel is an angel but struggles with understanding the tax law that he is charge of generating.
Of course this bogus newspaper loves to quote smoke and mirrors organizations that are really Democratic front organizations.
Come to the Sun to get your daily dose of Democartic talking points.
Ensign is a very selfish man. If he were not, he would resign for the citizens of Nevada and for his party. He will forever be tarnished and by not resigning, he is preventing another party candidate from running for office. If he just happens to make it through the ethics committee and the FBI investigation, he will be thoroughly defeated in 2012 by a Democrat, any Democrat.
I'm not a Democrat.
I've never been a Democrat - and never will be.
BUT!!
The enemy of my enemy is my friend!
John Ensign has proven himself to be the enemy of what I believe in.
I don't care what his carefully manufactured facade portrays. His parents and their handlers invested over 30 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars into this modern day "Manchurian Candidate".
Yes, Clinton was wrong - and, Yes, I think he should still be prosecuted for his illegal activities - But, John Ensign shouldn't get a "pass" just because Clinton did.
Also, the only reason Ensign came forward with the "confession" is because the Republicans learned from the extended damage from Clinton's continued denials.
The only remorse in Ensign is the result of paying the penalties of getting exposed.
Comment removed by staff. Offensive language.
jfNance32, err, SgtRock, err, James F Nance, Jr: so your argument is that CREW criticizes BOTH Ensign and Rangel, therefore we shouldn't trust them?
That's definitely a new way of arguing this!
You can criticize/crucify CREW and yell and scream about Democrats, but it just looks like you're desperately trying to change the subject from Ensign's bad deeds.
Typical republican tactics that never work. You would have to be dumb as a Rock to believe them.
Typical of ksand99....he is so addicted to his daily dose of koolaid that he refuses to see that he is getting played.
Ensign is a pathetic excuse for a human being never mind a Senator.
His hubris in thinking he can continue to serve(?) is just a reflection of his life of privilege and and the self absorbed high opinion that he continues to regard himself.
Enough of the foot dragging this man(?) must be removed from any position of authority and so must his enablers.
never seen so many republicans bite the dust.
war, hate , arrogance, debt, lies, cheating,
embezzling, bribing....
dang!... what happened to the once great party
of reagan & lincoln?
what a bunch of slimeballs.
there are some that would like to restrict the
press.
fortunately, the republicans will never be able
to control the press.
imagine what the republican party would do to
america without the protection of the press.
ha,ha,ha.
Can you spell J-O-H-N E-D-W-A-R-D-S and bastard baby at the same time, 7pesos?
I bet Ensign makes it through this crisis and becomes the next Senate Majority Leader after Harry and the Democrats loose their majority in the Senate.
Larryvegas--and that will be most likely to happen when he gets an endorsement from Sarah Palin!
(According to Frank Shaefer (son of Dr. Francis Shaefer-one of the founders of the religous right), Ms. Palin is the most notable spokesperson for the "fourth column of insanity" that took over the Republican Party!)
archiesie has a point there about an endorsement from Sarah Palin.. I would be a winner for sure then...
If his friend Frank is correct, then all the Democrats can go home because if Ms. Palin took over the Republican Party, she could also count on most Independents.
Whoever uses Bill Clinton as an example is living in the past, if anything Ensign should have learned from the Clinton affair, the difference is that Clinton never had a conflict of interest, and it it wasn't for CREW, then who would hold him accountable ?, his fellow republicans ?
cnn's dana bash sunk her teeth into Ensign during a sidewalk ambush interview,
where is Cindy Hampton? in letterman's loft?
Senator Ensign, Thank-you for your letter to Gregory Wagner at MSHA, It is very important that timely reported Safety violations and False reports,and Manufactured records are investigated even at Round Mountain Gold Corp Smokey Valley Mine.
A failure to investigate by MSHA and NV Mine Safety and Training Section as happen in my case WILL never be tolerate AND harms the public trust in "OUR" Elected Office holders and Safety Regulators. All eyes are on you Senator Ensign to fulfill your pledge. All people from the Great State of Nevada deserve a Senator that honors pledges to constituents. Paul Rupp B125 Silver Peak NV 89047
PaulRupp,
From 2001 to 2008, Mr Ensign circled the wagons around an administration that did a wink and a nod to mine owners when it came to mine safety. If you look there were more fatalities in mine accidents in W's administration than in the previous 25 years...and Ensign allowed him to get away with that.
I would think it fair to extrapolate from Cindy's silence that she took "hush money." Part of the payoff $$$ agreement was that she remain silent on the sins of the senator.
Either that or she's with a group of cloistered nuns and is writing a big, fat, juicy bestseller.
Or both!
Senator Ensign has the clout to Force MSHA to see why MSHA dropped the ball and to investigate a timely complaint and false record at Round Mountain Gold Corp. that injured Paul Rupp. There is no question that Senator Ensign and G.W. Bush were on the wrong side of safety for miners. The Issue is that MSHA dropped the ball and failed to investigate a timely complaint. Remember Sen Ensign is going to work hard for Nevada to regain the voters trust. About a year ago i received a letter from Sen Ensign saying that all he could look into is federal agencies. . then he sends a letter from NV Dept of Industry that said they investigated and found no problem. How did they investigate a formal complaint that i personally handed Gov. Gibbons? Ed Tomany NV MSATS Called RMGC and asked if they did anything wrong. Miners/workers continue to have no rights. Other then going off, all that a person can do is continue to hold Officials to their pledge to help constituents. If Senator Ensign and Gov Gibbons think they are getting a pass they are sadly mistaken. I had more faith in both Ensign and Gibbons when i voted for them, now its time to get to work for Nevada AND if they think they can continue to look the other way then everyone needs to know and vote Both Sen Ensign and Gov.Gibbons out.
Perhaps a new bumper sticker that says "if Ensign and Gibbons are on the job. . .you are not safe at yours"