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Sam Morris / Las Vegas Sun
Sen. John Ensign listens to a speech during a Lincoln Day dinner in Fallon on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2010.
By J. Patrick Coolican (contact) 
Thursday, April 1, 2010 | 10:30 a.m.
133 C Street S.E. is registered as a church and affiliated with a secretive Christian group known as The Family. It is the Washington home of several influential conservative politicians, including Sen. John Ensign of Nevada.
Sun coverage
Sun archives
- John Ensign: Press has been unfair (3-25-2010)
- Grand jury subpoenas issued in John Ensign probe (3-18-2010)
- E-mails link Sen. John Ensign to job effort tied to mistress' husband (3-10-2010)
Sen. John Ensign faces another ethics problem, this time related to his relationship with a religious group that allegedly rented him a room in a Washington house at below-market rates, in violation of congressional gift rules.
Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, or CREW, filed complaints against Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kan; Tom Coburn, R-Okla.; Jim DeMint, R-S.C. and Ensign; as well as Reps. Mike Doyle, D-Penn.; Heath Shuler, D-N.C.; Bart Stupak, D-Mich.; and Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. They all lived at the red brick house on C Street in Washington.
CREW alleges they received an improper gift from C Street Center, Inc., which owns the house.
The "C Street House," which is affiliated with a powerful and secretive Christian religious organization called "The Family" or "The Fellowship," became notorious last year after it was revealed Ensign and Sanford, who admitted to adulterous affairs, had both lived at the house.
The CREW complaint was first reported by Sun columnist Jon Ralston. Separately, The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that 13 Ohio Christian pastors filed a complaint with the IRS challenging the tax-exempt status of the C Street Center.
"The pastors said they are concerned that the center is 'an exclusive residential club for powerful officials (that) may be masquerading as a church,'" the Dispatch reported.
Ensign already faces investigations by the Department of Justice and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics regarding his affair with a campaign aid who was the wife of his co-chief of staff. Investigators are examining whether he broke ethics laws when he sought to help the co-chief of staff, Doug Hampton, obtain employment and lobby his office after Hampton left the Senator's employ.
No one from Ensign's office could be reached for comment this morning.
Why didn't he just ask mommy and daddy for some extra money so he could live somewhere on his own like a grownup? They seem to be very generous people. Or, maybe the "gift" to the Hampton's stretched their generosity.
Johnny, Johnny, Johnny when will it all stop?
how pathetic is the c street cult???
U-N-B-E-L-I-E-V-A-B-L-E!!!
hey stupid pathetic ugly lying always making a threat or fear mongering republicans...
that's your boy-yee...
be proud...
be very very proud...
then again...
there always is that gibbons monkey...
hee hee hee...
hoo hoo hoo...
haa haa haa...
The whole "C" street thing sounds like a sham.
Until 2009, C Street was exempt from real property taxes because it was classified as a church. A city official said "it was determined that portions are being rented to private individuals for residential purposes. The exemption was partially revoked and adjusted so that only 34 percent is now tax-exempt and 66 percent has become taxable."
In February 2010, Clergy & pastors from Christian denominations, filed a lawsuit with the IRS challenging the remainder of the C Street facility's tax favored status as a church, including on the grounds that many ordinary church activities did not occur there and due to the secretiveness of the organization.
In Feb 2010, the president of the Fellowship told The Columbus Dispatch that his "charitable organization" does not own the C Street Center "and has no control over its policy.
Let's recap:
Money from mommy and daddy, broke into 4 chunks to make the "gift" (yeah, right) a gift.
$5400 to the son of the best friend's wife for a job on at the campaign company that was supposed to elect Republican Senators. Job ends when the beat friend's wife is not the subject of affair.
Best friend goes to Fox news Megan Kelly to spill the beans. Does Fox leak the "information" back to Ensign?? (Megan Kelly, then gets her own show on Fox.)
Ensign does his the Maya co-pa "no questions asked" news conference.
Bible thumping at the C Street Cult House reaches a fever pitch. Cult House is a "church."
In another part of town, a radio station holds a "get your own talk show contest." A member, or former of Ensign's staff wins! Surprise, surprise! Goes on to be Clark County Republican Secretary.
Forty Deuce in Vegas and Voyeur Clubs see Republicans party hardy. Business meeting by Republicans held in Hawaii.
Radio station host has lunch meeting with Ensign. Questions are discussed. Station puts up an unscientific Internet poll asking: "Do you want personal questions asked of Ensign or just the issues?" Surprise! The poll says don't ask Ensign about his "activities."
Softball interview given with no follow-up questions. Station manager uses decoy car, according to a local TV station, to shield Ensign from real reporters trying to get real answers.
Another contest held for be your own talk show host. Who wins? "Fiancee" of someone out at a Nevada based right wing think tank. Winner goes from her talk radio job to "communication director" of the Nevada Republican Party.
Ensign at Town Hall Meetings and on CNN says: "He already answered the questions about his affair." (Talk-radio station interview?)
Ensign misses much of the debate on the floor of the Senate. Not the most articulate of spokesman anyway. Dana Bash of CNN chases down Ensign in the D.C. hallway.
Ensign's starts looking a little old and pale.
Charlie Rangel told him how to do this.
Abe Lincoln would have said;
"You can fool some of the people, ALL of the time"... ;^)
-- cool site; Balkingpoints ; incredible satellite view of earth
"With the two investigations continuing to move forward, the chances of Ensign escaping without some kind of sanction -- either criminal charges filed by DOJ or punishment from the Ethics Committee -- are growing increasingly slim, according to Senate insiders.
"There's no chance that he's going to get out of this without being hit," a top Senate GOP aide acknowledged. "The only question for Ensign is what level of pain he is willing to suffer."
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/031...
Maybe Ensing can go on "Hannity" and they can discuss their respective scandals? Ensign could be the emcee at the upcoming "Freedumb Consort" to be held in Vegas. Gee, I bet the $1000. scholarship will help put a Vet through UNLV. (for one week?)
It's no wonder why the uprising over these 'lower than life' politcians. No more! A vote for an incumbent politician is a vote for status quo. That goes for BOTH Parties. We no longer need politician; WE NEED COMMON SENSE STATESMEN. Pathedically, they are going to draw a pension after their first term in office. An Independant
Once you understand The Fellowship (you can start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fellows...) , Ensign's behavior will all suddenly make sense.
People who believe that the creator of the universe is deeply concerned with the most mundane aspects of their day to day lives are, by definition, suffering from narcissistic personality disorder. The C Streeters have taken their religious delusions several steps further and have convinced themselves that god has chosen them personally to lead the nation.
Needless to say, god's special favorites are free to ignore the rules that apply to all the little people.
"hows your tea party NOW, republicans?: -dipstick
Doing great. Thanks for asking.
Here's a link to a NYT article about our Johnny Boy
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/02/us/pol...
They are coming out of the woodwork
so called patriot christians...
ensign and the c st. gang...
just another power seeking bunch of republican crooks.
I would like to apologize for the above post criticising Sen. Ensign's friend Mr. Sean Hannity. At least Mr. Hannity has stimulated the economy by hiring someone to ghostwrite his new book. We need more trickle-down.
mred writes re Sen. Ensign: "... $5400 to the son of the best friend's wife for a job on at the campaign company that was supposed to elect Republican Senators. Job ends when the beat friend's wife is not the subject of affair. ..."
--
Yes, the GOP only lost 8 senate seats in 2008 with Senator Ensign as chairman of their National Republican Senatorial Committee, in charge of winning back Republican control of the senate.
All told, Ensign's NRSC paid the son of his mistress less than $700 bucks per GOP senate seat lost.
Heckofa good job!
What a sack of dishonest scammers!
If they got discounted rent, what did they have to give in return?
What about the children?
I saw reported comparable rents for amenities and services in the area at $4000-$6000. The IRS is looking at $something like $38,000/ year that should be counted as income because of the "discount". Several other Republicans are Guilty also.
Then there is Bondage gate, It was ok to reimburse the expense until they got caught by the press.
Now it turns out the RNC inadvertently listed a phone-sex number on a fundraising letter sent to potential donors. People who tried to call the committee were instead offered "live, one-on-one talk with a nasty girl" for $2.99 a minute.
Boy howdy, it pretty bad when the most ethical person in the party is Sarah Palin! LOL!!!
Ensign and Sanford, who admitted to adulterous affairs, had both lived at the house.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#36...
dhvincent1 wrote: "While I hope Ensign is scum and doesn't run again, but even a quick glance shows that this complaint is completely bogus. First, they compared a rooming house to a hotel. Bogus. They also compared a non-profit rooming house with a for-profit company. Again, bogus."
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What they're saying is that when this C Street "church" is providing rooms with bathrooms, meals and maid services for $950 per month to select elected officials, it amounts to a gift since that can't be obtained by anybody else in that area for less than double or triple that price.
Why is that so hard for you to understand?
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dhvincent1 claims: "They say the congressmen cannot live together. Huh?"
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Yeah, huh? Where exactly do they say "congressmen cannot live together"? Did you make that up yourself?
C Street House is it a church or a tax dodge ??
"Taxes and Marriage" vows thats for the nasty unwashed poor!!
"C Street House is it a church or a tax dodge ??"
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Yes.
poly6006 wrote: "Boy howdy, it pretty bad when the most ethical person in the party is Sarah Palin! LOL!!!"
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Unfortunately, the former half-term governor of Alaska couldn't even keep her own kid from getting knocked-up under her own roof.
If you can't even run your own family...