A senator’s future

Monday, Dec. 6, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.

Nevada Sen. John Ensign’s office said last week that the Republican is no longer a target of a Justice Department investigation into whether he broke the law in the wake of an ugly affair.

That was certainly a relief for Ensign, who is planning to run for re-election in 2012, and it is the second bit of good news he has received in recent weeks. The Federal Election Commission previously dismissed a complaint against Ensign stemming from money paid out over the affair.

Ensign’s spokeswoman said the senator hopes that the Senate Ethics Committee, which is investigating a complaint against him, will soon follow suit and drop the matter. She said it was “important that the truth in this matter is finally coming to light.”

What truth Ensign’s office wants revealed is unclear. As it is, the facts that have come to light have been damning, and Ensign has refused to discuss the situation with Nevadans after a short announcement in June 2009.

The whole situation has been stunning. Ensign, an evangelical Christian, has espoused family values throughout his political career, and this wasn’t just any affair. He had the affair with Cynthia Hampton, who was not only a staffer but also his wife’s best friend. And Cynthia Hampton’s husband was Ensign’s chief of staff, Doug Hampton. The couples had been close and they were also neighbors.

Politicians, including Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn, and members of a secretive evangelical group called the “Family” were enlisted to intercede. After Ensign agreed to break off the affair, there were allegedly discussions about Ensign compensating the Hamptons, who left their jobs. Doug Hampton ended up working as a lobbyist for Ensign’s political strategist, Cindy Hampton reportedly got $25,000 in severance from Ensign and the senator’s parents wrote checks worth $96,000 to the Hampton family.

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed complaints over the matter. Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director, said there was “abundant evidence” of “blatant” violations of the law and Senate rules. There were questions about the legality of the severance, as well as the job arrangements for Doug Hamption.

The decisions by the FEC and the Justice Department to dismiss the complaints are not surprising. The FEC typically isn’t very aggressive, and the Justice Department is still stinging after the rebuke it received in the prosecution of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

And it’s possible that Ensign will be cleared by the Senate Ethics Committee. But even if it does clear him, his problems are not over.

He has been badly damaged by this. Ensign, who has been a conservative’s conservative, was once a rising star in the Senate and held a leadership position in his caucus. Now, he has been isolated to the back bench.

In the coming months, Republicans will have to do some soul searching, particularly as others, including Rep. Dean Heller, have reportedly considered running against Ensign. Can his party still support him? Can the voters support him?

Ensign’s affair and his handling of it have been terrible disappointments to Nevada voters. Whether he can convince the voters, rather than the Justice Department or the FEC, will be the real test.