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Sunday, March 27, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.
On New Year’s Eve 2009, showing the generosity of spirit his family always had toward the Hamptons, Sen. John Ensign had this to say when asked about potential violations of a cooling-off law by the best friend he had betrayed:
“That’s his problem,” Ensign dismissively said of Doug Hampton. “That’s not my problem.”
Displaying the same chilling lack of proportionality and responsibility, the Justice Department last week showed that it agrees with Ensign by indicting Hampton on seven counts of breaking the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act. In another cruel twist, Ensign, like some rape victim, is identified only as “Senator A” in the indictment — the possibilities for the “A” are endless.
The charges are serious. But in this serpentine, sordid and thoroughly creepy descent into the D.C. swamp, Doug Hampton is the misdemeanant and John Ensign is the felon.
Honest Leadership and Open Government Act? Yes, Ensign is quite the avatar of honest leadership — the self-appointed moral leader who pointed fingers while never glancing in the mirror, hypocrisy worthy of a publicly sanctimonious but privately womanizing televangelist. And as for open government, Ensign happily opened his Senate life to his best friend and wife, then carried on an affair with her for months before sending the Hamptons packing back to Nevada with $96,000 in hush money from his parents.
As Bill Withers might have put it, Ensign kept on using them until he used them up. He had bigger fish to fry, and the Hamptons were in the way of his ambitions, first in the Senate and then, perhaps, to the White House.
The affair, the aftermath, the destruction? That was their problem, not his.
The Justice Department’s message:
Doug Hampton, who is broke and broken, is a criminal who should go to prison; John Ensign, who is still a senator, is an innocent man who should go home.
The Justice Department? Is there a greater oxymoron?
Let me be clear: This is not a hard case for the Justice Department to prove. Hampton all but confessed last year to what he had done and provided damning (to himself) emails to The New York Times. There’s no question that the contacts with Ensign’s office alleged in the indictment took place because Hampton documented them.
So it’s Hampton’s problem, not the senator’s.
But Hampton has always said that Ensign knew what he was doing, that he conspired to help him violate the cooling-off law. All that he has provided — so far — are emails that show he contacted Ensign underlings. But here’s where it gets dicey — or should — for Ensign:
When he helped Hampton get jobs, with NV Energy and Allegiant Air, or when he facilitated consulting contracts for him, did Ensign actually not know Hampton would contact him for favors? And speaking of favors, did anyone hire Hampton because of his manifest talents or because a U.S. senator asked them to?
And, most importantly: What efforts has the Justice Department made to find out what Ensign knew and when he knew it? Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has submitted requests for the Justice Department paper trail, but no justice likely there.
Remember the timeline, folks: Ensign would have done anything to keep news of the affair private, and Doug Hampton was the only one who might squelch his aspirations to climb the Senate leadership ladder and then gaze toward 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. So would Ensign have gone so far as to conspire to help Hampton circumvent the cooling-off law to keep him quiet? Was the $96,000 simply a down payment on promises of future lobbying/consulting riches?
Maybe the feds are satisfied that Ensign has announced his retirement. And no one I have talked to has any faith that the Senate Ethics Committee will do anything but wish Ensign well in his future endeavors.
The Justice Department/Senate Ethics Committee inaction vis-a-vis Ensign? That’s Hampton’s problem, not his.
Many people — too many, I say — have wanted to harshly judge both Hamptons from the beginning, drawing an equivalency between what they did and what the senator did.
But whatever mistakes they made were not those of a moralizing U.S. senator who slept with his wife’s best friend and his best friend’s wife, was caught, sought “spiritual” guidance from his godly frat brothers at the infamous C Street house, tried to buy the Hamptons’ silence, helped Doug Hampton find jobs and then, in the unkindest cut of all, played the victim as Hampton pursued his obsessive, self-destructive quest for revenge.
Ensign likes to invoke Jesus, but he’s playing the role of Pilate here. He is allowing Hampton to be crucified while he washes his hands, ablutions that can never clean the stain of what he has done.
So the man who relied on the “friend” who made him a cuckold to help him regain his life may be going to prison, and the man who violated the public trust and the moral precepts he lorded over everyone else is going home.
That’s Doug Hampton’s problem, not John Ensign’s.
Imagine if Senator Reid, rather than Ensign, had committed these acts. The RNC would be going ballistic. But Ensign is the jerk. And the RNC is completely silent. Wonder why?
Regardless of what Hampton did,...Ensign lives in a sewer and never had a chance in hell of living in the White House,...even before his escapade's. I believe they spray for jigolo's in parts of DC and Nevada,...or at least they should.
Ensign is a sociopath so like OJ he will end up in a future pickle.
I wouldn't bet on his marriage lasting either.
If Ensign were a dummycrat, would you be whining and sniveling that he porked his best friends wife? No, there would be a liberal news blackout about it.
The accused rapist, aka Bill Clinton the Oval Office Pervert went on to become a rock star because the left said "it's only sex."
It is amazing how the left reacts to political scumbags. At least Ensign isn't president so that he could sic the IRS on his enemies --- as the Oval Office Pervert Bill Clinton did.
Ho Hum.....
Wow how we got some Libs commented bout this. Remember Fullbright? remember all the Kennedy's, Remember Gary Hart? remember,,, It don't matter cuz Demoncrats good, Republicans bad. Surprised that DIPSTICK from Ill didn't chime In with his crap bout NV since he knows about NV and living In Ill!
Burritobandit2: "It don't matter cuz Demoncrats good, Republicans bad." Correction: both wings of our UniParty are "bad". Bizarre "reasoning" demonstrated once again here: If a person is against one "political party", the person must be in favor of the other "political party". Wrong again! SO FUNNY, SO FOOLISH!
Excellent article Mr. Ralston. However, there is one section where I respectfully disagree with you. Senator Ensign is in no way getting off free. In many ways, John Ensign will be paying a higher price for his past actions than that of Mr. Hampton. It's true, Ensign left his once trusted aide hanging out to dry, and facing certain prison time. But, Mr. Hampton will serve his sentence behind bars. When his time is completed, he still can go back to his family life, and live in privacy and peace. All will be forgotton. No, no, no. Not with John Ensign. For he can barricade himself in his private residence, and he'll still be watched like a hawk at every juncture. Unlike Mr. Hampton where his freedoms will be temporarily taken, Mr. Ensign has lost his, forever. When a wife has cause, she is the best spy in the business. John Ensign will never even be able to get on the Internet like these little sex fiends do and engage in a bit of flirting and playing. His wife will check his cell phone activity, his computer activity, and any other form of communication devices. He won't even be able to pickup a pen and paper without his wife checking him out. As time passes, Ensign will begin to experience "cabin fever". The need to get out of his home and have some privacy will definitely surface. He certainly will never have that. The moment he walks out his front door, as long as there are reporters, he'll never attain that quest. So, in essence, John Ensign has received a life sentence. Let him mess up again after he has retired from the Senate. One can be assured his wife will deliver the knockout punch he so well deserves. A wife never loses evidence. She'll never shred one iota of a document, and never throw anything away. You can bet Ensign's wife already has a private legal file setup and waiting for her husband to act up again. I certainly would not call this scenario, getting off free. Looks to me like that boomerang you spoke of will be circling his rooftop like a vulture, waiting for his prey to finish himself off.
Ensign will be able to draw his full salary once he "retires"... not a bad deal, if you were to be John Ensign.
I want to know more about the Nevada Power dirty deal that Hampton lobbied Ensign for ...