Tag Archives: John Ensign

Sexytime With Republicans – Ensign & Gingrich Edition

The Senate Ethics Committee report on John Ensign was released today and it’s brutal. It is crystal clear why he had to resign – the report recommends Ensign be expelled from the Senate. Here’s a quote from the report:

“I know exactly where you are. I know exactly what you are doing. Put your pants on and go home.”

— “Spiritual adviser” Tim Coe to Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), quoted in the Senate Ethics Committee report which accused Ensign of breaking laws trying to cover up his extramarital affair.

The report is even more nausea-inducing than the above quote implies. Talking Points Memo summarizes the findings.

    • There Is Substantial Credible Evidence That Senator Ensign Conspired to Violate, and Aided and Abetted Mr. Hampton’s Violations of The Post Employment Contact Ban, 18 U.S.C. § 207.
    • There Is Substantial Credible Evidence That Senator Ensign and His Parents Made False or Misleading Statements to the Federal Election Commission Regarding the $96,000 Payment to the Hamptons.
    • There is Substantial Credible Evidence That a Portion of the $96,000 Payment Constituted an Unlawful and Unreported Campaign Contribution and Violated Federal Law and a Senate Rule Prohibiting Unofficial Office Accounts
    • There Is Substantial Credible Evidence That Senator Ensign Permitted Spoliation of Documents and Engaged in Potential Obstruction of Justice Violations.
    • There Is Substantial Credible Evidence That Senator Ensign Discriminated on the Basis of Sex and Engaged in Improper Conduct Reflecting Upon the Senate by Terminating the Hamptons Employment Because of the Affair.
    • There Is Substantial Credible Evidence That Senator Ensign Violated His Own Senate Office Policies.

    • One of the more disgusting things that sticks in my mind is that Ensign carried on the affair over Mrs. Hampton’s objections and then determined that the affair meant that neither Hampton could work for him anymore. This started to ball rolling on the cover-up. The report said that Ensign was both guilty of sexual harassment and gender discrimination as well as violating campaign finance rules, obstruction of justice and violating Senate rules.

    Two people that should have to answer more uncomfortable questions: Rick Santorum (he alerted Ensign to the letter that Doug Hampton gave to Fox News) and Tom Coburn (who helped arrange the payment).

    Newt Gingrich is a real piece of work. Check this out from a 1984 Mother Jones article about rising Republican star Newt Gingrich. This guy is running for president.

    One former aide describes approaching a car with Gingrich’s daughters in hand, only to find the candidate with a woman, her head buried in his lap. The aide quickly turned and led the girls away. Another former friend maintains that Gingrich repeatedly made sexual advances to her when her husband was out of town. On one occasion, he visited under the guise of comforting her after the death of a relative, and instead tried to seduce her.

    Check out how he treated his first wife after he decided she wasn’t a political asset any more. There’s more to the story than just serving her papers after her surgery for uterine cancer.

    People in Carrollton were particularly incensed by the fact that Jackie was left in difficult financial straits during the separation, after her surgery. According to Lee Howell, friends in her congregation had to raise money to help her and the children make ends meet, and Jackie finally had to go to court for adequate support, before the divorce decree. In his financial statement, Gingrich reported providing only $400 a month, plus $40 in allowances for his daughters. He claimed not to be able to afford any more. But in citing his own expenses, Gingrich listed $400 just for “Food/dry cleaning, etc.”—for one person. The judge quickly ordered him to provide considerably more. When an article on the hearing appeared in the local paper, many in town were incensed. On election day, a few weeks later, Gingrich’s winning margin in Carroll County fell from 66 percent in 1978 to 51 percent.

    I trust the words of one of Newt’s former friends:

    “He’s probably one of the most dangerous people for the future of this country that you can possibly imagine. He’s Richard Nixon, glib. It doesn’t matter how much good I do the rest of my life, I can’t ever outweigh the evil that I’ve caused by helping him be elected to Congress.”

    OUCH!

    Who Will Fill Ensign’s Rhinestone-Studded Boots?

    By now, the sad fate that has befallen U. S. Senator John Ensign has been well-chronicled.

    The latest indignity recently occurred as Ensign took his leave of the ‘Christian’ compound that houses “The Family” on C Street in Washington. A place where fundamentalist congresscritters can sow their wild oats away from their families while preaching family values. Here’s a brief description of this shadow organization and two of its roomies:

    …(Coburn and Ensign) are members of a secretive and publicity-shy religious organization founded in 1935 that aims, broadly speaking, to forge ties with decision-makers around the world in order to put Christian teachings at the center of public policy.

    Which raises the profound question, who will be Tom Coburn’s next bunkmate?

    Firedoglake’s Marcy Wheeler comes up with the ideal solution–a reality show that even I would watch:

    There’s only one way to replace Ensign. To invite six avowed Christian Freshman Congressmen to participate in a reality show–a test, week by week, of who can be a bigger moral hypocrite. Each week, we’ll vote off one participant (who, thereafter, will have to pay market rates for a place in DC).

    I personally just can’t wait for the Holy Water Hot Tub episode. Or the Crucifix Crucible. Or (one can only hope) the Gomorrah Gauntlet. Wonder if Paula Parkinson has a daughter willing to participate…and, of course, there’s always that special guest appearance from Carrie Prejean.  Her episode? “The Saline Solution to Our Great Christian Nation’s Moral Decline”.

    Wheeler has asked for names for the series. My fave among the entries so far: “Schtupaking With the Starz”.

    But I betcha that you can do better.

    Big Trouble For John Ensign

    This summer John Ensign held a press conference and admitted to engaging in an affair with one of his campaign aides, Cynthia Hampton. Both Ensign and Hampton were married and Hampton and her husband both worked for Senator Ensign. At first it just looked your average hypocritical family values Republican and I stated that I didn’t think an affair was sufficient reason for Ensign to resign. The New York Times has taken an in-depth look at Ensign’s affair and actions to clean up/cover up and has found there’s more than meets the eye. Ensign used his influence to get Doug Hampton a job and then did favors on behalf of the companies that hired Hampton, at Hampton’s urging.

    Early last year, Senator John Ensign contacted a small circle of political and corporate supporters back home in Nevada — a casino designer, an airline executive, the head of a utility and several political consultants — seeking work for a close friend and top Washington aide, Douglas Hampton.

    “He’s a competent guy, and he’s looking to come back to Nevada. Do you know of anything?” one patron recalled Mr. Ensign asking.

    The job pitch left out one salient fact: the senator was having an affair with Mr. Hampton’s wife, Cynthia, a campaign aide. The tumult that the liaison was causing both families prompted Mr. Ensign, a two-term Republican, to try to contain the damage and find a landing spot for Mr. Hampton.

    In the coming months, the senator arranged for Mr. Hampton to join a political consulting firm and lined up several donors as his lobbying clients, according to interviews, e-mail messages and other records. Mr. Ensign and his staff then repeatedly intervened on the companies’ behalf with federal agencies, often after urging from Mr. Hampton.

    Ensign’s help was not just a one-time thing. Ensign helped Hampton set up a lobbying practice (which is a violation of Senate rules, aides must wait at least one year) with several of Ensign’s donors as clients. Ensign then intervened on more than one occasion for Hampton’s clients.

    One thing that struck me reading the article was how much Ensign’s actions were like Sanford’s actions. I don’t if this is how these C Street guys operate, but both Sanford and Ensign had affairs with longtime family friends and continued to pursue the affair after it was discovered at great risk to their careers. According to this article, Ensign continued the affair for 6 more months after sending the letter to the Hamptons saying that his actions had caused great harm.

    So far, there’s no ethics investigations into Senator Ensign actions. I’m not sure if we need to start a resignation watch yet but I’ll bet that Ensign does not run for re-election. Senator Coburn’s role continues to be eyebrow-raising (negotiating payoff money for Ensign’s mistress) so we’ll have to watch to see whether Senator Coburn starts feeling any heat from this episode.

    Ensign Affair Still Raising Eyebrows…And Questions

    When I first read about the Ensign affair I thought it was just your standard, run-of-the-mill scandal, but it’s scandal that won’t end.

    First, Doug Hampton gave an interview to the Las Vegas Sun. TPM Muckraker gives us the summary of the revelations:

  • Hampton said that Ensign paid Cindy more than $25,000 in severance when she stopped working for his campaign committees — a possible felony violation of campaign-finance law if he didn’t report it as an in-kind contribution. (Campaign reports show no such payment.)
  • Hampton said Ensign continued the affair for months after Hampton found out about it, and even well after the Ensigns and the Hamptons had confronted the issue together!
  • Hampton also said that Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) urged Ensign to end the liaison and to sweep it under the rug, suggesting that Ensign pay the Hamptons millions and help them resettle in Colorado.
  • Hampton released a letter written by Ensign to Cindy Hampton, in which he expresses deep remorse for the affair — which continued for around six months after the letter was written! (It reads like the words of a six-year-old who has been ordered by a parent to apologize, but has no independent grasp of what he did wrong.)

    • Go read the letter for yourself. The characterization of TPM Muckraker of the letter reading like a six-year-old forced to apologize is not far off the mark. Here’s how it starts out:

    This is the most important letter that I’ve ever written. What I did with you was wrong. I was completely self-centered and only thinking of myself. I used you for my own pleasure, not letting thoughts of you, Doug, Brandon, Blake or Brittany come into my mind. I betrayed everything I believe in. I lied to myself over and over. I justified my actions because I blamed my wife.

    I guess the remorse didn’t stick since the affair lasted six more months. Does any of this start having a Monica/Linda Tripp vibe to it? Why would the Hamptons keep the letter, and continue to work for him?

    The parts of the scandal that are raising some eyebrows are the $25,000 severance payment to Cynthia Hampton, which was not properly disclosed in campaign finance reports. This money is in addition to the money paid to both Hamptons and one of the Hampton sons as campaign staffers.

    It also looks like Senator Coburn is suffering some collateral damage. Hampton discloses that Coburn urged Ensign to end the affair and pay money to the Hamptons. Coburn did not deny this, until it was disclosed that John Ensign’s parents paid the Hamptons $96,000. Coburn is now denying that he urged Ensign to pay restitution to the Hamptons, but that he did urge Ensign to come clean.

    I think something fishy is going on. Why would Ensign try to pay off the Hamptons? Admission of an affair is damaging but not fatally, IMO. Do the Hamptons have more dirt? Why would Coburn urge Ensign to pay off the Hamptons? Perhaps it was just misguided advice but the more the stories change the more questions get raised.

    The Ensign Plot Thickens

    I figured the John Ensign affair scandal was just your regular, run-of-the-mill adultery scandal. Apparently it’s a lot more complicated than that. At one time, Ensign employed the woman, her husband and her son at the same time. Ensign also got a job for the woman’s husband with a campaign contributor.

    Now there are two new revelations: Senator Tom Coburn knew about the affair at least back to early 2008 and the woman’s husband tried to get Fox News’ attention to Ensign’s behavior. The man, Doug Hampton wrote a letter to Megyn Kelly at Fox, asking for her help. I find it quite interesting that even though the Republicans knew about the affair, they still elected him to a leadership position in the party. Is their bench that shallow, or do affairs only matter is your name is Bill Clinton or John Edwards? Text of the letter is below the fold. Continue reading →

    Oh, The Hypocrisy

    Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevadahas acknowledged having an extra-marital affair.

    Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has acknowledged an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer in a statement released by his office. “I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions,” said Ensign. He is expected to announce the affair at a press conference at 6:30 pm tonight. The affair, which was with a woman who worked for both Ensign’s re-election campaign and his Battle Born leadership political action committee, began in December 2007 and ended in August 2008. Ensign’s wife, Darlene, said that the couple’s “marriage has become stronger” and added: “I love my husband.”

    And in case you were wondering, he’s a huge hypocrite:

    Eleven years ago, Ensign voted to impeach President Bill Clinton on two counts related to the cover-up of his affair with Monica Lewinsky. Five years ago, Ensign took to the floor of the Senate and said this:

    Marriage recognizes the ideal of a father and mother living together to raise their children. Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded. For those who say that the Constitution is so sacred that we cannot or should not adopt the Federal Marriage Amendment, I would simply point out that marriage, and the sanctity of that institution, predates the American Constitution and the founding of our nation. Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America has relied.

    Update: Ensign called on Bill Clinton to resign during the Lewinsky scandal as well as Larry Craig to resign. Funny, he didn’t call on Vitter to resign. Hmmmm…

    In 1998, while running for Nevada’s Senate seat against Harry Reid, Ensign called on President Clinton to resign in light of his admitted affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky:

    “I came to that conclusion recently, and frankly it’s because of what he put his whole Cabinet through and what he has put the country through,” Ensign said Thursday, becoming the first member of the Nevada delegation to call for Clinton to quit. “He has no credibility left.”

    So, does Ensign think he has any credibility left?

    Update #2: Now we see why he’s coming forward now. The husband of the woman was trying to extort money from him.

    Late Update: Politico has more detail, including a reported demand for money from the husband of Ensign’s lover:

    Political insiders in the Senate and in Nevada told POLITICO that Ensign began an affair with a staffer several months after he separated from his wife. When Ensign reconciled with his wife, the sources said, he gave the aide a severance package and parted ways.

    Sometime later, a Nevada source said, Ensign met with the husband of the woman involved and had what this source described as a positive encounter. Sources said that the man subsequently asked Ensign for a substantial sum of money – at which point Ensign decided to make the affair public.