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.