We will leave
it up to the reader to determine whether Senator John Ensign has made
serious errors in in judgment. John has supported a Conservative
Christian position especially when it comes to Church and State issues.
It is apparent from the data collected, that the first amendment may be in
danger from his past and future actions.
John's office like others we called, stated
that his position is that Hindu, Shintoists, or Witches aren't "Real"
religions." What is a real religion, Mr. Ensign? What you have
been practicing? Read the following and remember: "By their Works may
they be known." This is a summary of information collected from
several sources about John Ensign.
(Remember it is best to
investigate on your own when looking at allegations about anyone.
Don't believe us, think for yourself and investigate for yourself! And
remember, the Religious Freedom Coalition does not represent any political
party nor do we recommend any political candidate, nor are we involving
ourselves in the political process. BUT, we are here to expose
hypocrites who abuse our trust in them and will not stand for public
officials lying and CHEATING!!! This information is only for students
of John Ensign)
Senator Jim Ensign
and the Republican Party Supports Rape by Defense
Contractors
I think that all homo sapiens can understand
how the mere thought of an organization that receives government
money through contract mechanisms being tangentially involved in
setting up a fake tax shelter for a fake pimp and his fake
prostitution ring of fake prostitutes can justifiably lead to
lawmakers
going absolutely cross-eyed with
white-hot, impotent rage. But what happens when a similarly
taxpayer-endowed contractor attempts to cover up
employee-on-employee gang rape
by locking up the victim in a shipping container without food
and water and threatening her with reprisals if she report the
incident? Somehow, it doesn't engender the same level of anger!
30 misogynist Republicans in the
U.S. Senate are totally OK with rape, at least where women are
concerned. Predictably in yet another routine attempt to serve
their corporate masters, (this time the GOP stood by
Halliburton) Republicans voted against women and for corporate
contempt of rape victims.
Some Republican senators
are taking heat for voting against an amendment that would
allow employees of military contractors to sue their
employers if they are raped at work -- and they want the
Democratic senator who wrote the amendment to help them
fight off the bad publicity.
In October, 30
Republicans voted against Sen. Al Franken's amendment to a
defense appropriations bill that would de-fund contractors
who prevent their employees from suing if they are raped by
co-workers. Since then, those Republicans have faced outrage
for what critics say amounts to support for rape.
Instead of standing up to
take responsibility for or clarifying their disgraceful votes,
Republican cowards are instead attacking Al Franken, blaming him
for their votes.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
accused Franken exploiting the story of Jamie Leigh Jones --
a former KBR employee who says she was locked in a container
in Iraq after alleging she was raped by co-workers -- to
further his political agenda.
"Trying to tap into the
natural sympathy that we have for this victim of this rape
--and use that as a justification to frankly misrepresent
and embarrass his colleagues, I don't think it's a very
constructive thing," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said in an
interview.
I guess Franken held a
sledge hammer over Cornyn's head and said if he did not vote
against the anti-rape amendment Franken would crack it over his
head.
What shameless cowards.
To summarize the Republican
position: As women, we are not "average Americans," and gang
rape is not a "serious" issue. As women, no matter how powerful
we become on our own merits, the Republican establishment will
still be hoping for a man to come along and put us in our place.
Not every Republican signs
onto these views -- indeed, 10 Senate Republicans voted for the
Franken amendment, giving the lie to the NRSC's claim of
partisanship -- but this is the undercurrent of the party's
policies. This is what they're hoping to get voters to overlook
when they run a Sarah Palin or a Kelly Ayotte for office. This
is why Bob McDonnell's campaign for Virginia governor has been
such a popular campaign stop for 2012 prospects: because of, not
despite, his opposition to marital contraception and women in
the workplace. This is why David Vitter (who voted against the
Franken amendment) is still a senator in good standing with the
party of alleged sexual morality.
You don't have to go very
far beneath the Republican surface claims of
equality-but-not-really to get to the rock-bottom sense that
women just don't count, that our rights and our wellbeing are
always subordinate to whatever interest of men they might
conflict with. When it comes to it, even the (themselves sexist)
notions of chivalry and protecting women come behind protecting
the right of corporations to imprison their female employees to
shield their male employees from rape charges and still get
government contracts.
Credit new Senator Al
Franken however, for
introducing an amendment to the
Defense Appropriations bill that would punish contractors if
they "restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual
assault, battery and discrimination cases to court." You'd think
that this would be a no-brainer, actually, but that didn't stop
Jeff Sessions from labeling Franken's effort a "political attack
directed at Halliburton." Franken, of course, pointed out that
his amendment would apply broadly, to all contractors, because
otherwise, 'twould be a bill of attainder, right? Right?
Franken's amendment ended up
passing, 68-30. Here's a list of the Senators who showed broad
support for Rapists and Pedophiles by voting against it: (Click
on their names to find out more about them).
Read more at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/07/meet-the-senators-who-vot_n_312976.html
WASHINGTON — A
federal grand jury has issued subpoenas to a
Republican campaign committee and companies in
Nevada in a probe of Sen. John Ensign, who has been
under scrutiny for his efforts to find lobbying work
for the husband of his former mistress.
One subpoena went
to the National Republican Senatorial Committee,
which was formerly chaired by Ensign, a Nevada
Republican, committee spokesman Brian Walsh said
Thursday.
Sean Cairncross, general counsel for the group that
is the campaign committee for Republican Senate
candidates, said the committee has responded
appropriately to questions concerning matters
related to the timeframe of the 2008 election
campaign.
On
Thursday, a Las Vegas television station reported
that grand jury subpoenas in the Ensign probe went
to six Las Vegas businesses that it did not name.
According to one subpoena obtained by the Las Vegas
television station, a recipient was ordered to
produce documents relating to, among others, Ensign;
Michael Slanker, the former political director at
the National Republican Senatorial Committee; and
Slanker's wife, Lindsey, the committee's former
finance director.
The subpoena covers the period starting Jan. 1,
2008, and directs the recipient to testify March 31
in Washington, D.C., and to turn over documents. The
station posted one subpoena on its Web site with the
recipient's identity blacked out.
Ensign's affair and the legal problems it has
engendered have derailed talk that he might make a
run for the Republican presidential nomination in
2012 and forced him to resign his position as
chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee.
Asked about the subpoenas, Ensign spokeswoman
Rebecca Fisher said, "Sen. Ensign is confident he
has complied with all ethics rules and laws and will
cooperate with any official inquiries."
The FBI and Senate Ethics Committee are
investigating whether Ensign tried to limit
political damage from an affair he had with the wife
of one of his Senate aides by conspiring to help the
aide find a new job as a lobbyist, which might have
violated restrictions on lobbying by former
congressional staff.
Federal criminal law prohibits congressional aides
from lobbying their ex-bosses or office colleagues
for one year after departing their Hill jobs.
Ensign acknowledged the relationship with Cynthia
Hampton last June. Ensign helped her husband, Doug
Hampton, gain employment with a lobbying firm, and
Ensign's parents provided the Hamptons with a
payment of $96,000 that they described as a gift.
The affair ended in 2008; Ensign is married.
Hampton told The New York Times last year that, in
coordination with the senator and his staff, he
played a significant role in pushing the Washington
agendas of NV Energy, the largest power company in
Nevada, and Allegiant Air, a Las Vegas-based
discount airline. On Thursday, Allegiant Air
declined to comment. In a statement, NV Energy said
that "as we have said all along, we will cooperate
with any federal review."
The subpoena posted on the TV station's Web site
also seeks documents relating to former Ensign chief
of staff John Lopez and the Hamptons.
The subpoena also seeks records regarding November
Inc., a political consulting firm belonging to
Michael Slanker.
John Lopez, Ensign's former chief of staff, told The
New York Times last year that when he raised
concerns about contacts between Hampton and the
senator's office, he was designated as an
intermediary to ensure those contacts complied with
the law.
Lopez acknowledged that Hampton tried to lobby him,
but he said that was Hampton's problem. Robert
Kelner, Lopez's attorney, declined to comment
Thursday about whether Lopez has received a subpoena
in the case.
Michael Slanker and officials at November Inc. did
not respond Thursday to messages seeking comment.
Daniel Albregts, a Las Vegas lawyer representing the
Hamptons, declined to comment.
___
Associated Press writers Ken Ritter in Las Vegas and
Kevin Freking and Liz Sidoti in Washington
contributed to this report.
Calls for John Ensign to Resign are Mounting: Nevada Republicans
Call For Senator's Ouster
Sen. John Ensign
(R-Nev.) has come under increasing internal pressure this week from
Nevada Republicans who believe he should resign due to increasing
concerns that his ethics investigation will end up damaging the
party in November.
"We are on
the verge of great victory come November, but the most long awaited
victory can quickly slip through our grasp unless we immediately put
the focus back on conservative issues," Richard Scotti and Swadeep
Nigam, two former Clark County GOP officials, wrote at
Nevada News and Views.
"We call on all true conservative Republican leaders and activists
to speak out now for the resignation of Senator Ensign."
In an
appearance on Nevada television, Rep. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) also
called Ensign
a "wounded junior senator" and said that this was a "cause for
concern" for the party.
"Will it have
impact up and down the ticket for Republicans this fall? I think
there is the potential for that happening," Heller added, stopping
short of calling for the Senator's resignation.
Last year,
Ensign admitted to having an affair with Cynthia Hampton, a staffer
for his campaign and the wife of his best friend and co-chief of
staff. In the aftermath, Ensign may have helped Doug Hampton find
lobbyist work, as well as directed a $96,000 "gift" to the Hamptons,
claims that a
federal grand jury
is now investigating.
Excerpt from The Huffington Post by Rachel
Weiner 11-23-09
Doug Hampton, the friend
of John Ensign who discovered the Republican Nevada senator was having an
affair with his wife,
sat down with ABC News
to discuss the ongoing scandal. Hampton accused Ensign of breaking ethics
laws and said he believed Ensign was still pursuing the illicit
relationship.
"I think he's absolutely
at this time pursuing her," Hampton told "Nightline". "He's absolutely
fixated on Cindy ... He's in love with her." According to Hampton, Ensign
told him, "I'm not going to apologize for how I feel. Not only am I going to
pursue the relationship, you can't work for me anymore."
Hampton also accused
Ensign of helping him line up lobbying clients.
"There's no doubt," he
said. "Why would a client hire Doug Hampton if he didn't think he would have
access to John Ensign's office? It's the only reason I would hire him."
Watch:
In another segment, Hampton details how he
discovered the ongoing secretive relationship between Ensign and his wife
via the senator's cell-phone.
Ensign Paid Mistress'
Family $96,000
Excerpts from an article on
the Huffington Post by Kathleen Hennessey, First Posted: 07- 9-09 03:43
PM
LAS VEGAS — The sex scandal
engulfing Sen. John Ensign has deepened now that his former mistress's
husband has revealed new details about the relationship, saying the Nevada
Republican paid the woman more than $25,000 in severance when she stopped
working for him.
Now, in a letter to
Politico, Ensign's lawyer has revealed that the senator's parents
gave a "gift" of nearly $100,000 to the family of Cindy Hampton out of
private funds.
In April 2008, Senator John
Ensign's parents each made gifts to Doug Hampton, Cindy Hampton, and two of
their children in the form of a check totaling $96,000. Each gift was
limited to $12,000. The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts and
complied with tax rules governing gifts.
After the Senator told his
parents about the affair, his parents decided to make the gifts out of
concern for the well-being of long-time family friends during a difficult
time. The gifts are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign
family to the Hamptons and others.
Through a spokesman, Ensign
has accused Doug Hampton of recently making "exorbitant demands for cash and
other financial benefits."
Ensign's office has
acknowledged helping Hampton get work once he left the Senate office, first
as a consultant and then as a lobbyist for an airline run by an Ensign
contributor.
Hampton said in the interview
that attorneys for the men have been in negotiations over "millions" in
possible payments from the senator. Ensign, through his spokesman, has
refused to answer questions on whether any payments have been made.
Doug Hampton also worked for
Ensign as a Senate aide. He claims his wife received the $25,000 payment as
severance when she left her position in May 2008. Both men say the affair
continued until August 2008.
Doug Hampton also provided a
letter to the Las Vegas Sun that he claimed was a handwritten apology from
Ensign to Cindy Hampton, a former treasurer for the senator's campaign
committees.
"I used you for my own
pleasure," the letter reads, later adding. "Plain and simple it was wrong;
it was sin."
The letters, along with Doug
Hampton's interview on Wednesday with a local television news show, mark
another embarrassment for Ensign, a 51-year-old Christian conservative who
abruptly came forward last month and confessed to the affair. In addition, a
severance payment could pose campaign finance or ethics issues for him.
Ensign spokesman Tory Mazzola
said in an e-mail that Hampton was consistently inaccurate in the statements
he made on television.
Hampton learned of the affair
between his friend the senator and his wife when he discovered an
incriminating text message, he said on "Face to Face with Jon Ralston."
Hampton also detailed a
February 2008 meeting in which he, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and others
encouraged Ensign to end the affair, as well as the working relationship
with the Hamptons. Hampton said Coburn and others tried to encourage Ensign
to compensate the couple and help them relocate.
"These men were the ones that
said, 'What we need to do is get Doug Hampton's home paid for, and we need
to get Doug Hampton some money. We need to get his family to Colorado,'"
Hampton said in the interview
John Hart, a spokesman for
Coburn, would not comment directly on the specific advice that Coburn gave
Ensign.
Coburn "did everything he
could to encourage Senator Ensign to end his affair and to persuade Senator
Ensign to repair the damage he had caused to his own marriage and the
Hamptons marriage," Hart said.
Coburn himself
lashed out at Hampton in response.
"John Ensign hasn't put me in
a tough position at all," said Coburn, a housemate of Ensign's at a Capitol
Hill home owned by a Christian fellowship. "The person that's deceiving now
is Doug. And you all need to go do the investigation now on that side of it
and quit asking us and ask what's the motivation here ...
"He is in error, and he's
manipulating the situation and you are all buying it ... I was never present
when a letter was written, never made any assessment of paying anybody
anything. Those are untruths. Those are absolute untruths."
Doug Hampton said the men
encouraged Ensign to write the letter of apology breaking it off. The
senator later told his mistress to ignore the note, Hampton said.
In the Feb. 2008 letter posted
on the newspaper's Web site, someone signing their name "John" says he takes
"100 percent responsibility for my actions." "God never intended for us to
do this. I walked away from Him and my relationship with Him has suffered
terribly," the letter reads.
The two families are longtime
friends. They both live in the upscale suburbs west of the Las Vegas Strip
and their children attend the same school.
"Our children referred to him
as uncle," Hampton said. "This is tragic."
Did Fox News
Cover Up Sen. Ensign’s Cheating Scandal?
Excerpts from an article
Posted 6/19/2009 on newscorpse.com
A few days ago Sen. John
Ensign admitted to having an extra-marital affair with Cythia Hampton, a
woman who was an employee of his campaign operation and the wife of a
staffer in his senate office. In the wake of this disclosure, Ensign has
apologized, resigned his senate leadership post (but not his senate seat)
and floated excuses for his confession that ran the gamut from media
attention to blackmail.
Today, the Las Vegas Sun has
identified
another twist that puts Fox News squarely in the Ensign camp as a
co-conspirator to hush up the affair.
“In a letter dated five days
before Sen. John Ensign’s public confession of an extramarital affair, Doug
Hampton pleaded to a national Fox News anchorwoman for help in exposing the
senator’s ‘heinous conduct and pursuit’ of Hampton’s wife.”
So Fox News knew of Ensign’s
infidelity five days before Ensign came forward. They got the information
from the husband of Ensign’s mistress. That’s a pretty good source,
especially when he asserts that he had corroborating evidence. Yet Fox News
failed to report the affair prior to Ensign’s press conference, and has
still neglected to disclose their receipt of the letter from Mr. Hampton.
Hampton addressed the letter
to Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. Both she and Fox News have yet to comment on
the matter. However, the Sun obtained a copy of
Hampton’s letter that began…
“More than any time in
my life I understand why people take matters into their own hands. I am
disheartened! I have sought wise counsel, tried to do the right thing
and continue to run into road blocks (sic) in dealing with a very
terrible circumstance and injustice that lives in my life. I am hoping
you and Fox News can help.”
Hampton then summarized his
relationship with Ensign and gave a brief description of the affair that
roiled his family. He revealed that Ensign forthrightly pursued his wife,
and would not desist even after confronted by other friends and colleagues,
including Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn. The letter was sent to Kelly in an
apparent, last resort plea for justice from someone he presumed would show
fairness and empathy. He told Kelly that…
“I love this country and
considered it a great privilege to work in the US (sic) Senate. I am
bringing this to you and Fox News to address this professionally and
correctly. I could have sought the most liberal, Republican hating media
to expose this story, but there are people’s lives at stake and justice
is about proper process as well as outcome. Senator Ensign has no
business serving in the US (sic) Senate anymore!”
At this time there is no
confirmation from Fox news that they received the letter. However, they did
not deny having received it when given the opportunity. It seems improbable
that a letter from a staff member of a U.S. senator, alleging that his boss
and his wife were having an affair, would be ignored.
It is also curious how Ensign
became aware that a major news organization was going to report the affair.
Did he learn this from Kelly? That would not be surprising in the course of
an investigation wherein a reporter sought comment from someone accused of
impropriety. The problem is that, under ordinary circumstances, such a
reporter would then publish the story, but neither Kelly, nor any other
reporter at Fox did so. So if Ensign did learn of the letter to Fox News
from Kelly, it was more of a tip off than a journalistic inquiry.
The Ensign scandal seems to
get dirtier by the day. It is not merely a matter of his personal
indiscretions, but Mrs. Hampton also received salary increases during the
period the affair took place. And Ensign also gave the Hampton’s son,
Brandon, a job at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which Ensign
chaired.
This combination of sexual,
fiscal, and political improprieties, exacerbated by the collusion of a major
television news network, would be juicy fare for a sensationalistic, tabloid
news enterprise. Ironically, it would be perfect for Fox News, but i
wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for their report.
Is Ensign's Sex Scandal More Than a Sex Scandal?
Excerpts from an article on
huffingtonpost.com by
Paul Blumenthal
Posted: June 17, 2009
Yesterday, Sen. John Ensign
admitted to an affair with a campaign staffer who was also the wife of
Ensign's administrative assistant. The couple ensnared in this torrid love
triangle is Douglas Hampton, the administrative assistant, and Cynthia
Hampton, an employee of Ensign's 2008 campaign and his Battle Born PAC. We
know that Ensign revealed the affair because Douglas Hampton essentially
blackmailed the senator. But, were the Hampton's receiving excessive pay
from Ensign during the affair period?
Politico looked at the official office payments to Douglas Hampton and
found some numbers that look a bit... odd:
Douglas Hampton was paid
about $101,000 in 2008 and $144,000 in 2007 as Ensign's administrative
assistant. But a financial disclosure form he filed in 2007 and 2008 -
required for senior congressional staffers - showed only checking and
savings account worth a maximum $30,000 combined.
A review of public records
shows that the Hamptons in 2006 took out a $1.2 million mortgage on
their Las Vegas home, at an interest rate of 8 percent.
Now, you might immediately
think that $144,000 for an administrative assistant is an absurd amount, but
administrative assistant is often synonymous with chief of staff on the
Hill. However, if you
look to the reporting
period of 4/1/2008 to 5/1/08:
Hampton was paid approximately
$20,000 over this one month period. At the same time, Ensign hired a chief
of staff, John Lopez, ostensibly to replace Hampton. If we are to assume
that Hampton's annual salary is around $144,000 -- the cap on staffer
salaries is around $160,000 -- then the $20,000 for one month ($240,000 in a
year) would be far higher than his normal rate of pay. Over the four months
of 2008 Hampton received $101,000, far more than his rate of pay for all of
2007.
There are a few points to be
made here:
1) Staff salary reporting is
often not aligned with the dates shown. If you look at Legistorm, you will
see dates aligned with amounts. This is often not accurate, or includes
bonuses with attribution.
2) Hampton could have
collected his vacation pay, sick leave and a bonus at his termination, which
would make his salary appear inflated.
3) Hampton could have stayed
on to train Lopez in his new job. This would explain the overlap of two
employees holding the same job.
(More: While writing this
post,
Politico released another report showing that the son of Douglas and
Cynthia Hampton was on the payroll of the National Republican Senatorial
Committee (NRSC) while Ensign headed the organization:
The son of the couple at the
center of the sex
scandal that has engulfed Sen. John Ensign was being paid by
National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2008 at the same time his
mother was having an affair with the Nevada Republican.
Both Doug and Cynthia
Hampton were already working in senior positions for Ensign when
their son Brandon
Hampton was hired to do “research policy consulting” for the NRSC in
March 2008.
The younger Hampton, 19, was
paid $5,400 before he left the Ensign office in August last year,
Federal Election Commission records show.
That means during March and
April 2008, three members of the Hampton family were working for Ensign.
Both Doug and Cynthia Hampton stopped working for Ensign at the end of
April 2008.
According to people familiar
with the matter, Ensign’s
affair
with Hampton took place between December 2007 and August 2008.
A trusted political aide,
Cynthia Hampton served as the treasurer for both
Ensign’s
reelection campaign and for his leadership
fund>/font>, Battle Born PAC. She received $10,620 through the
Battle Born PAC during January to April 2008 – a pay rate that was far
higher during that four-month period than the $11,767 she received from
the committee during all of 2007.
Cynthia Hampton was also
paid $11, 912 by Ensign’s reelection campaign between Jan. 2007 and
April 2008, with her monthly salary doubling later in the year.
According to Senate payroll
records, Doug Hampton served as
Ensign’s
administrative assistant in his personal office from November 2006 to
May 2008, departing around the same time Cynthia Hampton left Ensign’s
political committees. After leaving Ensign’s office, Doug Hampton went
to work for a Las Vegas political consulting firm called November Inc.
which is run by several former Ensign aides.
Doug Hampton was paid about
$101,000 for seven months of work in fiscal 2008 – a higher monthly rate
than he was previously paid. He made $144,000 in all of 2007.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23844.html#ixzz0ImJR74NI&C
Also,
this post about whether the Hampton's were pushed to extort Ensign due
to a subprime mortgage on their house is worth a look too :
Did a subprime mortgage bring down Senator
John Ensign?
It looks like it.
Alex Pareene over at his other online home explains:
Why did Republican Senator
John Ensign’s sexual dalliance with a married former staffer get revealed
now? Because of subprime mortgages and the Nevada housing crisis!
Ensign’s affair was with
Cynthia Hampton, his reelection campaign treasurer. Hampton’s husband was an
administrative assistant, which is awkward. Even more awkward: the Hamptons
are broke, and maybe defaulting on their shitty mortgage.
via
Gawker - Senatorial Affair Revealed Thanks to Housing Crisis - John Ensign.
Alex is pointing to a
Politico article that says the not extremely well-compensated Hamptons
had a mortgage of $1.2 million on their Las Vegas home with an interest rate
of 8%.
But it gets better. According
to
a TPM Muckraker discussion thread back in 2008, the Hamptons were trying
to sell the house. And the thread points to an
assessor’s valuation of the property which appeared to show that the
Hamptons were losing a lot of their investment in the house. And here’s more
from the Las Vegas Review
Journal:
In May 2008, the two
abruptly left Ensign’s employ and Washington, returning to Las Vegas and
the Summerlin home not far from where the Ensigns live.
According to county records,
the Hamptons purchased the five-bedroom, 4,360-square-foot property in
2004 for $1.23 million.
Zillow.com, a Web site than
analyzes real estate information, now prices their home in Summerlin’s
Trails Village at $862,000.
Since leaving, sources said, Doug Hampton has worked as a consultant for
Allegiant Air and for November Inc., the political consulting firm that
runs Ensign’s campaigns.
So if it’s true that Mr.
Hampton sought a large amount of money from Ensign, could it be that as a
result of
losing his job in Ensign’s shop last year, he was at risk of losing his
house? Working as a consultant might not cover the spread all that much,
especially with the senator not up for re-election any time soon, and his
possible 2012 presidential plans a long way off.
You’ve all heard the truism
that bank robbers rob banks because that’s where the money is. Perhaps
instead of a bank, Mr. Hampton saw the senator as where the money was.
Since these questions are
integral to whether Hampton was received extra pay while Ensign was sleeping
with his wife, there are important disclosure problems that need to be
addressed. They are:
-
The Senate does not
disclose their office expenditures online in any format at all. The
House is planning on disclosing online in August. The Senate has no
plans.
-
We could use better staff
salary expenditure information so that the pay doesn't look so
confusing. Sorry Hill staffers, I know you hate it, but you work for the
government.
-
Why is it that Senate
campaigns do not disclose expenditures? Yet another failure due to the
lack of electronic filing in the Senate. Due to the lack of electronic
filing we can't -- easily -- find the precise amounts paid to Cynthia
Hampton through Ensign's campaign committee, only his PAC.
FOR ENSIGN, HELL MAY BE A FURY YET TO COME!!
How Many Affairs Has He Had?!!!!
An excerpt from an article on
huffingtonpost.com by KATHLEEN HENNESSEY posted June 18, 2009
LAS VEGAS — Sen. John Ensign
has been quick to describe his dalliance with an aide in brief and simple
terms. The affair is over. The apologies made and accepted. No questions
will be answered, the married Nevada Republican said in his brief admission
of infidelity.
But the first public statement
from the woman once involved with the 51-year-old rising political star
suggests more is brewing behind Ensign's neat account.
Cindy Hampton and her husband,
a couple Ensign has described as "close friends," issued sharp remarks
Wednesday through an attorney.
"It is unfortunate the senator
chose to air this very personal matter, especially after the Hamptons did
everything possible to keep this matter private," Las Vegas lawyer Daniel
Albregts said in the statement. "It is equally unfortunate that he did so
without concern for the effect such an announcement would have on the
Hampton family. In time the Hamptons will be ready and willing to tell their
side of the story."
The lawyer declined to answer
questions.
An Associated Press review of
federal records showed that around the time of the affair, Cindy Hampton,
46, received a promotion and a pay raise at one political entity controlled
by Ensign and a pay raise at a second. Her husband, Doug, was an employee in
Ensign's Senate office, and a golfing buddy.
Since Ensign admitted the
affair Tuesday at a hastily arranged news briefing in Las Vegas, he and his
staff have refused to comment. It remains unclear what prompted the
unexpected announcement.
The disclosure resurrected
questions about a two-week period in 2002 when Ensign abruptly dropped from
public view. A person familiar with that episode, speaking on condition of
anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the senator told a
close associate the absence followed an earlier affair.
Ensign, in his second term,
has said he intends to remain in the Senate.
He offered to resign as head
of the Republican Policy Committee in a phone call Wednesday with Sen. Mitch
McConnell, the party leader.
"He's accepted responsibility
for his actions and apologized to his family and constituents. He offered,
and I accepted, his resignation as chairman of the Policy Committee,"
McConnell, R-Ky., said.
At his news briefing Tuesday,
Ensign said the affair he had last year was "the worst thing I have ever
done in my life."
"Our families were close. That
closeness put me into situations which led to my inappropriate behavior," he
said.
Ensign's office says he had
carried out a consensual affair from December 2007 through August 2008 with
a "campaign staffer who worked at Ensign for Senate and Battle Born PAC from
December 2006 to May 2008. The campaign employee was married to an official
Senate staffer who worked for Senator Ensign. As of May 2008 neither
employee worked for Senator Ensign."
Neither Ensign nor his aides
would name the woman or her husband, but the statement from the Hamptons'
lawyer removed any mystery about her identity.
Federal records show Cynthia
Hampton was on the payroll of Ensign's Battle Born Political Action
Committee at $1,385.24 a month until she was appointed treasurer and her
salary was doubled to $2,771.50 starting in February 2008.
Her salary also doubled at
Ensign's campaign committee, where she was treasurer, beginning around the
time the affair began. It went from $500 a month to $1,000 a month.
Records also show Doug
Hampton, 47, received a monthly salary of $13,555 as an administrative
assistant in Ensign's Senate office. He received a payment of $19,679 for
his final month of employment and was off the payroll on May 1, 2008,
according to Senate records.
Additionally, the National
Republican Senatorial Committee made twice-monthly payments, generally $500
apiece, to Brandon Hampton, who Republican officials said was the couple's
son. The payments began in March of last year and ended in August, when
Ensign's office says the affair ended.
On Wednesday, reporters
lingered outside the Hamptons' home, a 12,000-square-foot mansion just
minutes from the Ensign family home in another private, gate-guarded
community.
A housekeeper who answered the
door said the Hamptons were away.
Later, Doug Hampton returned,
entered the house and emerged briefly to plead for privacy before driving
away. He referred questions to his lawyer.
Associated Press writers
Brendan Riley, Oskar Garcia and Ken Ritter in Nevada and David Espo, Kevin
Freking and Pete Yost in Washington contributed to this report.
Nevada Sen. John Ensign admits to a Extramarital Affair
From an article at
politico.com by MANU RAJU &
ALEXANDER BURNS | on 6/16/09
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23813.html#ixzz0IdNVN4Gv&C
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23813.html#ixzz0IdN60kJA&C
Also contains excerpts from
Wikipedea
June 16, 2009 - Sen. John
Ensign's admission late Tuesday that he had an extramarital affair with a
campaign staffer over the course of nine months doesn't seem likely to cause
the type of wall-to-wall coverage that similar marital slip-ups have in the
past.
But it should, at the very
least, re-open the longstanding debate over how much attention should be
paid to a politician's personal life. And when it comes to this topic,
Ensign's own record of denouncing the affairs and misconducts of other pols
could come back to haunt him.
During the height of the
scandal surrounding Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky, the Nevada
Republican denounced the president's conduct as "an embarrassing moment for
the country."
'I think we have to feel very
sad for the American people and Hillary and Chelsea,' he said.
Weeks later, Ensign would call
on Clinton to resign. "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," he was quoted saying at the time. "He has no credibility
left," he added.
At the time, Ensign was in a
tight Senate race with incumbent Harry Reid, an election he would ultimately
end up losing. And he didn't shy away from trying to exploit the moral
trip-ups in Clinton's personal life to benefit himself and the GOP.
"It could have a dramatic
effect on Democrats like (President Nixon's resignation after the Watergate
scandal) had on Republicans in 1974," he said, according to a local AP
article from September 14, 1998.
In fact, not only did Ensign
envision the Lewinksy affair as a political boon for Republicans, he
actively made it an issue in his campaign against Reid. At one point during
the campaign, Ensign accused his opponent of having a double standard when
it came to politicians and sexual dalliances. Reid, he argued, had been much
tougher on former Sen. Robert Packwood -- who resigned from the Senate under
allegations of sexual harassment -- than he was with Clinton.
"Before there were hearings on
Packwood, Reid said he would vote for his expulsion," Ensign declared, the
day after calling for Clinton's resignation. "In 1998, he says we have to
wait until all the facts come out on Clinton."
To be fair, Ensign has taken a
tough tone with regard to the sexual misconduct of members of his own party
also. In 2007, he called fellow Republican Sen. Larry Craig a disgrace and
urged the Idaho Republican to resign after Craig was arrested for disorderly
conduct after allegedly soliciting sex in a men's airport.
But that issue was framed as a
matter of law, not morality. And Ensign was not as tough when it came to
Sen. David Vitter's alleged solicitation of prostitutes.
"That's one of the things that
I'm proudest about our leadership is the swift action, not only calling for
an immediate Senate investigation, ethics investigation, removing him from
his committees but also sending the signal to him that it was probably best
that he resign," Ensign said to ABC about the Craig matter at the time. As
for Vitter, he added, "he has not admitted to anything. The Senate Ethics
Committee would have no jurisdiction over him."
In June 2006,
Ensign voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have
limited marriage in the United States to unions of one man and one woman.
A
Nevada political insider 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 source said, he gave the aide a severance
package and parted ways.
Sometime later, the source
said, Ensign met with the husband of the woman involved and had what this
source described as a positive encounter. But the source said that the man
subsequently asked Ensign for a substantial sum of money – at which point
Ensign decided to make the affair public.
Ensign’s office did not return
calls for comment, but the senator told the Associated Press Tuesday: "I
deeply regret
and am very sorry for my actions."
Ensign’s staff said he would
be making a statement about a “personal matter” at 3:30 p.m. local time in
Las Vegas.
Ensign is chairman of the GOP
Policy Committee, making him the highest ranking Republican Senator in
Nevada’s
history. He has three children.
Ensign was absent on Capitol
Hill Tuesday, skipping the weekly
lunch
that his committee hosts for GOP senators and its ensuing press conference
where party leaders espouse their weekly message.
Word of his expected
announcement
stunned colleagues, were preparing for this summer’s big battles over
the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor and a health care fight but
now have to contend with a drama hovering over one of their leaders.
Elected in 2000, the
51-year-old Ensign has moved up the
chain in the Senate. As chairman of the National Republican Senatorial
Committee in 2008, Ensign oversaw the devastating losses to GOP candidates.
But his party largely spared him of blame, casting it instead on an
unpopular president who dragged down the party’s brand. Since then, Ensign
has sought to articulate conservative principles and is a mainstay at GOP
press conferences deriding Democrats’ domestic policies.
Ensign ran for the Senate in
1998 against Sen. Harry Reid in a nasty, cliffhanger race that Reid – now
the Senate majority leader – won by a razor-thin 428 votes. Reid and Ensign
have since reached a détente; neither man criticizes the other back home by
name.
A staunch fiscal and social
conservative, Ensign has been considered a rising star in his party,
recently making headlines by speaking at events in Iowa, raising speculation
about his interest in a run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012.
UPDATE, 5:55 p.m.: 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."
Sources in Washington and
Nevada say Republican Sen. John Ensign, a rising star in the Republican
Party considering a 2012 presidential bid will hold a press conference later
today in which he will acknowledge an extramarital affair. Ensign, a member
of the Senate GOP leadership, flew back to his native Las Vegas today in
anticipation of the public announcement, sources said,
missing a vote considered key to the Nevada tourist industry.
Two senior GOP political
strategists, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive
matter, said the announcement was imminent. They declined to say with whom
Ensign had the affair.
In February 2002, Ensign took
an unexplained two week leave of absence from the Senate citing "personal
reasons."
When he returned from that
respite,
Ensign told the Las Vegas Sun that he was "not making any comments one
way or the other. I'm just asking people to respect my privacy."
Elected in 2000 and reelected
in 2006, Ensign has been a leading conservative among Senate Republicans,
playing a key role in demanding the resignation of Larry Craig in September
2007. Ensign called Craig a "disgrace" after he was arrested in June 2007 in
an airport men's restroom on disorderly conduct charges. Craig resisted the
calls from Ensign to resign but retired from the Senate last November.
Ensign traveled to Iowa
earlier this month to speak at a event sponsored by the American Future
Fund,
stoking speculation that he was interested in running for president in
2012.
Read more:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23813.html#ixzz0IdM86mSE&C
Early
Life, Education, and Early Career
Ensign was born in
Roseville, California to Sharon Lee Cipriani and a father whose surname
was Mueller; his maternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and claims to
be one eighth (1/8th)
Filipino American. Ensign's family moved to Nevada when he was a child.
His mother remarried Michael S. Ensign, a gaming industry executive who
subsequently became chairman of the board of directors of
Mandalay Bay, and who adopted John.
Ensign went to
UNLV, becoming a member of the
Sigma Chi fraternity,
Oregon State University, and
Colorado State University, becoming a
veterinarian
in 1985. He then became a successful businessman, opening a 24-hour animal
hospital in Las
Vegas. He owned two animal hospitals before entering politics, according
to The New York Times.
Political Career
House of
Representatives
In 1994, Ensign won the
Republican nomination for
Nevada's 1st congressional district, based in Las Vegas. He was far
behind four-term
Democratic
incumbent James Bilbray
for most of the campaign. However, Ensign gained considerable momentum after
reports surfaced that a Bilbray aide stood to make a huge profit from lands
legislation sponsored by Bilbray. Ensign won by 1,400 votes. He was
reelected in 1996 by seven points, even as
Bill Clinton carried the district by a large margin.
U.S. Senate
In
1998, Ensign ran for the Senate but was defeated by the Democratic
incumbent, future Senate
Floor Leader Harry
Reid, by only 428 votes. See also:
United States Senate election in Nevada, 1998
Ensign won a Senate seat on
his second try in 2000, defeating Democratic opponent
Ed Bernstein by a 55%-40% margin, to succeed the retiring Democratic
incumbent, Richard
H. Bryan.
Ensign and Reid have developed
a fairly good relationship, despite their bruising
1998
contest. They frequently work together on Nevada issues.
Political Future
In April, Ensign was planning
a June 1, 2009, trip to
Iowa, the first in his career, causing speculation that he was mulling a
presidential campaign in 2012.
Given the disclosure of his extramarital affair in mid-June, his
presidential aspirations were put in limbo.
Personal Life
Ensign is a member of the
Pentecostal
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, and is the only
Pentecostal in the Senate. He attends a Foursquare church in northwest Las
Vegas. According to The New York Times, during college at Colorado
State, he became a
born-again Christian and he and his wife, Darlene, were active in the
Promise Keepers, an evangelical group.
He and his wife have three
children.
Committee assignments
Political Positions
Animal advocacy
Along with Senators Maria
Cantwell (D-Wash.),
Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) and
Dianne Feinstein
(D-Calif.), Senator Ensign -- a
veterinarian
-- was a lead sponsor of the
Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act, which makes it a felony to
transport animals across state lines for the purpose of fighting. According
to a press release from Ensign's office, "Fifty states currently have laws
against dogfighting and forty-nine have laws against cockfighting. This bill
complements these state laws."
Cuba
Senator Ensign is a member of
the
Congressional Cuba Democracy Caucus
Ensign has become a leading
voice against the
Kelo v. New London
Supreme Court ruling, and introduced a bill that would blunt the effects of
the ruling. In
Kelo, the Court ruled that local governments could use eminent domain
not just for public use but for any project that involves a public purpose.
Specifically, the Court permitted the City of New London, CT to force a
homeowner to sell her home for a parking lot for a new development of
private, big box stores. The use of governmental condemnation for a private
purpose caused a backlash.
Fiscal
responsibility
The fiscal watchdog
Citizens Against Government Waste awarded Ensign a 92% lifetime rating
-- the fourth highest Senator after
Jim DeMint, Tom Coburn
and Jon Kyl -- as of
2007.
In
2005, Ensign introduced legislation to create a government waste
commission called the Commission on the Accountability and Review of Federal
Agencies. The commission would compile a list of unnecessary,
outdated, wasteful, or duplicative discretionary programs, and require
Congress to vote up-or-down to eliminate all programs on the list. The
process is much like the
BRAC process Congress uses to close military bases.
Pro-life
Ensign considers himself
pro-life and both the
National Right to Life Committee and
NARAL Pro-Choice America
identify him as having a pro-life voting record.
Ensign authored the
Child Custody Protection Act in
2003
that prohibits taking minors across State lines in circumvention of laws
requiring the involvement of parents in abortion decisions.
Ensign opposed the
Prevention First Act. The
Prevention First Act was co-authored by
Harry Reid, the senior senator from Nevada, who also considers himself
pro-life but has a 0% rating from the
National Right to Life Committee.
Wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq
Ensign voted in support of the
Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists, which
authorized the President to use the United States Armed Forces to "deter and
prevent acts of international terrorism against the United States." This is
the authorizing legislation for the
invasion of Afghanistan and removing the
Taliban from power.
Ensign also voted in support
of the
Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002,
which authorized the President to use the United States Armed Forces "as he
determines to be necessary and appropriate" in order to "defend the national
security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq;
and enforce all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions
regarding Iraq."
Ensign supported the
counterinsurgency policy in Iraq in
2007 and opposed withdrawing troops from
Iraq
in 2007 and
2008.
Actions in the U.S. Senate
Chairmanship of
National Republican Senatorial Committee
Ensign was elected Chairman of
the
National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). As chairman of the
NRSC, Ensign was charged with assembling a staff to win back the U.S. Senate
for Republicans in the 2008 elections. Ensign chose
Mike Slanker and Lindsey Slanker of Nevada based political consulting
firm November Inc. to be the Political Director and Finance Director of the
NRSC.
Ensign often expressed
pessimism about the upcoming election, stating that a good night for
Republicans would be the loss of just four seats. The
Republicans went on to lose at least seven (possibly eight), US Senate seats
in the 2008 election.
Electronic
fund-raising reports
In
September 2007,
it was discovered that Ensign had used the
secret hold
rule (a parliamentary procedure within the Standing Rules of the Senate that
allows one or more Senators to prevent a motion from reaching a vote on the
Senate floor) to prevent a bill requiring senators to file fund-raising
reports electronically from being voted upon without consideration on an
amendment from Ensign that would also strengthen disclosure rules.
Ensign’s amendment would force groups petitioning the
Senate Ethics committee to disclose the identity of donors giving more
than $5,000.
2006 Re-election Campaign
Nevada U.S. Senate election, 2006
Ensign faced
Democrat
Jack Carter, son of former President
Jimmy Carter, in the November general election. Both he and Carter won
over token opposition in the 15 August 2006 primary. Senator Ensign defeated
Carter in the general election held on 7 November 2006 by a 55% to 41%
margin. |
Excerpts from an article on huffingtonpost.com By PETE YOST | 03/18/10