REALITYCHEX.COM - Ensign Pulverizes

The Ledes

Friday, February 17, 2012.

New York Times: "The Maryland House narrowly passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage on Friday, delivering a major victory to Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, who had proposed it. But its implementation remained uncertain as its opponents promised to take it to voters in November.... The measure still faces a vote in the Senate, where it is expected to pass...." CW: actually, no; they passed a bill.

Washington Post: "The FBI and the U.S. Capitol Police arrested a Moroccan man Friday in downtown Washington after a lengthy investigation into an alleged plot to carry out a suicide attack on the Capitol. Amine el-Khalifi, 29, was picked up while carrying an inoperable gun and a fake suicide vest provided to him by undercover FBI agents posing as al-Qaeda associates, U.S. officials said. They said he entered the United States when he was 16 and was living as an illegal immigrant in Arlington, Va., having reportedly overstayed his visitor’s visa for years."

New York Times: "The need for revenue to partly cover the extension of the payroll tax cut and long-term unemployment benefits has pushed Congress to embrace a generational shift in the country’s media landscape: the auction of public airwaves now used for television broadcasts to create more wireless Internet systems. If a compromise bill completed Thursday by Congress is approved as expected by this weekend, the result will eventually be faster connections for smartphones, iPads and other data-hungry mobile devices. Their explosive popularity has overwhelmed the ability, particularly in big cities, for systems to quickly download maps, video games and movies." ...

... Update: "With members of both parties expressing distaste at some of the particulars, Congress on Friday voted to extend payroll tax cuts and unemployment benefits and sent the legislation to President Obama, ending a contentious political and policy fight. The vote in the House was 293 to 132 with Democrats, who are in the minority, carrying the proposal over the top with the acquiescence of almost as many Republicans. The Senate followed within minutes and approved the measure on a vote of 60 to 36."

New York Times: "Anthony Shadid, a gifted foreign correspondent whose graceful dispatches for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and The Associated Press covered nearly two decades of Middle East conflict and turmoil, died, apparently of an asthma attack, on Thursday while on a reporting assignment in Syria. Tyler Hicks, a Times photographer who was with Mr. Shadid, carried his body across the border to Turkey." The Times' obituary is here. Read this interview of Shadid by Adam Ross of Mother Jones, published just last month. Tributes from colleagues.

New York Times: "Next week, advisers to the Food and Drug Administration will recommend whether the agency should approve the first new prescription diet pill in 13 years. The F.D.A. rejected the drug under review, Qnexa, in 2010, amid safety concerns, and the drug’s manufacturer is now presenting additional data to argue its case. But thousands of people ... in central California, where Qnexa’s inventor ran a weight-loss clinic, and others across the country have not had to wait for the drug’s approval. Through a regulatory loophole of sorts, many obesity doctors prescribe two separate drugs that, when taken together, are essentially the same medicine."

New York Times: "President Obama raised a total of $29.1 million for his re-election campaign and for the Democratic National Committee in January, he told supporters over Twitter early Friday morning, with most contributions coming in checks of $250 or less." ...

ABC News: "Before a backdrop of the newest American-made Boeing passenger jets, President Obama Friday will announce a series of steps aimed at boosting U.S. manufacturers, while harnessing their momentum for political gain. Obama, on the final stop of his three-day swing through California and Washington, will tour a Boeing production facility and speak to a crowd of several hundred workers inside the final assembly building for the company's new 787 Dreamliner."

New York Times: "Germany’s beleaguered president, Christian Wulff, announced his resignation on Friday after prosecutors asked Parliament to strip him of his immunity from prosecution over accusations of improper ties to businessmen."

Los Angeles Times: "A confrontation between federal law enforcement agents erupted in gunfire Thursday evening in Long Beach, leaving one dead and another seriously injured.... The incident was sparked by an unspecified dispute between Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the Glenn M. Anderson Federal Building near the city's oceanfront, according to law enforcement authorities."

New York Times: "... Rupert Murdoch ... is scheduled to visit the London headquarters of his British newspaper arm, News International, where reporters and editors are said to be in a state of civil war against Mr. Murdoch and his executives." The Guardian is liveblogging the meeting and reactions. ...

... AP Update: "News Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch on Friday told staff at his scandal-hit British tabloid The Sun that executives will continue to give police any evidence of wrongdoing and won't protect reporters found to have broken the law."

Flying High. CBS News/AP: "Two Air Force F-16 fighters intercepted a privately owned Cessna airplane that entered the same Los Angeles airspace as Marine One on Thursday as the helicopter was ferrying President Barack Obama. Police discovered about 40 pounds of marijuana inside the plane after it landed at Long Beach Airport, a law enforcement official said. The official was not authorized to comment publicly on the drug investigation and spoke under condition of anonymity. The Secret Service said the president was never in any danger."

The Ledes

Thursday, February 16, 2012.

Wall Street Journal: Both Houses of the New Jersey state legislature have passed a bill allowing for same-sex marriage, but Gov. Chris Christie (R) says he will veto it. The bill passed the state Senate 24-15 & the Assembly 42-33. "An override vote ... would require 27 votes in the Senate and 54 votes in the Assembly."

Washington Post: "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Thursday sought to bring debt collectors and credit bureaus under its purview, marking the first time the often controversial industries would be subject to federal supervision.... It is the first attempt by the watchdog agency to define which businesses in the vast swath of nontraditional financial institutions will be subject to the same examination process as banks." CW: It isn't clear to me from the article whether or not the CFPB needs authorization from Congress and/or the administration to do this. CW: according to the New York Times story: "The proposal now enters a 60-day comment period. The bureau expects to finalize the rule by July, the two-year anniversary of the agency’s creation." So I guess the CFPB can do it.

AP: "The number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell to the lowest point in almost four years last week, the latest signal that the job market is steadily improving. The Labor Department says weekly applications for unemployment benefits dropped 13,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000. It was the fourth drop in five weeks and the fewest number of claims since March 2008." CW: Sorry, GOP!

New York Times: "Members of a House-Senate committee charged with writing a measure to extend a payroll tax reduction said Wednesday that their work was done, just shy of an hour before their deadline to get a bill ready for a Friday vote. After fighting until the very final hour over how to pay for parts of a $150 billion plan that would also extend unemployment benefits and prevent a pay cut for doctors who accept Medicare, leaders of both parties put together a bill that the majority of the committee could support." Washington Post story here.

AP: "General Motors earned its largest profit ever in 2011, two years after it nearly collapsed into financial ruin." CW: Sorry, Mitt!

New York Times: "President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan arrived in Pakistan on Thursday after saying he wanted to explore how Islamabad could help foster peace negotiations with his adversary, the Afghan Taliban. Mr. Karzai’s arrival came after he said Wednesday in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that his representatives had begun talks with the Taliban and the United States government, a potentially significant development suggesting that the Taliban were dropping longstanding objections to face-to-face discussions with his government."

Reuters: "A federal judge is set to decide on Thursday if the Nigerian man who pleaded guilty to trying to blow up a U.S. airliner bound for Detroit in 2009 will spend the rest of his life in prison. A bomb hidden in the underwear of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, now 25, caused a fire but failed to explode on a Delta Airlines flight carrying 289 people on December 25, 2009." ...

... Bloomberg News Update: "Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was sentenced to life in prison for attempting to bomb a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day 2009 with explosives hidden in his underwear. The Nigerian-born defendant pleaded guilty in October to eight felony counts, including attempted murder and attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds in Detroit today sentenced him to life in prison on five counts and 20 years on three counts."

New York Times: "The Japanese authorities arrested seven central figures in the huge accounting scandal at Olympus — including the camera maker’s former chairman and executive vice president — on Thursday as part of investigations into a decade-long cover-up that has prompted concern over what critics say is lax corporate governance at Japanese companies."

Glenn Greenwald: CNN's Erin Burnett is a warmonger's warmonger, the "worst of the worst," whose actual remarks outstrip any possible parody of warmongers. So, yay! Let's nuke Iran!

Blacklisters Victorious! AP: "MSNBC dropped conservative commentator Pat Buchanan on Thursday, four months after suspending him following the publication of his latest book. The book 'Suicide of a Superpower' contained chapters titled 'The End of White America' and 'The Death of Christian America.' Critics called the book racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic, charges Buchanan denied. MSNBC President Phil Griffin said last month that he didn't think Buchanan's book 'should be part of the national dialogue, much less part of the dialogue on MSNBC.' ... Buchanan, in a column posted on Thursday, called the decision 'an undeniable victory for the blacklisters.'"

Frances Martel of Mediate: the Stephen Colbert show has been cancelled for two nights, Wednesday and Thursday, February 15 & 16, "due to unforseen circumstances," & the suspension of production could run longer. The cancellation came at the last minute, & the show's producers have not explained the reason for the cancellation. ...

... Wall Street Journal Update: "Stephen Colbert has suspended production of his satirical comedy show temporarily because of an emergency in Mr. Colbert's family, according to people familiar with the show. 'The Colbert Report' is expected to resume production soon, perhaps as early as next week, the people added."

The Los Angeles Times coverage of the Grammy Awards is here.

MIDASSTOUCH. Here's a post by Eric Konigsberg of the New Yorker for you New York Times crossword aficonados. BTW, the Times Cookie Monster columnist mentioned in the article is Charles Blow.

For the New York Times, Janet Maslin reviews Mimi Alford's book about her affair with President Kennedy, essentially writing that Alford was full of shit, though you have to understand the utility of Brussels sprouts to get that (she writing in the Times, after all, where discretion is the better part of publication). Amy Davidson of the New Yorker says Maslin is mean.

For you kids interested in a career in writing, or, specifically, writing popular opinion columns, Driftglass shares David Brooks' secret to success: "Once again giving writing by rote a bad name, Our Mr. Brooks pens a quick primer on one method of making a living by writing badly."

Politico has the Sunday talkshow lineup. ...

... New York Times Update: "The new White House chief of staff, Jacob J. Lew, made the rounds of the Sunday talk shows to discuss the budget that President Obama is to release on Monday, but instead he was forced repeatedly to defend the administration’s effort to guarantee that insurers cover birth control for women in the face of criticism from religious groups."

Carly Carioli of the Boston Phoenix: Despite Bill Keller's writing "two smug columns about copyright" in the New York Times, Times columnist Joe Nocera was not above poaching -- or "pirating," in Keller's parlance -- an article from a defunct paper the Phoenix now owns. Instead of linking to the Phoenix page, Nocera uploaded a Times PDF, which of course does not link back to the original article. And this isn't the first time Nocera has done that. So then, "Joe Nocera called me to read me the riot act. He’s pissed that my post caused the Times took down the Clark Booth articleper's article from our company’s archives."

... Click through for more. ...

... The Reliable Source at the Washington Post: "A new book shares explicit details about a 50-year-old presidential sex scandal between JFK and a White House intern." Historian Robert Dallek who "wrote the book on" Kennedy, says former intern & author Mimi Beardsley Alford is "entirely credible." The New Jersey Star-Ledger has a story here. Reliable Source story updated here, with more sordid details. ...

... Update: Matthew DeLuca of the Daily Beast recounts some of the details of Alford's book.

ABC News: Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain "marked her Diamond Jubilee anniversary with a message thanking the British people for their support, and pledging to continue her dedication to serving them and people around the world. The Guardian posts an interactive feature based on 60 years of photos of Elizabeth.

Politico has the Sunday talkshow lineup here.

If you can hardly wait for the Super Bowl, the Washington Post has the best part: many of the ads. Some are pretty awful, however.

Bill Carter of the New York Times on how the networks cheat the ratings system to give their shows better viewership ratings than they've actually earned.

The Los Angeles Times story on the SAG awards is here. For now, there's more stuff here, but it will move.

Politico reports the Sunday talkshow lineup. AND here's Politico's liveblog of the Sunday shows.

Mark Feldstein of the Washington Post on "pathographies," biographies that diminish their subjects, often on the thinnest of -- or no -- "evidence." The latest: a book that suggests President Richard Nixon was gay; evidence? -- somewhere around zero.

Politico: "John Tyler became the 10th president of the United States in 1841 — and today - incredibly - he still has two living grandchildren." CW: I've been aware of the grandkids still be around for years, but it is one of those Amazing But True stories.

Paper Trail

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Ensign Pulverizes

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New York Times Editors: "The Senate Ethics Committee acted responsibly in referring the sordid case of former Senator John Ensign to federal authorities for possible criminal violations. Rather than let the matter fade with the Nevada Republican’s hurried resignation before his scheduled deposition, the panel stressed that there was 'substantial credible evidence' he violated the law.... The committee has now asked Justice and the F.E.C. to investigate further. Both had previously declined to take action in their inquiries of the senator. The election commission, which is particularly dysfunctional, rebuffed its own staff’s findings that the $96,000 payment violated election law." ...

... Eric Lichtblau & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "... the Senate’s harsh report [on John Ensign] — contrasted with the Justice Department’s inaction — provided further evidence for those who complain that the agency has seemed skittish about taking on public officials following the fiasco that resulted from the 2008 corruption case against the late Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, which was ultimately dropped amid charges of prosecutorial misconduct." The only person Justice is prosecuting is the cuckolded husband, Doug Hampton, tho lawyers the reporters cite say the Senate committee report demonstrates that a case against Ensign would be an easy one to make. ...

... Might as well pile on:

... Ryan Reilly of TPM: "Sen. Tom ... Coburn (R-OK)'s role as an intermediary between his friend and former roommate [Sen. John] Ensign and Doug Hampton, the husband of the woman Ensign was having an affair with, has been pretty well established [in the Senate Ethics Committee report]. Coburn has denied playing the role of negotiator over the amount of money Ensign should pay the Hamptons. But other people involved told investigators ... Coburn, whose name is mentioned 46 times in the Ethics Committee's report, played a pretty crucial role. And the report indicates that Coburn might not have given investigators the whole story.... Coburn's cooperation with the investigation did not come after a grant of immunity from prosecution." ...

... Here's more from Maddow on Ensign's parents & on Sen. Coburn:

The Washington Post has published the Senate Ethics Committee's full report on John Ensign. It's 75 pages long, but schadenfraude is a powerful incentive so I'll at least skim it I've read it. Yesterday's WashPo story -- that the Ethics Committee has asked the DOJ and the FEC to get off their asses -- is here. ...

... Shorter Version. Manu Raju & John Bresnahan of Politico report on the "bombshells" in the Senate report -- AND they say there are "salacious" details. Sounds like a read that will be at least half as fun as Ken Starr's report on the Lewinsky affair.

New York Times, May 12: "The Senate Ethics Committee on Thursday asked the Justice Department to reopen its investigation of former Senator John Ensign, saying it had found evidence that he had conspired to help a former aide violate a lobbying ban, had broken campaign finance laws and had obstructed an investigation into wrongdoing, which began after he admitted having had an affair with the aide’s wife." Washington Post story here.

Washington Post, May 2: "On a day when most on Capitol Hill were consumed with the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed, Congress had one of its more surreal moments Monday when Nevada Republican John Ensign delivered the final speech of his decade-long Senate career -- to a nearly empty chamber."

Washington Post, April 22: "The Senate Ethics Committee is pushing ahead with its investigation of Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) despite his announcement that he would resign, an unusual move that, legal observers said, demonstrates the panel’s resolve to at least issue a public rebuke." ...

... New York Times, April 22: "Senator John Ensign’s resignation letter allows him to leave office just one day before he was to have to answer questions under oath about whether a $96,000 payment to the family of his former lover was illegal, designed to keep the affair from becoming public, according to people familiar with an investigation of Mr. Ensign’s activities.... Two leaders of the Ethics Committee — both the top Democrat and the top Republican — ... are likely to take the unusual step of issuing a statement that details evidence of wrongdoing uncovered in a 22-month investigation that was the largest in more than a decade...."

While I stand behind my firm belief that I have not violated any law, rule, or standard of conduct of the Senate, and I have fought to prove this publicly, I will not continue to subject my family, my constituents, or the Senate to any further rounds of investigation, depositions, drawn out proceedings, or especially public hearings. For my family and me, this continued personal cost is simply too great.
-- Sen. John Ensign, in a statement announcing his resignation

Yes, if there's one thing John Ensign worries about, it's putting his family through a difficult ordeal. -- Steve Benen

** Los Angeles Times, April 21: "Nevada Sen. John Ensign, facing an ethics investigation stemming from an affair with a campaign aide, will resign his seat on Friday, his office announced Thursday afternoon." Las Vegas Sun: "The move opens the door for Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval to appoint Rep. Dean Heller to finish out the term." Here's the statement posted on Sen. Ensign's Website. And here's the Wikipage on Heller; he used to be a stockbroker. Here's the New York Times story.

CW: I thought we were through with this story. But no. Las Vegas Sun, March 24: "Sen. John Ensign's former administrative assistant, whose wife had an affair with the senator, was indicted Thursday for allegedly lobbying Ensign and his staff in violation of federal conflict of interest laws. Douglas Hampton is charged in connection with lobbying he did on behalf of a Las Vegas airline company and an energy company. Federal law prohibits a senior Senate aide from lobbying the Senate for one year after terminating employment."

Pulverized. Washington Post, March 6: "Nevada Sen. John Ensign (R) will retire rather than seek reelection in 2012, he announced Monday afternoon. The decision brings to an end a tumultuous several years that saw him go from one of the party's rising stars to persona non grata." Las Vegas Sun story here.

It Ain't Over till It's Over. New York Times, February 1, 2011. "The Senate Ethics Committee named a special counsel to help determine whether to bring formal charges against Senator John Ensign in the circumstances surrounding his cover up of an affair." Las Vegas Sun story here.

Hah! Eric Lichtblau of the New York Times, December 20: "When the Federal Election Commission voted last month to close an investigation into a $96,000 payment to Senator John Ensign’s former lover, it overrode the findings of its own staff lawyers, documents made public Monday showed. Lawyers at the F.E.C. counsel’s office said in a confidential report in March that Mr. Ensign’s parents and his campaign treasurer appeared to have violated campaign finance law when the parents made the payment to the family of the mistress, Cynthia Hampton, who worked for his campaign."

Jon Ralston of the Las Vegas Sun (December 3) assesses Ensign's re-election chances. They're not as good as Ensign seems to think they are.

Politico, December 1: "Sen. John Ensign says he’ll not face federal charges from a Justice Department investigation into his extramarital affair with a former campaign staffer, a surprising announcement that may have a big impact on his 2012 reelection prospects." Las Vegas Sun story here.

New York Times, November 19: "The Federal Election Commission on Friday dismissed a complaint charging that the parents of Senator John Ensign, Republican of Nevada, violated election law by paying $96,000 in 2008 to the family of the senator’s former mistress. The commission, in a 5-to-0 vote, said it did not have evidence to contradict sworn assertions by Mr. Ensign’s parents that they had provided the money as a gift of friendship to the former mistress, Cynthia Hampton, and not as part of illegal 'severance' meant to buy her silence after her affair with the senator. The decision does not end Mr. Ensign’s legal problems."

Politico, July 23: "Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) has turned over e-mails to federal authorities investigating Sen. John Ensign’s extramarital affair with a campaign aide, the latest sign that the criminal probe into the embattled Nevada Republican is picking up steam."

Politico, July 16: Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has used his campaign fund to help "pay some of his aides’ legal bills in connection with the sweeping investigations into the aftermath of his extramarital affair with a former campaign staffer."

Jon Ralston in the Las Vegas Sun, June 24: Ensign's time is running out.

The Hill, June 22: "In depositions to the Senate Ethics Committee, staffers for Sen. John Ensign have said the Nevada Republican and his senior aides knew a one-year lobbying ban was being broken when they helped a former staffer set up a short-lived career on K Street, according to two sources close to the investigation."

Las Vegas Review-Journal, June 2: "Facing multiple ethics investigations on allegations of wrongdoing stemming from an extramarital affair, Sen. John Ensign has established a defense fund and will solicit donations to pay mounting legal bills."

Politico, May 3: Sen. Tom Harkin says Sen. John Ensign should resign if allegations of his making payoffs to his lover's husband are true. Meanwhile the Senate Ethics Committee may hold a public hearing on the matter.

New York Times, April 8: two Nevada Republican leaders have called on Sen. John Ensign to resign.

Jon Ralston of the Las Vegas Sun (April 4) hears the DOJ is working on an indictment of Sen. John Ensign.

Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post: "The news out of Nevada that the Justice Department may be moving toward an indictment of Sen. John Ensign (R) could well cloud Republicans' attempt to use ethics as a cudgel against Democrats, according to several top GOP strategists."

Eric Lipton of the New York Times, April 1: "Senator John Ensign sought financial backing for a troubled Nevada energy company in 2008, and at the same time he urged the company to hire his mistress’s husband, according to people involved in the matter."

Politico, March 26: the Ethics Committee & the DOJ are both investigating Sen. John Ensign’s efforts to steer lobbying work to Doug Hampton. The DOJ "is also reportedly reviewing allegations that Ensign offered to help Nevada credit card companies derail pending legislation in return for donations to the National Republican Senatorial Committee."

Jon Ralston in the Las Vegas Sun (March 18): "It’s no longer a question of “if” but of “when” between now and January 2013 that John Ensign’s short, previously happy, suddenly unhappy life as a senator will end." ...

Politico, March 18: "The National Republican Senatorial Committee has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury looking into the aftermath of Sen. John Ensign’s extramarital affair with a former staffer, adding a new political problem for GOP leaders in their response to the dual criminal and ethics probes of the Nevada Republican."

Politico, March 17: "A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. has issued document subpoenas to at least a half-dozen Nevada companies with ties to Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.), a sign that the criminal probe into Ensign’s romantic relationship with a former aide is accelerating."

Manu Raju of Politico, March 15: Republican colleagues steer clear of Ensign.

Eric Lichtblau & Eric Lipton of the New York Times, March 10: "Previously undisclosed e-mail messages turned over to the F.B.I. and Senate ethics investigators provide new evidence about Senator John Ensign’s efforts to steer lobbying work to the embittered husband of his former mistress and could deepen his legal and political troubles." Includes redacted e-mails.

Politico Jan. 19: "Federal agents have started interviewing people connected to Sen. John Ensign’s sex scandal, a potential sign that the Nevada Republican could face a criminal probe over the matter...."

CNN's Rick Sanchez grills Sen. John Ensign on his affair. I'm beginning to think a lot more highly of Sanchez; Ensign of course refuses to answer questions:

John Bresnahan of Politico, Dec. 4: "The Senate Ethics Committee has begun issuing subpoenas to those caught up in the sex and lobbying scandal surrounding Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and his former aides, Doug and Cindy Hampton."

John Bresnahan of Politico, Nov. 30: okay, the real reason John Ensign isn't resigning is that it would help Harry Reid.

More from Cynthia McFadden's interview of Doug Hampton. With video....

... ABC News, Nov. 19: Doug Hampton tells Cynthia McFadden the $96K Sen. Ensign's parents gave him was severance pay -- not a gift -- which could be a violation of campaign finance laws.

... "How wonderful it is. ... Scared, but excited." Update from Time: the text message that clued in Doug Hampton.

He's a poet & don't know it. Los Angeles Times Update: Ensign's message to Cindy Hampton is just one syllable short of Haiku. CW: and by my calculation, 16 syllables on how to get caught shagging your top aide's wife.

John Bresnahan of Politico, Nov. 19: AG Holder keeps his distance from Ensign.

Las Vegas Sun, Nov. 8: a few weeks ago Sen. John Ensign moved out of the C Street house, the fundamentalist Christian home he shared with other right-wing elected officials on Capitol Hill.

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire, Oct. 19: Ensign's parents Mike & Sharon contribute the max to Democrat Harry Reid.

Politico, Oct. 16: Ensign's fundraising hit a low last quarter & he spent more than he took in.

John Bresnahan & Manu Raju of Politico, Oct. 14: the Department of Justice is expected decide within weeks whether or not to pursue a criminal investigation into the relationship between Sen. Ensign & his former chief of staff Doug Hampton, the husband of Ensign's lover, who also worked for Ensign.

Las Vegas Sun, Oct. 8: the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department "has almost certainly set its sights on...John Ensign..., and either is completing an initial inquiry or has expanded the matter into a full-bore criminal investigation."

Sam Stein of the Huffington Post, Oct. 7: top GOP Senators won't comment on Ensign, won't yet support his bid for re-election.

AP, Oct. 6: as reporters dog him, Ensign says he won't resign, denies giving Doug Hampton special treatment.

In this CNN ambush video, Sen. Ensign denies talking to Doug Hampton about clients....

... BUT the New York Times finds that records show Ensign lunched with Hampton & client Allegiant Air in the Senate dining room the same day Ensign asked Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to intervene on behalf of Allegiant.

Las Vegas Sun, Oct. 6: ethics group CREW amends its Senate Ethics complaint against John Ensign to include new questions raised by last week's New York Times exposé.

CNN, Oct. 5: Sen. Barbara Boxer, chair of the Senate Ethics Committee, said the committee has begun a preliminary investigation of Sen. Ensign.

In an entertaining & informative post, Jay Newton-Small of Time weighs in on Nevada politics.

John Bresnahan & Manu Raju of Politico, Oct. 5: Republicans desert, isolate Ensign.

The Las Vegas Sun Editorial Board (Oct. 4): "We are losing hope that Ensign will ever open up to Nevadans about this embarrassing episode, but it’s not too late for his Senate colleagues and the FEC to seek the truth."

Patrick Coolican & Lisa Mascaro of the Las Vegas Sun: Sen. John Ensign faces expulsion from the Senate and possible criminal charges, according to legal and ethics experts. Doug Hampton, the aide whom Ensign aided in possible violations of the law, also faces possible indictment for wilful violation of lobbying laws.

New York Times, Oct. 3: (as a result of a Times investigation) the Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee are likely to conduct preliminary inquiries into whether Sen. John Ensign violated federal law or ethics rules as part of an effort to conceal an affair with the wife of an aide.

Naftali Bendavid of the Wall Street Journal: Sen. Ensign's prospects grow cloudy as Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell repeatedly refuses to express confidence in him. You can see the McConnell "no comments" at the top of the Maddow video below.

You Lie! Contradicting his earlier public statements, Sen. Tom Coburn admits he acted as a go-between in negotiating a cash settlement in the Ensign-Hampton Affair. Rachel Maddow elaborates:

Eric Lichtblau & Eric Lipton of the New York Times (Oct. 1) blow the lid off the Ensign Affair, exposing ethical & possibly criminal violations on the part of Sen. John Ensign. While he was having an affair with aide Cynthia Hampton, he lobbied numerous firms to give her husband a job, finally arranging a position at a lobbying firm & lining up several donors as his lobbying clients, & repeatedly intervening for those companies with federal agencies in Washington, often on Hampton's urging. Rachel Maddow plumbs the depths:

Calling Aunt Judy. Karen Tumulty zeroes in on some of the sleazy details.

AP: Ensign says, I'm no Bill Clinton. "I have done nothing legally wrong." Here's the text of the AP interview.

Lisa Mascaro of the Las Vegas Sun, Aug. 4: newly revealed e-mails show Ensign's staff at the National Republican Senatorial Committee knew about his affair, & aspects of the affair strained staff who were working for the election of Republican Senators in 2008; Republicans fared poorly in the election. You can see the e-mails, obtained by the Sun's Jon Ralston, here and here (pdf's).

Politico, July 27: Ensign affair continues to have repercussions. And here's Ensign's full statement, issued July 24, compliments of the Las Vegas Sun.

Glenn Thrush of Politico, July 24: more of Ensign's top staffers flee.

Lisa Mascaro of the Las Vegas Sun, July 23: the "C" Street Family paid for three foreign trips for John Ensign; Ensign's office refuses to discuss the purpose of the trips, but Mascaro serves food for thought.

Rats Deserting.... Patrick Coolican of the Las Vegas Sun: John Ensign's chief of staff, long-time aide John Lopez, is resigning.

Lisa Mascaro of the Las Vegas Sun, July 20: the DOJ tells CREW to take their complaint to the FBI.

Las Vegas Sun, July 17: CREW amends ethics complaint to include Ensign's parents, $96,000 payment to the Hampton family.

Rachel Maddow follows the money, & it doesn't add up:

Here's Lisa Mascaro's Las Vegas Sun story. And here's the "correction" in the Al Kamen column to which Maddow refers in her story (way down at the bottom of the page [2]).

Politico: Cindy Hampton holds the key to Ensign's future; if she doesn't bring a complaint against him, there may be no ethics complaint to adjudicate.

Las Vegas Sun, July 14: Sen. Ensign won't resign, he will run for re-election in 2012.

Gail Collins only has to recount the facts to make her column about John Ensign funny.

Las Vegas Sun reporter Jon Ralston, who conducted the revealing interview of Doug Hampton, condemns John Ensign in an affecting column.

"Weird Territory." Zach Roth of Talking Points Memo highlights pathetic aspects of Doug Hampton's assertions.

John Bresnahan of Politico, July 10: Doug Hampton speculates, with good reason, that former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was the guy who tipped off Ensign that Doug Hampton was going public with the story of Ensign's affair with Cindy Hampton. CW: sounds likely; nobody would doubt that Santorum is a weasel.

The LOL statement from John Ensign's attorney, wherein "a pattern of generosity" has become the new euphamism for "regular payments of hush money."

Las Vegas Sun, July 9: Ensign's parents (the father is described as "a Las Vegas casino mogul"!) gave the family of his mistress $96,000. For Ensign, his "parents' generosity" represent "a possible felony violation of campaign finance law." Read the whole story -- this is a mess not just for Ensign, but perhaps for his pal Republican Senator & OB/GYN Tom Coburn, who is so mixed up in the particulars that he's claiming doctor-patient &/or minister/parishoner confidentially so he won't have to talk!

You can watch Ralston's interview of Hampton here (Part 1; 4 segments) & here (Part 2; 4 segments).

July 8. Las Vegas Sun report on the Jon Ralston interviews of Doug Hampton, the cuckolded husband. Hampton says Sen. John Ensign continued to pursue his wife even after Sen. Tom Coburn & other urged him to end the affair. (Coburn confirms this aprt of Hampton's story.) And,

Hampton said Ensign paid the woman more than $25,000 in severance when she stopped working for the senator.If true, Ensign faces a possible felony violation....

Here's a link to the Dear Sincerely John kiss-off letter from Ensign to paramour Cindy Hampton. CW: a lotta stuff about God & sin, not nearly as good as Sanford's schmaltzy love letters.

Who Is Doug Hampton? Las Vegas Sun, July 5: Hampton had no qualifications to be the top aide to a U.S. Senator; such jobs usually goes to old hands with years of policy & process experience.

Washington Post, June 30: in the two-tiered city of Las Vegas, the Ensign affair brings the Strip to tony Summerlin.

Just so you don't think Ensign is the only prominent Nevada Republican who's had fidelity issues, here's a trip down memory lane to visit a New York Times post about Gov. Jim Gibbons' messy divorce.

Las Vegas Sun Editorial Board, June 28: Ensign must answer questions about matters related to his affair; ducking those questions, as he's been doing, won't make them go away.

Dana Gentry of the Las Vegas Sun has a fairly interesting four-segment news show on the Ensign affair. Video.

Manuel Roig-Franzia writes in the Washington Post about the Mysterious House on "C" Street, a "political enclave that dare not speak its name." CW: if you want to read more about this organization, Kathryn Joyce & Jeff Sharlet wrote about it for Mother Jones in September 2007. This is a Krazy Kult who believe Christians should dominate the world. This wouldn't be startling if the cultic members were a bunch of unknown yokels, but the Fellowship attendees are some of the most powerful people in the world.

Las Vegas Sun: CREW files its complaint against Sen. Ensign with the Senate Ethics Committee.

Here's a sweet photo of the Ensigns & the Hamptons in 2001. Apparently Sen. Ensign's wife Darlene & Cindy a/k/a Cynthia, then Barnes, now Hampton, were great pals in high school. Way to treat an old friend, Cindy Loo:

Here are the Ensigns & Hamptons at the ladies' 2001 high school reunion.Sean Hannity, whose opinion the CW values above all others, sort of calls on Ensign to resign.

Roll Call: "Ensign to Face the Music" (CW: i.e., shuck & jive) when he addresses fellow Republicans at their regular Tuesday luncheon, a now-familiar Republican ritual.

Update: Politico: in a closed-door meeting, Ensign tells fellow Republicans he's sorry.

Las Vegas Sun, June 23: Sen. Ensign is "received warmly" back in Washington after six days away.

AP, June 23: CREW (Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington), a prominent watchdog group, will file a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee asking the committee to investigate the circumstances of the employment and compensation of Sen. Ensign's lover and her family.

CQ Politics, June 23, names two other watchdog groups who want the Ethics Committee to investigate because of Ensign's assertion that the couple demanded hush money.

Las Vegas Review-Journal, June 21: Sen. Ensign's approval rating plunges, unfavorable number spikes following his admission of having an extra-marital affair with a campaign staffer, but most Nevadans don't think he should resign. And "he still Nevada's most popular senior elected official"!

AP: the Review-Journal rejects a $20,000 full-page ad for a "discreet" dating service which incorporated the Ensign story into its pitch. CW: pretty funny, actually.

Once again, Rachel Maddow does a good job of summing up the latest news on the Ensign Affair:

Thanks to Firedoglake for the download.

Las Vegas Sun: Ensign fights back; his aide says Doug Hampton made "exhorbitant demands" over the past month "for cash & other financial benefits."

Las Vegas Sun: Doug Hampton wrote a letter to Fox News anchorwoman Megyn Kelly asking for her help in exposing Sen. Ensign. Here's the letter, which brings Sen. Tom Coburn into the story (he must be delighted). Hampton claims Ensign's "relentless pursuit of my wife led to our dismissal..." & as a result, he and his family have suffered financial hardship. (The Sun article includes a photo of the Hamptons' Hardluck Homestead -- you be the judge.)

The Washington Post Editorial Board: Sen. John Ensign's hypocrisy extends beyond personal misbehavior to matters of public policy where people's lives are at stake.

Washington Post: Ensign's office defends payments to the Hampton family. Among the whoppers assertions, Ensign had no idea the NRSC, which he headed, had employed the Hamptons' son as a "consultant" after he was graduated from high school.

The hits just keep on comin': here's an AP story on how Ensign helped his mistress's husband get two job during the time Ensign says he was carrying on the affair.

Drip, drip, drip. Zach Roth of Talking Points Memo finds that a political consulting firm that employed cuckolded husband Doug Hampton has extremely close ties to Sen. John Ensign. Oh, & all these fine fellows appear to have met at Promise Keepers, a conservative evangelical men's organization.

AP: dallying with a Senator pays off: John Ensign's doubled his lover Cynthia Hampton's salary in two positions in which she worked for him at about the time he says their affair began; her husband's salary increased, too, before he was off the payroll in May 2008; the National Republican Senatorial Committee (which Ensign then headed) even made payments to their son. More from Politico on this.

Sen. John Ensign resigns his leadership post a day after admitting he carried on an affair with a married campaign staffer; Leader McConnell accepts his resignation.

Dana Milbank: "in these troubling times," Ensign's Senate colleagues keep their heads down.

Las Vegas Sun: Tuesday was a bad day for Nevada's GOP: Ensign confessed, Gov. Gibbons' chief of staff quit, & a state senator resigned. Ensign refused to answer the Sun's e-mailed questions.

"Pentacostal Senator Can't Keep His Snake in His Pants": Gawker John Cook has a classy take on the story, including some pretty good explanations of Ensign's various motivations.

Nate Carlile of Think Progress has gathered together some of Sen. Ensign's fabulously hypocritical high-minded statements from days gone by.

More dirt from the high-minded policy wonks at Politico, including the identity of the staffer & her allegedly blackmailing husband. Washington Post update here.

Here's the video of Ensign's full statement from Las Vegas NOW Channel 8:

AP story of Ensign's "announcement" here.

Republican Senator John Ensign of Nevada has admitted to having an extramarital affair with a campaign worker who was married to a member of his staff. Politico story here.

Here's Chris Cillizza's Washington Post item on the story.