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Timeline Suggests Ensign's Help For Hampton Was Hardly Routine
So as we told you earlier today, Senator John Ensign has now admitted that he helped Doug Hampton, the husband of the senator's girlfriend, find employment after both Hamptons left Ensign's office. Ensign's office pointed out that he has done the same thing "for many other staff members." That's almost certainly true -- it's hardly unusual.
But a close look at the timeline of l'affaire Ensign makes a few things clear:
First, that according to Doug Hampton, he had already confronted Ensign about the affair on several occasions dating back at least three months. So it would seem that the two men were hardly on good terms any longer.
And, that it also seems likely not just that the affair continued for a month after Ensign "reconciled with his wife," but more importantly, that it was continuing even when Ensign made those calls to try to get Doug Hampton a new job.
All this suggests that this was a far more sensitive matter than the usual situation where a supportive boss makes recommendation calls for a staffer who's moving on.
Take a look:
• Nov 2006: Ensign is easily reelected to the U.S. Senate from Nevada.• Nov 2006: Ensign becomes chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, a key leadership post. His chief of staff, Todd Bensing, becomes the NRSC's executive director.
• Nov 2006: To replace Benzing, Ensign promotes senior aide John Lopez. But he also hires Doug Hampton -- a close friend from Promise Keepers who had been working at the utility company Nevada Power -- as an "administrative assistant," and places him in charge of managing the Washington office, a job that would usually fall to the chief of staff. The move annoys more secular staffers -- including Lopez -- who question Hampton's credentials.
• 2007: Cynthia Hampton, Doug's wife, is hired to work as treasurer for Ensign's Senate campaign. (Ensign wouldn't face reelection until 2012, but had already begun raising money.)
• Dec 2007: The affair between Ensign and Cynthia Hampton begins.
• Feb 2008: Cynthia Hampton also becomes treasurer of Battle Born PAC and the Ensign-affiliated Senate Majority Committee, after Christopher Ward, who had ben treasurer of both operations, is ousted amid an embezzlement scandal. Her pay doubles.
• Feb 2008: Doug Hampton confronts Ensign about the affair at Ensign's home. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and "several other men who are close to the senator" were present, according to Doug Hampton. (A spokesman for Coburn declined to comment to TPMmucraker.)
• March 2008: The Hampton's nineteen-year-old son, Brandon, receives his first payment from the NRSC.
• April 2008: Ensign and his wife Darlene separate.
• May 2008: Doug and Cynthia Hampton both leave Ensign's office and return to their home in Las Vegas. (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.)
• May 2008: Doug Hampton starts working as a consultant at November Inc., a political consulting firm with close ties to Ensign.
• July 2008: John and Darlene Ensign reconcile.
• Aug 2008: The affair between Ensign and Cynthia Hampton ends.
• Aug 2008: Brandon Hampton receives his last payment from the NRSC.
• Aug 2008: Doug Hampton stops working at November Inc, according to Mike Slanker, the firm's founder. (But the Hill would report in December 2008 that Hampton was still "counsel" to November Inc. at that time, and that he would remain so.)
• Aug 2008: Doug Hampton is hired as a vice president of government affairs for Allegiant Air, a Las Vegas airline run by a major Ensign backer.
• Some time later: Brandon Hampton is hired by Allegiant as a call center representative.
• June 11, 2009: Doug Hampton writes a letter to Fox News' Megyn Kelly, asking for her help in exposing Ensign's affair with Cynthia Hampton.
• June 16, 2009: Ensign publicly admits to the affair.
There are still more questions than answers here. One interesting one: How did Ensign learn that Doug Hampton planned to go to a TV news channel about the affair? We hope to have more on that later today.
Josh
Zachary
How much did they spend on the Clinton investigation? Ah, hypocrisy at its finest.
June 19, 2009 1:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
And where does the DOD fit into all this? Did Allegiant's big government contracts begin or increase after Hampton was hired? Did Ensign use his connections to make this happen, as a way to placate Hampton and make him look good in his new gig?
And what, exactly, is the logical career path from utility worker to VP of government affairs for an airline?
June 19, 2009 2:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
It looks like Sen. Ensign is up for reelection in 2010. I wonder how recruiting is going for the Democrats?
Also, according to Wikipedia,, Sen. Ensign is the only Pentecostal in the Senate. He is a long-time member of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel Church, an evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination established by Aimee Semple McPherson. His behavior is going to be very hard to square with that denomination, unless IOKIYAR applies.
I'd bet that Ensign has more trouble getting reelected than Sen. Vitter did. Vitter is reported to be Roman Catholic, and more important, was not elected as a representative of an evangelical community. Louisiana voters are very tolerant of the misdeeds of their politicians as Edwin Edwards demonstrated. The Evangelicals, however, are a key block of Ensign's votes. It'll be a question of how tolerant they are and who his opponent is.
June 19, 2009 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
2012.
Starting to run again over 5 years before election... sigh.
June 19, 2009 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ensign is not up for reelection until 2012 as the post and prior comment indicate.
Also, Vitter is up for reelection in 2010 and has not had to face the voters since his alleged diaper escapades and dalliances with various prostitutes came to light.
June 19, 2009 4:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
Zach, thx for the timeline. Any info on when in 2007 Cynthia went to work?
Also, I had understood that Ensign had been separated from his wife during the whole affair, but this timeline says the separation came about 4-5 months into the affair. So thanks for clearing that up, he was indeed being an adulterer during that time. Thus the separation was likely due to the affair, not the other way around (a minor moral point).
Finally, while Doug H. may have confronted Ensign in Feb 2008, what was he saying to his wife during that time (Dec 2007-Aug 2008)?
June 19, 2009 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think that one thing has now become clear: This is not a sex scandal. It is a corruption scandal. What we know up to this point is most likely only the tip of the iceberg.
June 19, 2009 5:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do we have anything other than Ensign's word (for what that's worth) when his affair with Cynthia Hampton began and ended? It just seems so weird to me that he would be friends with Hampton from Promise Keepers and hire him into this inappropriate position -- obviously against advice and at a salary equal to a chief of staff rather than an AA -- and then begin an affair with the guy's wife A YEAR later.
And especially why would Ensign place Doug and son into positions with campaign associates after this affair ends. Pay him cash (which Ensign's daddy can afford if he can't), be done with the entire family, and get out of Dodge.
None of this makes sense.
June 22, 2009 2:29 AM | Reply | Permalink