Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) had some good times and some bad times at the Christian home on C Street that he’s lived in since 1995. But now, reports the Las Vegas Sun, he’s moved out.
According to the paper, Ensign was not pushed out, but rather left on his own, out of a desire to spare the house’s residents any further unwanted publicity. The New York Times had reported late last month that, according two of the senator’s friends, he was making plans to move out.
The C Street house played a central role in the drama of the Nevada senator’s admitted adultery with the wife of a close friend and aide, which unfolded this summer. In February 2008, other lawmakers who were also residents of the house, including Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK), confronted Ensign about the affair with Cindy Hampton. They helped him write a letter to her, breaking things off, then drove hm to FedEx to mail it. But as soon as it was sent, Ensign called his mistress to warn her the letter was on its way and to disregard it.
The red-brick townhouse on Capitol Hill was also home for former GOP congressman Chip Pickering, whose alleged adultery was exposed during divorce proceedings earlier this year. (Pickering’s wife charged that some of his “wrongful conduct” had occurred at C Street itself.) And South Carolina governor Mark Sanford said publicly that he sought help and advice from C Street’s denizens about his own extra-marital affair.