Jon Ralston, the Nevada political columnist who has been all over the John Ensign story, reports in his email newsletter that the Senate Ethics probe of the matter is heating up.
Writes Ralston:
Sources confirm that the Senate panel has begun issuing subpoenas for documents, including to key players in the case involving U.S. Sen. John Ensign’s scandal.
Ralston reports that the investigators seem to be trying to find links between Doug Hampton’s job as a lobbyist after he left Ensign’s office, and the role Ensign played in helping him get that job.
Ralston also suggests he thinks the committee, controlled by Democrats, went into action in response to Ensign’s recent interview in which he said he needs to stay in office to give the GOP a better chance of defeating Harry Reid next year.
But that seems questionable. Before Ensign’s recent interview, we heard word that the Senate was already on the case, suggesting this wasn’t a response to Ensign’s shot at Reid.
Neither Ensign’s office nor Doug Hampton’s lawyer, Daniel Albregts, immediately responded to TPMmuckraker’s requests for comment.