John Ensign

Ensign Communications Director Quits, Following Chief Of Staff

Rachel Slajda | July 24, 2009, 12:01PM

A second senior staffer for Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) has resigned, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. Ensign's office announced yesterday the departure of his communications director, Tony Mazzola.

The press release also announced the departure of chief of staff John Lopez, which we first heard about yesterday. He'll be replaced by Aaron Cohen, a health policy lobbyist with Kimbell & Associates and former Ensign staffer. Lopez will stay on through August as he "weighs options in the public sector," according to the release.

Mazzola will be replaced by Rebecca Fisher, who was Ensign's communications director at the Republican Policy Committee. Mazzola is leaving to be Northeast region press secretary for the National Republican Congressional Committee. He's from New England, the release said, and wants to return as he and his wife expect their first child.

Ensign's office also announced the return of Pam Thiessen, the senator's former policy director who left in January to work for the Republican Policy Committee. She will be returning as a senior policy adviser.

John Ensign

Ensign's Chief of Staff Quits

Rachel Slajda | July 23, 2009, 11:54AM

The chief of staff for Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) is resigning, reports the Las Vegas Sun.

John Lopez has worked with Ensign since the mid-1990s. He was named chief of staff in 2006, replacing Scott Bensing.

But, as TPMmuckraker reported last month, Lopez had to split his chief of staff duties with Doug Hampton -- the husband of Ensign's mistress, Cynthia Hampton, who was also a former Ensign staffer. A source familiar with the situation told us that Lopez was less than pleased with the arrangement, which had him handling political and legislative work and Hampton running the Washington office and staff.

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John Ensign

CREW: DOJ Integrity Unit "Punted" On Ensign Complaint

Zachary Roth | July 20, 2009, 5:17PM

The Justice Department has responded to a formal complaint filed by a good-government group over the John Ensign matter by saying in a letter that the complaint should be filed with the FBI, rather than the department's public integrity unit, reports the Las Vegas Sun. And the good government group -- Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) -- has itself responded to DOJ's bureaucratic fastidiousness with what we can only describe as a sassy retort that rubs salt in some recent DOJ wounds.

As requested, CREW has forwarded its complaint to the FBI. Executive Director Melanie Sloan writes:

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Sex

C Street Rebranding: GOP Cheaters Need Our Discreet Counseling!

Zachary Roth | July 20, 2009, 1:09PM

A little creative re-branding has worked wonders for the likes of Diddy (now back to Puff Daddy), Joe Lieberman, and the Volkswagen Beetle. So why not for C Street?

In recent weeks, the secretive Christian fellowship group, whose red-brick townhouse on Capitol Hill has for years served as an in-session dorm for religious lawmakers, has been getting some unwanted publicity. Thanks to its ties to three recent Republican sex scandals -- those of Nevada senator John Ensign, South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, and former congressman Chip Pickering -- C Street has started to get a reputation as somewhere between a halfway house and frat house for conservative politicians looking to cheat on their wives while convincing themselves they're still upstanding guys.

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John Ensign

Hampton Didn't Disclose Payment From Ensign's Parents As Gift

Zachary Roth | July 16, 2009, 12:34PM

More bad news for John Ensign -- and perhaps his former buddy Doug Hampton too?

The Las Vegas Sun has taken a look at the Senate disclosure form that Hampton filed when he left Ensign's office -- he says he and his wife Cindy were terminated -- in spring 2008.

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John Ensign

WaPo Wants Senate And FEC To Probe Ensign Scandal

Zachary Roth | July 13, 2009, 5:30PM

The drip-drip of the John Ensign sex scandal continues...

Today the Washington Post editorial board calls, in its well-mannered way, for investigations by the Senate Ethnics committee and the Federal Election Committee into the payments, totaling $96,000, that, according to a statement from Ensign's lawyer, were made last year by the Nevada senator's parents to the Hampton family.

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Rick Santorum

Did Santorum Tip Off Ensign?

Zachary Roth | July 10, 2009, 4:26PM

A great nugget we missed from the portion of Doug Hampton's interview that aired last night...

Ever since the appearance last month of the famous letter Hampton wrote to Fox News -- asking for the network's assistance in exposing John Ensign's "relentless pursuit" of Hampton's wife Cindy -- there has been intense speculation that someone at Fox tipped off Ensign to the fact that Hampton was preparing to go public, prompting the Nevada senator to pre-emptively admit to the affair.

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John Ensign

Ensign: The Updated Timeline

Zachary Roth | July 10, 2009, 3:12PM

We've already published one timeline on the Ensign saga, but we figured that, what with the new revelations of recent days, it was worth compiling an updated one. So without further ado...

• Nov 2006: Ensign is easily reelected to the U.S. Senate from Nevada.

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Sex

More Ensign: Maddow Talks To Hampton Interviewer, And Expert On Christian Fellowship Group

Zachary Roth | July 10, 2009, 1:57PM

Last night, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow had two important interviews on the John Ensign story that are worth checking out.

The first was with Jon Ralston, who himself interviewed Doug Hampton over the last few days.

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John Ensign

Hampton: Religious Buddies Drove Ensign To FedEx To Mail Letter To Cindy

Zachary Roth | July 10, 2009, 11:58AM

We're probably not going out on a limb by saying that Doug Hampton's entire televised interview about John Ensign's affair with Hampton's wife Cindy, and the fallout from it, had to have been pretty embarrassing for the Nevada senator, if he's even been able to bring himself to watch it.

But one particular narrative that Hampton lays out really brings out what seems like the utter pathetic-ness of a man who Republicans once talked about as presidential material -- as well as the strangely paternalistic culture of the religious organization with which he's affiliated. And it jibes with yesterday's news that Ensign went to his parents to pay off the Hamptons, painting a picture of a man who, despite being 51 years old and a powerful US senator, still seems strangely weak-willed and dependent on those around him.

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John Ensign

Ensign Still Bringing Dirty Laundry Home To Be Washed

Zachary Roth | July 9, 2009, 3:33PM

It looks like John Ensign's sexual dignity -- which hasn't been high lately -- has plunged to new depths. His lawyer has just released a remarkable statement saying that Ensign's parents paid the Hamptons $96,000 after the 51-year-old senator told his Mom and Dad about the affair.

The senator's father, Mike Ensign, is a casino mogul who sold his shares in the Mandalay Group for around $300 million earlier this decade.

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Tom Coburn

Coburn On Hampton Claims: "Ask What's the Motivation Here"

Zachary Roth | July 9, 2009, 3:05PM

It looks like when Tom Coburn denied today that he urged his friend John Ensign to pay restitution to the family of the woman he had an affair with, the Oklahoma senator wasn't speaking just to Roll Call (sub. req.). Rather, in a sign of the potential trouble the story could represent for Coburn, he appears to have given an impromptu press conference, in what's likely to be a failed effort to nip it in the bud.

Politico reports that, along with his denial, Coburn had some choice words for Doug Hampton.

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John Ensign

Coburn Denies That He Urged Ensign To Pay "Restitution" For Affair

Zachary Roth | July 9, 2009, 1:47PM

We just told you about Doug Hampton's allegation that Sen. Tom Coburn urged his friend Sen. John Ensign to pay "restitution" money to the Hamptons on account of Ensign's affair with Hampton's wife. And now Coburn is denying the claim.

Roll Call reports:

Coburn repeatedly denied allegations that he urged Ensign to pay Doug Hampton, the husband of his mistress Cynthia, millions in hush money following a confrontation with Hampton. "I categorically deny everything he said," Coburn said.

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John Ensign

UPDATED: Coburn Not Denying Claim That He Urged Ensign To Pay "Restitution" To Girlfriend's Family

Zachary Roth | July 9, 2009, 12:35PM

SEE LATE UPDATE BELOW

Doug Hampton's TV interview about his wife's affair with Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) is hardly a model of clarity. Hampton meanders away from some questions, jumps forwards and back in time, and seems, perhaps understandably, still to have trouble viewing the situation dispassionately.

But there's one point on which Hampton is particularly lucid. He clearly says that when Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) confronted Ensign over the affair in February 2008, the Oklahoma senator urged Ensign to pay "restitution" to the Hamptons, including helping them to pay the mortgage on their $1.2 million house and to move out of state. And Coburn isn't denying it.

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John Ensign

Doug Hampton Breaks Silence On Wife's Affair With Ensign

Zachary Roth | July 8, 2009, 5:14PM

Doug Hampton has spoken publicly for the first time about his wife Cindy's affair with Sen. John Ensign. And it's good...

The highlights from Hampton's interview with Las Vegas Sun political columnist Jon Ralston:

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John Ensign

Did Ensign Hire Doug Hampton To Stop Himself From Having An Affair?

Zachary Roth | July 6, 2009, 3:38PM

We can't blame you if you'd almost forgotten about John Ensign. Since the GOP senator confessed last month to an affair, he's been unceremoniously knocked out of the headlines by the successive implosions of two other Republican 2012 hopefuls.

But the philandering Nevadan doesn't deserve to go gently into that good night just yet. And yesterday the Las Vegas Sun had a report on the relationship between Ensign and Doug and Cynthia Hampton -- the latter was Ensign's paramour from December 2007 until August 2008 -- which jibes in places with what we reported several weeks ago.

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