John Ensign

Ensign's Payments To Law Firm Spike

Zachary Roth | January 29, 2010, 5:46PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Sen. John Ensign paid nearly $18,000 in the last quarter of 2009 to the law firm where he has retained counsel, Politico reports, based on filings released this afternoon. That compares to just $850 for the previous quarter.

The payments, which came from Ensign's campaign account, constitute further evidence that the federal probe said to be underway into the Nevada senator's sex-and-lobbying scandal may have heated up lately.

John Ensign

Report: FBI Has Contacted Witnesses On Ensign Matter

Zachary Roth | January 19, 2010, 11:49AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

The FBI has interviewed witnesses in connection with the John Ensign sex-and-lobbying scandal, Politico reports.

"Yes, the FBI has contacted witnesses, in this case, former aides [to Ensign]" one source tells the Beltway site. "We'll see where it leads."

John Ensign

VIDEO: Ensign Ambushed By CNN On Sex-Lobbying Scandal

Zachary Roth | December 31, 2009, 4:38PM

CNN's Rick Sanchez and Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

CNN's Rick Sanchez just grilled Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) about Ensign's affair with the wife of an aide and his ham-fisted efforts to cover things up.

Ensign came on prepared to keep politicizing the failed terror attacks by using them to attack President Obama. But Sanchez quickly turned the tables by bringing up Ensign's personal woes, leaving the senator visibly surprised.

John Ensign

Report: Former Top Ensign Aide Subpoenaed By Ethics Committee

Rachel Slajda | December 7, 2009, 10:45AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Sen. John Ensign's (R-NV) former chief of staff, Mike Slanker, has reportedly been subpoenaed by the Senate Ethics Committee in connection with a probe into Ensign's affair and subsequent severance payments.

Slanker has been a consultant to Connecticut senatorial candidate Linda McMahon's campaign. A spokesman for the campaign confirmed to the Hartford Courant that Slanker received the subpoena.

As we reported last week, the Senate Ethics Committee has begun to send out subpoenas to key players in the scandal -- a sign that the probe is heating up.

Slanker had worked on Ensign's campaign and was the political director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee when Ensign was its chair.

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Topics: John Ensign

John Ensign

Report: Senate's Ensign Probe Heating Up

Zachary Roth | December 4, 2009, 12:35PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

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:

John Ensign

Is The Reid-Ensign Non-Aggression Pact Over?

Zachary Roth | December 3, 2009, 10:09AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

That non-aggression pact that Nevada senators Harry Reid and John Ensign have long maintained could be breaking down -- under the strain of the Republican's personal woes.

Ensign is pulling out all the stops to hold onto his job in the wake of admitting to an affair with the wife of a top aide. And that evidently means coming close to ditching the agreement that he and Reid, a Democrat, have long held to, wherein they avoid criticizing each other.

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Topics: Harry Reid, John Ensign, Sex

John Ensign

Which Candidates Want Ensign To Campaign For Them? His Office Won't Say

Zachary Roth | November 30, 2009, 2:58PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

As we told you earlier, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) said during a radio interview this morning that despite his well-chronicled personal travails, 2010 candidates have told him they wanted him to campaign for them.

"A lot of people running for office next year, I've met with them, they actually want me involved in their campaigns," the philandering lawmaker told Alan Stock of Las Vegas's KXNT News Radio. "I'm gonna try to be helpful without being hurtful."

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Topics: John Ensign, Sex

John Ensign

Ensign: Candidates Want Me To Campaign For Them

Zachary Roth | November 30, 2009, 11:32AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) just told a radio interviewer that, despite his personal travails, 2010 candidates are eager for him to campaign with them.

"A lot of people running for office next year, I've met with them, they actually want me involved in their campaigns," Ensign told Alan Stock of Las Vegas's KXNT News Radio. "I'm gonna try to be helpful without being hurtful."

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Topics: Doug Hampton, John Ensign, Sex

John Ensign

Ensign Set To Break Silence On Affair

Zachary Roth | November 30, 2009, 10:51AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) is set to break his silence this morning on his affair with the wife of a former top staffer, and the help he provided for the couple once the affair was discovered, which may have involved violating lobbying and campaign-finance rules.

Since admitting to the affair this summer, Ensign has said almost nothing about it. But he'll discuss it at 8am PST, in an interview with Las-Vegas-based News Radio 840 KXNT. We'll be listening, so stay tuned....

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Topics: Campaign Finance, Doug Hampton, John Ensign, Sex

Sex

The Best Sex-Scandal Haikus

Zachary Roth | November 27, 2009, 12:52PM

The entries in our sex-scandal haiku contest are pouring in. Here are a few of our favorites:

Mark Sanford

TPM Reader Challenge: The Sex-Scandal Haiku!

Zachary Roth | November 27, 2009, 11:46AM

The Los Angeles Times notes that a text sent by Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) to his girlfriend is just one syllable away from being a haiku -- the Japanese poetic form that consists of five syllables in the first and third lines, and seven in the second.

Wrote Ensign to his beloved:

John Ensign

Ethics Probers Still Haven't Talked To Hampton On Ensign Matter

Zachary Roth | November 24, 2009, 9:48AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Last night, Nightline aired its full interview with Doug Hampton, about the amazing circumstances surrounding the affair between Hampton's wife Cindy and his former boss, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV).

Some of the best stuff trickled out early, but there are still a few good new nuggets. For instance:

John Ensign

Hampton: To Hide Affair, Ensign Made Me And Cindy Attend 'Goodbye Party' After Firing Us

Zachary Roth | November 23, 2009, 4:41PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

More nuggets are being reported from Doug Hampton's interview with Nightline, set to air tonight, about Sen. John Ensign's affair with Hampton's wife. And they somehow make the Nevada senator look even worse than he already did, if that's possible.

Politico, which seems to have gotten a look at the full interview, reports:

John Ensign

Coburn: I Acted As Ensign-Hampton Go-Between

Zachary Roth | November 23, 2009, 10:35AM

Yesterday on ABC News's This Week, there was an exchange between Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and host George Stephanopoulos about Coburn's role as an "intermediary" between Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and Doug Hampton, the man with whose wife the Nevada senator had an affair. And it's hard to know what to make of it.

From the transcript:

Doug Hampton

Hampton: 'Crystal Clear' That Ensign Payment Was Severance

Zachary Roth | November 20, 2009, 10:05AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Doug Hampton's campaign to bring down the man who slept with his wife continues.

Hampton's latest blast at Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) came in a sit-down with ABC News's Nightline. In excerpts teased on the ABC News site, Hampton doubles down on his contention that the $96,000 he and his wife received from Ensign's parents, after the affair was discovered, was a severance package, not a gift as Ensign has claimed. A severance payment would have violated campaign-finance laws.

John Ensign

Will Ensign Escape Criminal Probe?

Zachary Roth | November 19, 2009, 12:03PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Is the Justice Department leaning towards laying off Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)?

That's the direction in which Politico's reporting seems to point. According to the new site, DOJ officials "signal that the case is a low-priority matter for them." It adds that "no one close to Ensign or the Hamptons has been contacted by any federal investigators." And it notes that the Senate Ethics committee, which usually stands down when Justice is involved, has been forging ahead with its probe of the philandering Nevada senator.

C Street

C Street House No Longer Tax Exempt

Zachary Roth | November 17, 2009, 1:40PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC)

Residents of the C Street Christian fellowship house will no longer benefit from a loophole that had allowed the house's owners to avoid paying property taxes.

Previously, the house -- despite being home to numerous lawmakers -- had been tax exempt, because it was classified as a church. That arrangement had allowed the building's owner, the secretive international Christian organization The Family, to charge significantly below market rents to its residents. In recent year, Senators John Ensign (R-NV), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Jim DeMint (R-SC), and Reps. Zach Wamp (R-TN), Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Mike Doyle (D-PA) have all reportedly called C Street home.

John Ensign

Ensign No Longer At C Street: Report

Zachary Roth | November 9, 2009, 10:04AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

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.

John Ensign

Criminal Probe Of Ensign Seen As Likely

Zachary Roth | October 14, 2009, 1:40PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Could the worst be still to come for John Ensign?

An expert consensus may be forming that the Justice Department will likely launch a criminal investigation into the philandering Nevada senator and his relationship with Doug and Cynthia Hampton.

John Ensign

Ensign: I Followed Ethics Laws When I Helped Clients Of Mistress's Husband

Zachary Roth | October 6, 2009, 3:18PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

The John Ensign story is back on the front-burner, thanks to last week's New York Times report that the philandering Nevada senator actively helped Doug Hampton, the husband of his former mistress, get set up as a lobbyist, then acted to benefit Hampton's new clients.

Today brought several new developments:

John Ensign

Ensign: I'll Cooperate With Ethics Probe Into Help For Mistress's Husband

Zachary Roth | October 5, 2009, 11:18AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Disgraced Nevada senator John Ensign won't fight the ethics investigation into his dealings with a former staffer, in the aftermath of an affair between Ensign and the staffer's wife.

"Sen. Ensign will cooperate with any official inquiry," a spokeswoman for the senator told TPMmuckraker via email.

John Ensign

Flouting Lobbying Ban, Ensign Helped Hampton Clients: Report

Zachary Roth | October 1, 2009, 6:27PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

We knew there was another shoe waiting to drop in the story of Nevada GOP senator John Ensign's affair with a top aide's wife.

And now it's dropped. A lengthy investigation by the New York Times reveals that Ensign was far more involved than previously known in trying to get a job for Doug Hampton -- his mistress's husband -- after the affair had been discovered. And that Ensign then used his influence in government to try to do favors for Doug Hampton's new employers -- apparently in violation of lobbying rules.

John Ensign

Sen. Ensign's Dad Withdraws Kansas Casino Bid

Rachel Slajda | August 19, 2009, 4:50PM

Mike Ensign, casino magnate and the father of Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), has reportedly dropped a casino proposal in Kansas.

The Associated Press reports that the group Ensign was working with, South Central Gaming Partners, decided to drop their proposal and instead back one by Foxwoods. The two firms had originally submitted competing proposals; now, Foxwoods' will go forward, along with that of a third developer.

An attorney for the Kansas Lottery, which is reviewing the proposals, said it was a business decision and that the lottery was not involved.

Mike Ensign and his wife were recently caught up in their son's scandal, admitting that they paid $96,000 to Sen. Ensign's mistress and her husband, both of whom worked for the senator. Mike Ensign earned around $300 million in the early 2000s when he sold his shares of the Mandalay Bay Group, which owned Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas.

A few weeks ago, lottery officials said there'd be an ethics investigation into Mike Ensign before his proposal could be approved.

But now, an official says it wasn't a concern for the Lottery.

"That's not an issue to us at all. There hasn't been any allegation of wrongdoing at all," said executive director Ed Van Petten.

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Topics: John Ensign

John Ensign

Nevada GOP Rep: Ensign Should Answer Questions About Affair

Zachary Roth | August 13, 2009, 12:34PM

The pressure is growing for John Ensign to break his silence over his affair with a staffer who was his close friend's wife.

Rep. Dean Heller has become the first high-ranking Nevada Republican to call for the senator to address the numerous unanswered question about his torrid liaison with Cindy Hampton. Speaking in a televised interview to Las Vegas Sun political columnist Jon Ralston -- who has led the way in keeping the story in the spotlight -- Heller said: "I don't want to speculate, but until John talks, we haven't seen the end of it."

John Ensign

Emails Show Santorum Was Tipped To Affair The Day Before Ensign Went Public

Zachary Roth | August 4, 2009, 12:53PM

The John Ensign story just won't go away -- and that's not good news for the Silver State philanderer.

Jon Ralston of the Las Vegas Sun has obtained emails sent by Doug Hampton which show two interesting things:

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Topics: John Ensign, Rick Santorum, Sex

John Ensign

Sen. Ensign's Dad Could Lose Casino Project Over Scandal

Rachel Slajda | August 3, 2009, 10:48AM

Michael Ensign, the father of Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), may be finding his business deals threatened after he admitted to giving his son's mistress and her husband $96,000.

Ensign, a partner in a proposed casino in Kansas, may be asked to withdraw from the project if investigators find he violated campaign finance law.

The head of the Kansas Lottery told the Kansas City Star that the lottery will conduct its own ethics investigation into Ensign's involvement in the scandal, in addition to watching for the results of any federal investigations into Sen. Ensign and his parents.

"If it is found that there was wrongdoing, that would have an effect on things," said Ed Van Petten. That effect could include keeping Ensign out of the management of the casino, or asking him to withdraw altogether, he said.

Ensign was chairman of the board of the company that ran Vegas's Mandalay Bay Resort. He reportedly made about $130 million after orchestrating Mandalay's sale to MGM in 2005.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed an FBI complaint over the payment.

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Topics: John Ensign

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.

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Topics: John Ensign

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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Topics: John Ensign

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:

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.

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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Topics: John Ensign, Sex

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.

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.

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.

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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Topics: John Ensign, Sex

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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Topics: John Ensign, Sex, Tom Coburn

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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Topics: John Ensign, Sex

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.

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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Topics: John Ensign, Sex, Tom Coburn

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.