Nevada : July 2010 | TPMMuckraker

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Nevada : July 2010

Ensign Staffers Allowed To Testify Before Grand Jury

Rachel Slajda | July 30, 2010, 5:20PM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Staffers for Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) are expected to testify before a grand jury on their boss's sex-and-lobbying scandal.

The Senate this week approved a resolution allowing the staffers to speak to the grand jury. Senate employees are normally prohibited from testifying outside of Congress.

Ensign's staff has reportedly already been speaking to the Senate ethics committee, and Ensign's campaign is paying for several of their related legal bills.

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Topics: Ethics, John Ensign, Nevada , Senate Ethics Committee

Ensign Is Paying Staffers' Legal Bills

Rachel Slajda | July 16, 2010, 9:18AM

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)

Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) is paying the legal bills of some of his staff as they face questioning over Ensign's sex-and-lobbying scandal.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports today that the payments to law firms are listed on Ensign's campaign's latest FEC reports. Questioned about the payments, Ensign's spokeswoman confirmed that they were for staff members.

"Senator Ensign's campaign is paying for the legal bills accrued by staff as a result of cooperating with the ongoing ethics investigation," spokeswoman Jennifer Cooper told the Review-Journal.

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Topics: FEC, John Ensign, Lobbyists, Nevada , Senate Ethics Committee, Sex

Nevada

In The NV Desert, A Duel Between Sheriff And D.A.

Rachel Slajda | July 6, 2010, 11:04AM

Nye County District Attorney Robert Beckett

The Wall Street Journal tells the tale of a feud in the deserts of Nevada, where a sheriff recently arrested the district attorney on charges that he misused public funds, prompting the D.A. to arrest one of the sheriff's deputies, creating an intractable boondoggle for the poor desert county where they live.

The Nye County feud has been going on for years. It came to a head in May, when the sheriff, Tony De Meo, had a deputy arrest the D.A., Robert Beckett. De Meo alleges that Beckett is illegally using money his office collects from a bad check program to fund his wife's cheerleading squad. No charges have been filed, as Beckett refuses to file charges against himself.