Quantcast
Home manage Las Vegas Review-Journal
  Jobs Cars Homes Shopping Travel Weddings Golf Best of Las Vegas Photo   Search:

RECENT EDITIONS
Sat Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri

Opinion


EDITORIAL: Ensign woes

Sen. John Ensign caused his own problems. And as word emerged Thursday that the senator's wealthy parents gave his mistress and her family $96,000 after they'd heard he'd been having an affair with his best friend's wife, Nevadans who have viewed John Ensign as a decent man and appropriate representative began to feel like villagers under an artillery barrage, cringing as they wait to see when and where the next shell will fall.

The April 2008 payments to Cindy Hampton, her husband, Doug, and two of their children were described as "gifts" by Paul Coggins, Sen. Ensign's Dallas-based attorney, in a statement to the media Thursday. They were completely legal, Mr. Coggins asserted.


Most Popular Stories
  • VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: What stops mass murderers? A gun
  • SHERMAN FREDERICK: Call evil by its rightful name
  • EDITORIAL: Terrorism on trial
  • EDITORIAL: A pre-9/11 approach to terror
  • LETTERS: Public-sector workers are still doing well
  • LETTERS: Harry Reid: Working hard for all Americans
  • EDITORIAL: They took our jobs!
  • EDITORIAL: 'That's the ticket!'
  • Our politicians are the greatest, all right
  • EDITORIAL: I believe in free speech, but ...




  • "After the senator told his parents about the affair, his parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for the well-being of longtime family friends during a difficult time," Mr. Coggins said. "The gifts are consistent with a pattern of generosity by the Ensign family to the Hamptons and others."

    Unfortunately, distributed in multiples of $12,000, they also appear "consistent with" hush money structured to fall just under tax reporting limits.

    Doug Hampton, 47, earned about $245,000 over 18 months as a top Senate staffer to Sen. Ensign, 51, while his wife, Cindy, 46, worked as a bookkeeper for Sen. Ensign's re-election campaign and his political action committee, Battle Born PAC.

    Cindy Hampton's pay at the two committees began around $1,900 a month, then doubled during the time of the affair. Doug Hampton has said that her responsibilities had increased and the raise wasn't related to the extracurricular relationship.

    Nonetheless, the Washington-based government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed complaints about the affair with the Federal Election Commission and the Senate Ethics Committee. On Thursday the group also called on the Justice Department to undertake a criminal investigation.

    If tax dollars weren't misused, Sen. Ensign may survive, for now. But he has much hard work ahead of him to rehabilitate himself in the eyes of Nevada voters, who should be the final arbiters of his political fate.

    He would have been wiser -- he would still be wise -- to address all aspects of this matter at once, rather than allowing revelations to drag out.

    John Ensign has damaged himself and his family. But he has also damaged Nevadans, who have struggled to resist the blandishments of the welfare state, struggled to keep the Silver State a modestly free and prosperous refuge from the storms of profligacy, who deserve a senator who can focus his energies on representing their interests.

    Sen. Ensign must now demonstrate to Nevadans that he can learn from his mistakes, rebuild his reputation for steadiness and straight talk, and most of all be an effective leader in the currently outnumbered resistance to big government and the systematic looting of the storehouses of private capital that have made America prosperous and great.

    He starts from square one.

    He had better start right now.

    Newsvine Digg Fark Technorati reddit StumbleUpon del.icio.us Slashdot Propeller Mixx Furl Twitter MySpace Facebook Google Bookmarks Yahoo! Bookmarks Windows Live Favorites Ask MyStuff myAOL Favorites

    Leave Your Comment 37 Reader Comments
    Terms & Conditions
    The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The reviewjournal.com does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please notify the web editor.

    Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 48 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
    Current Word Count:

    Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

    Steve wrote on July 14, 2009 05:17 PM: Wimpiest editorial I've seen in ages.

    Why not be consistent.

    " Charles Mansion should say he's sorry"

    "Bernie Madoff should apologize and not get many more chances"

    Ensign embarrasses the state every second he remains.


    NoNo wrote on July 13, 2009 08:11 PM: Our Rock Star and his ilk just hope something that will come along to take our limited attention span off his velcro fly. Some thing really juicy like a italian fireman with dexlexsyia got his job claiming discrimation against dexlexics is now claiming he got dicscrimanated against because he's white! huh? me no get it kemosabee. Anyway our rock star aint talking and his squeeze I bet is just saving up some more juicy details like our Rock Stars preference from some sordid sexual prefrences that would make a vegas stripper blush. I been right so far and oh thier is alot more money being kicked around, 96k chump change to these boys.


    Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on July 12, 2009 08:12 PM: Another con bites the dust.

    Another con bites the dust.

    Another con bites the dust.

    Another con bites the dust, heh heh.

    And another one's gone and another one's gone, another one bites the dust.


    Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on July 12, 2009 07:40 PM: Interestingly, we have not heard from Sherman Frederick, an ordained Episcopal minister and one-man campaign against our dear, dear, Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, whose ethics are IMPECCABLE.

    No, given the Ensign meltdown, last we heard Sherm was doing some heavy, heavy drinkin’.

    Don’t worry, Sherm. Everything is in Divine Right Order. We just need to step back and Believe! Trust me, I know.


    Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on July 12, 2009 07:08 PM: Thursday or before, he's toast. Remember, you heard it from Fair and Balanced Fred first:

    "The Ensign scandal is a blow to conservatives in the state, including the sizable Church of Latter Day Saints community (some of whom, retired state Senator Warren Hardy claims, mistakenly believe Ensign is LDS, which is funny as Nevada has a US Senator who is LDS in Harry Reid). Ensign has never gotten more than 55% in a Senate election, and ebbing of his base could damage his ability to win re-election in 2012...if he lasts that long.

    "It's not a given that he will finish his term. Not anymore. The Hamptons may sue him soon. The payments to his mistress may run him afoul of the Federal Election Commission. Criminal charges are not out of the question."


    ENSIGN PRINCIPLES, LESS GOVERNMENT, MORE @&&, NO PERSONAL INTEGRITY wrote on July 12, 2009 05:57 PM: YUP, HERE'S THE RJ'S "PRINCIPLED DEFENDER OF LESS GOVERNMENT." A LIAR, A CHEAT, AN ADULTERER, A PATHETIC NARCISSIST WHO WILL DO ANYTHING TO SAVE HIS OWN CAREER, NO MATTER HOW MUCH IT COSTS THE HIS FAMILY, HIS FRIENDS, HIS STATE, AND CHRISTIANS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. I RECOMMEND "PEOPLE OF THE LIE," BY THE LATE CHRISTIAN PSYCHIATRIST, M. SCOTT PECK, M.D.


    Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on July 12, 2009 05:11 PM: "MICHELLE OBAMA AND FRIENDS GO SHOPPING WHILE AMERICANS SUFFER"

    Bush Spent 487 Days At Camp David, 490 Days At Texas Ranch During

    CBS News | Brian Montopoli | January 18, 2009 01:42 PM

    George W. Bush is today making his final visit to Camp David as president.

    He will likely miss the place: According to CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, today's trip marks Mr. Bush's 149th visit to the presidential retreat. The planned three-day stay, during which the president is being joined by family and former and current aides, will bring his total time spent at Camp David to all or part of 487 days.

    Yes, that's 487 days. And Camp David is not even where the president has spent the most time when not at the White House: Knoller reports that Mr. Bush has made 77 visits to his ranch in Crawford during his presidency, and spent all or part of 490 days there.

    THE CON'S CAN'T LEAD SO THEY CONSISTENTLY MISLEAD.


    Chevy wrote on July 12, 2009 04:50 PM: "MICHELLE OBAMA AND FRIENDS GO SHOPPING WHILE AMERICANS SUFFER"

    Perhaps you weren't on the Island of Martha's Vineyard in years past when Laura Bush was there? She arrived on the yacht belonging to a famous heir to a make up dynasty.

    Maybe you didn't go to the golf course of the micro brew joint in Kennebunkport, ME when any of the Bushes was tooling around here (hint; there is one bridge across the channel).


    Fair and Balanced Fred wrote on July 12, 2009 04:10 PM: Here's a prediction. Just a hunch. By Thursday Ensign will have resigned (or rather, been forced out).


    Dave wrote on July 12, 2009 02:31 PM: Sen. Ensign isn't going anywhere. He's the best Senator money can buy, a sure thing. With Sens. Kennedy and Byrd in failing health the Dems are 2 votes short of 60 and the Rebs. have a no vote in Ensign for all the upcoming progressive agenda items coming down the pike. He will tow the line and smile all the way to 2012. No Whitehouse, oh well, I'm sure Palin will have something for him. As long as he tows the party line, he's fine. No way they will kick him to the curb, they can't find anybody to put up against Sen. Reid let alone a twofer. Why spend the money in 2010 on a replacement while this mess is still fresh in the minds of voters, not that we seem to care anyway, but why take the chance? Maybe we will forget by 2012, we were stupid enough to elect him in the first place..


    Read All Comments