Ensign says parents gave $96,000 to his mistress’ family

The senator's lawyer says the payment was made out of concern for the family's well-being

By Alex Koppelman

For some time now, it’s seemed that Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., was able to successfully weather the disclosure of his affair with a staffer and could continue his political career, albeit with his reputation tarnished and any hopes for higher office dashed for now. But this week, attention was back on the senator, and people are raising new questions about payments made to his mistress and her husband, a longtime friend. Now, a new revelation from Ensign’s lawyer is likely to open the floodgates.

In a statement released Thursday, Ensign attorney Paul Coggins said that the senator’s parents had given $96,000 to their son’s former staffer, Cindy Hampton, and her family. The full statement:

: Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon. More Alex Koppelman

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The Senate Ethics Committee pulls no punches in its report on the former Republican senator

By Justin Elliott

FILE - In this June 16, 2009 photo, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. speaks at a news conference at the Lloyd D. George Federal building in Las Vegas. Ensign announced he will resign amid an ethics investigation. Ensign said Thursday, April 21, 2011, he will send Vice President Joe Biden a letter Friday making the resignation official. He said he has not violated any laws or rules, but said he could no longer subject his family, friends and constituents to further investigations. The Republican, who is under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee, announced in March that he would not pursue re-election. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken) (Credit: AP)

Topics:John Ensign, War Room

If you read just one report from the Senate Ethics Committee this year … make it the 75-pager just released on John Ensign, his affair with a campaign staffer married to another Ensign aide, and the subsequent botched coverup.

Ensign resigned from the Senate last month. But the ethics committee is referring its findings to the Justice Department, alleging that Ensign may have committed crimes including obstruction of justice and violation of federal election law.

The referral to the DOJ is the headline here. But the new report, the product of a 22-month investigation, also includes some remarkable details about just what happened between Ensign and Cynthia Hampton, and the senator’s attempt to keep the matter from blowing up — partly by trying to placate Cynthia’s husband, Ensign staffer Doug Hampton.

Doug Hampton was indicted in March for allegedly violating a ban on lobbying Ensign’s office following his employment there.

Here’s a sample of the findings from the new report.

Hampton was worried about losing her job after beginning the affair with Ensign, highlighting the skewed power dynamic in the relationship:

At the time the affair began, Ms. Hampton’s sole source of income was her work for the EFS and BattleBorn [Ensign's PAC]. Mr. Hampton’s sole source of income was from his work as the Senator’s Administrative Assistant. Senator Ensign had the power to fire both Ms. Hampton and Mr. Hampton.

Once the affair began, Ms. Hampton had serious concerns about her job with Senator Ensign’s campaign. She stated that “I just didn’t want to lose my job. I loved my job. I loved the people I worked with … I had a lot of fear of losing my job.”

Ensign had Cynthia Hampton listed in his phone as “Aunt Judy.”
The senator created email addresses to carry on the affair including fredschwartz72@yahoo.com, mariaschwartz@yahoo.com, and maryholland82@yahoo.com.
There were multiple dramatic confrontations between Ensign and his housemates at C Street, a boarding house for members of Congress run by the evangelical Christian group known as the Fellowship:

Senator Coburn, Mr. Coe, David Coe (Tim Coe’s brother and fellow spiritual advisor to the International Foundation), Mr. Hampton, and Marty Sherman decided to confront Senator Ensign about the affair and did so as soon as he returned to Washington, D.C. from the CODEL on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2008. They confronted Senator Ensign at the C Street House. Senator Ensign “started to lie”, but he was told that “we know the truth,” and then Senator Ensign confessed to the affair. Senator Ensign was told that the affair had to stop. Mr. Hampton was very emotional during the meeting, and at one point got very close to a physical confrontation with Senator Ensign. Senator Coburn asked Mr. Hampton to leave, stating “we’ll take it from here. We’ll take care of this.”

At that confrontation, Senator Ensign agreed to write what appeared to be a sincerely apologetic letter to Ms. Hampton ending the affair. Senator Ensign wrote the letter, and Mr. Sherman mailed it from a Federal Express mailing facility. After it was mailed, Senator Ensign immediately called Ms. Hampton to alert her about the confrontation and to tell her to disregard the letter, which he had written only for the benefit of the men who were confronting him.

Ensign told Hampton he wanted to marry her at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, an annual event put on by the Fellowship.

Here is the full report:

Public Report_Preliminary Inquiry Into the Matter of Sen Ensign

: Justin Elliott is a Salon reporter. Reach him by email at jelliott@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @ElliottJustin More Justin Elliott

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Finds former senator made false statements to Federal Election Commission, obstructed Senate investigation

By Larry Margasak, Associated Press

FILE - In this June 16, 2009 photo, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev. speaks at a news conference at the Lloyd D. George Federal building in Las Vegas. Ensign announced he will resign amid an ethics investigation. Ensign said Thursday, April 21, 2011, he will send Vice President Joe Biden a letter Friday making the resignation official. He said he has not violated any laws or rules, but said he could no longer subject his family, friends and constituents to further investigations. The Republican, who is under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee, announced in March that he would not pursue re-election. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken) (Credit: AP)

Topics:John Ensign

Former Sen. John Ensign of Nevada made false statements to the Federal Election Commission and obstructed a Senate Ethics Committee’s investigation into his conduct, the panel said Thursday in a scathing report that sent the matter to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation.

Ensign, a Nevada Republican, resigned his seat May 3 rather than face continued scrutiny and possible public hearings about his affair with the wife of one of his top Senate aides, a payment to the aide’s family, and the aide’s lobbying after leaving Senate employment.

The committee also asked the FEC to investigate possible campaign finance law violations.

“When Sen. Ensign resigned he said and I quote, ‘I have not violated any law, rule or standard of conduct,’” committee Chairman Barbara Boxer told the Senate. “I want to go on record … to say how strongly I disagree with that statement.”

The committee has been investigating Ensign for 22 months. The Senate cannot punish a member no longer serving, but the referrals ensure that investigation of Ensign will go on for some time.

Ensign has acknowledged an affair with Cynthia Hampton, a former campaign treasurer. She’s the wife of Douglas Hampton, who was Ensign’s co-chief of staff.

The investigation has focused on at least two developments that followed disclosure of the affair.

Ensign’s parents paid the Hampton family $96,000, raising the question of whether the money was an illegal contribution to the senator’s campaign. Douglas Hampton said the money was a severance payment.

Another focus was Ensign’s connection to Douglas Hampton’s work as a lobbyist for two Nevada firms after he left Ensign’s staff. Federal law prohibits a senior Senate aide from lobbying the Senate for one year after ending employment.

The committee said evidence showed that Ensign:

–Aided and abetted violations of a one-year ban on former employees lobbying the Senate.

–Conspired to violate that restriction.

–Made false statements to the FEC.

–Violated campaign finance laws.

–Obstructed the ethics committee’s preliminary inquiry.

Hampton has been indicted on charges of lobbying Ensign and his staff in violation of that restriction. He pleaded not guilty.

The Hampton indictment said that while lobbying for Allegiant Air, a low-cost carrier in Las Vegas, the former Ensign aide sought the assistance of the senator and a legislative aide to Ensign. Hampton wanted help in convincing the Transportation Department to reconsider its position on a fuel surcharge pricing issue, the indictment said.

Hampton allegedly sought the aid of Ensign and his staff to help schedule a March 2009 meeting involving the secretary of transportation and executives from the airline company.

The indictment said that, on behalf of NV Energy, the largest electricity provider in Nevada, Hampton sought assistance from Ensign and his chief of staff to expedite the release of a U.S. Interior Department environmental impact statement regarding a coal-fired power plant.

The effort was designed to allow the energy company to move forward on its delayed proposal to build the plant, the indictment said.

: More Larry Margasak

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Democratic Congresswoman Shelley Berkley is the second person, after lawyer Byron Georgiou, to enter the race

By Oskar Garcia, Associated Press

Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley

Topics:John Ensign

Congresswoman Shelley Berkeley will run for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Nevada Republican John Ensign.

Berkeley’s campaign released a statement Thursday in Washington putting the seven-term Democrat from Las Vegas in a race against northern Nevada GOP Congressman Dean Heller.

Berkeley and Heller each easily won re-election in November, and have been considered front-runners to replace Ensign since he announced in March that he won’t seek a third term. A Democratic lawyer, Byron Georgiou, is also in the race.

Berkeley’s 60 and a liberal Democrat. She’s a former state assemblywoman elected in 1999 to a congressional seat formerly held by Ensign.

Berkeley has tried in recent months to extend unemployment benefits and provide relief for struggling homeowners in a state with the nation’s highest jobless and foreclosure rates.

: More Oskar Garcia

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Nevada's shamed senator brings Nevada's great ultra-conservative hope around to meet the Senate gang

By Alex Pareene

Topics:2010 Elections, War Room, Harry Reid, John Ensign

Nevada Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle is attending the weekly policy lunch of Republican senators in D.C. today. She is the guest of Sen. John Ensign. Apparently Ensign, who was chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee until he revealed his extramarital affair, is hoping some of that Angle magic rubs off on him.

But he didn’t warn the other Republicans that he was inviting her:

: Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon. Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene

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An ethics office will determine whether congressmen are paying below-market rent to a secretive Christian group

By Alex Pareene

"C Street House" under ethics investigation

Topics:Republican Party, War Room, John Ensign, Mark Sanford, Religion, U.S. House of Representatives

The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating the C Street townhouse owned by the mafia-inspired Christianist group “The Family.”

Members of Congress who live in the C Street House pay $950/month for private rooms in a $1.8 million townhouse, steps from the Capitol, with maid service and laundry included. How can the building’s owner afford such a deal? Easy — the C Street house is classified as a church.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint in April. The OCE’s job is to vet complaints and refer cases to the appropriate ethics committee.

Congressmen who live in the house have been downplaying the unusual nature of the situation ever since the John Ensign and Mark Sanford scandals thrust the house into the limelight. The OCE investigation could be abandoned within 30 days or go on for three months before its taken up by the ethics committee.

: Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon. Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene

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