LAS VEGAS -- The resignation this week by U.S. Sen. John Ensign raised questions about what an ongoing Senate ethics probe has uncovered, while also muddling the field of candidates for congressional seats now held by the GOP headed into a key election year.
The decision to step down marked an unexpected change of heart for the Nevada Republican who as recently as last month said he would remain in office until his planned retirement from politics because he had not violated ethics rules.
"If I was concerned about that, I would have resigned, because that would make the most sense, because then it goes away," Ensign said then as he announced he would retire after 2012.
It's not immediately clear what, if anything, has changed since he made those remarks. An ethics committee official said Friday that neither a vote nor a public hearing had been scheduled in the Ensign investigation prior to his announcement.
Leaders of the Senate Ethics Committee noted tersely that Ensign made the proper decision in turning in a letter of resignation amid their unfinished two-year probe of his conduct.
Ensign, 53, cited "wear and tear" on himself and his family in his announcement Thursday, which came nearly two years after he acknowledged having had an extramarital affair with a former staffer. The ethics probe has explored Ensign's handling of the affair and whether he tried to illegally cover it up.
Ensign's exit protects him from future disciplinary action and questioning. The committee cannot penalize Ensign once he is no longer a senator, and, with the Senate in recess, it is unlikely that the committee will be able to do so before Ensign's May 3 resignation.
According to Mike Allen's Politico Playbook, sources say the Nevada Republican anticipated he could have faced questions about other women, including at least one additional staffer.
But Ensign is not entirely in the clear. It is likely the committee will move forward on the months-long investigation by issuing an embarrassing statement regarding the propriety of Ensign's behavior and the panel could even go so far as to recommend a criminal investigation. It would by a damning, but mostly symbolic, gesture because committee members do not have authority over federal investigators. The New York Times reports:
They are likely to take the unusual step of issuing a statement that details evidence of wrongdoing uncovered in the committee's 22-month investigation, its largest in more than a decade. Those details could include interviews with dozens of witnesses and a review of records of Mr. Ensign and his family.
According to the Washington Post:
Another possible route would be to send the evidence and testimony gathered in the case to the Justice Department, which has been conducting a parallel criminal inquiry. "They don't lose the jurisdiction to make a referral," ethics lawyer Stanley Brand said Friday.
Ensign's looming departure also casts a new sense of urgency over Nevada's closely watched Senate race to replace him. After he announced last month that he would not seek re-election, Democrats hoped to claim the seat to protect their fragile Senate majority.
In the meantime, Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval will appoint a successor to serve the remainder of the term through 2012. Sandoval had endorsed Republican Rep. Dean Heller of northern Nevada in the race and is widely expected to name him the incumbent, affording Heller an advantage over Rep. Shelley Berkley, the Democrat's favored candidate.
A Heller appointment to the Senate would require an unprecedented special congressional election in Nevada.
Because of a quirk of Nevada politics, state leaders are uncertain about how to carry out the never-enforced special election law, which does not allow for a primary. Their decision could decide the political fate of tea party favorite and perennial candidate Sharron Angle, who has been running for Heller's seat and could be closed out of the race if party leaders are allowed to pick their general election contestants.
Several national and state Republican leaders have said they hope Sandoval will appoint Heller to Ensign's seat.
Sandoval declined to discuss his selection process Friday, but said he would name a successor while Ensign was still in office.
Berkley and Heller had been evenly matched, with their comparable political credentials and name recognition in Nevada. Wealthy businessman Byron Georgiou is also seeking the Democratic nomination.
Ensign insisted Thursday he has done nothing wrong. But he said he was shaken by the Senate Ethics Committee decision in February to name a special counsel to look into the matter, after the Justice Department and the Federal Election Commission investigated and then dropped their cases.
"I was hopeful that, with the closure of these investigations against me, the wear and tear on my family and me would soon be over. This was not the case," he said.
Still, the timing of Ensign's announcement remains an enigma given his persistent insistence that he would not give up his seat.
Long after party leaders revoked their support for him, Ensign continued to say he would campaign for a third term until the abrupt announcement in March that he would sit the election out.
Federal campaign reports showed his fundraising efforts had languished. Ensign, however, cited his desire to protect his family from campaign attacks involving the extramarital affair and said the Senate investigation hadn't influenced his decision.
The panel's chairman, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and the vice chairman, Johnny Isakson, R-Georgia, issued a terse statement Thursday saying the committee had spent 22 months investigating "and will complete its work in a timely fashion."
"Senator Ensign has made the appropriate decision," the statement said.
Ensign announced in June 2009 that he had an extramarital affair with Cynthia Hampton, a former member of his campaign staff. Amid the scandal, his parents provided the Hamptons with $96,000, described as a gift, and Ensign helped find Doug Hampton, the husband, a lobbying job.
Doug Hampton has been indicted for illegally lobbying the senator's staff. Federal law prohibits a former senior Senate aide from lobbying the Senate for one year after terminating employment.