How Has John Ensign Not Resigned in Disgrace Yet?

{Originally posted at my blog Senate Guru.}

The Las Vegas Sun's Jon Ralston breaks the following news (HT: PW):

Emails between Ensign NRSC lieutenants, Hamptons show affair was known inside organization more than a year ago

The emails, between Mike Slanker and Doug Hampton and Lindsey Slanker and Cindy Hampton, show the Slankers knew of the affair between John Ensign and Cindy Hampton while they were working in 2008 at the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which the senator headed. The previous implication had been they did not know until Ensign's June 16 news conference. Slanker now says he did indeed find out shortly after he hired Hampton, but did not intend to mislead the media.

The Las Vegas Sun story includes links to the actual e-mails.

So, not only did Nevada Republican John Ensign do everything he did, but he brought the NRSC into it, effectively making Ensign's infidelity and cover-up the problem of every Republican U.S. Senator and every donor to the NRSC.

Let's look back. On June 16, Ensign held the press conference where he announced that he had an extra-marital affair. This alone, by Ensign's own standard, should have been enough to lead Ensign to the decision to resign his U.S. Senate seat. By Ensign's own standard? Yup. When President Clinton admitted the details of his own affair, Ensign said that Clinton had "no credibility left" and should resign. But, like many elected officials who are "family values conservatives," Ensign did not come remotely close to living up to his own standard.

The extra-marital affair wasn't the end of the news:

Sen. John Ensign 's parents gave $96,000 to a former campaign staffer with whom he had an extramarital relationship and her family, his attorney said Thursday, denying that the payments violated campaign finance laws or Senate ethics rules.

"The payments were made as gifts, accepted as gifts and complied with tax rules governing gifts," lawyer Paul Coggins said.

There are, of course, several problems with this. First is the optics that this $96,000 (which came in eight $12,000 increments) is very clearly hush money, not a gift. Second is the fact that portions of this money has been described previously not as a gift but as severance payments, which opens up a major legal can of worms for Ensign:

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington questioned whether the payments from the Ensigns to the Hamptons were really "gifts" or actually severance, as Doug Hampton referred to the money in his interview with Ralston.

If they were severance payments to Cynthia Hampton, who had worked as treasurer for two campaign committees controlled by Ensign and whose salary doubled during the affair, Ensign could face criminal charges for failing to disclose the payments to the Federal Election Commission.

Ensign attorney Paul Coggins went to lengths to say they were gifts and understood as gifts. (Ensign's mother and his father each gave $12,000 to each of the Hamptons and to two of their three children. By dividing up the payment into $12,000 increments, they hit the tax-free ceiling for gifts allowed under IRS rules.)

So either the hush money was unreported severance or gifts structured to sneak under IRS rules. Either way, it's clear to anyone with common sense that John Ensign is deeply in the wrong. Though he may still qualify as an ethical member of the Senate's Republican caucus given the frighteningly low ethical bar in that caucus, he clearly has not met the higher standard to which we should hold our U.S. Senators.

Top staffers for Ensign, including his Chief of Staff and Communications Director, have bolted Ensign's office. With still more details coming out in drips and drabs about who knew what when, what is clear is that if John Ensign has an ounce of shame or dignity left, he would resign. He would live up to the standard to which he has held other elected officials, and he would save his Party further disgrace.

If Ensign doesn't resign, he will make his hypocrisy and lack of ethics a problem for every Republican Senator facing election. Keep in mind, Ensign isn't up for re-election until 2012, so it's up to Ensign whether we'll have him to kick around for three and a half years or much less.

UPDATE: Ensign's relying on his mommy & daddy for hush money threatens to impact Ensign's father's business affairs. John Ensign is willing to ruin his own father's career in order to cover his backside. How cowardly is John Ensign?

 

Comments

[LVLefty]

As a Las Vegan, let me answer your question: the only bigger cowards in this town are some of the people publishing news about him.

[PatA]

The American public has been hit, right and left, with so many scandals that we're dangerously close to ignoring some of them. That is what the politicians count on. And as someone above said, "the birthers" and others will help the dirty sweep the scandal under "OUR" rugs......
We have to insist that our elected officials live by standards that are off the floor by about 6 feet...as it is now, the b.s. is getting deeper.

[MED1025]

He doesn't think he needs to resign. The weird variant of Christianity he follows states that he is chosen by his god to be a king and as such all his behavoir is excusable.

[tck29]

Why won't he resign? Simple: He doesn't have to.

This is SOP for all politicians. Deny, deny, deny and eventually someone else will f-up and move you off the front page. He just has to ride it out...

[Budokan]

He's a RepubliKan. They get a special dispensation. They only operate on the "Do as we say, not as we do" principle of hypocrisy.

http://kennethmarkhoover.com

[pjcpa]

Did Clinton resign???

[dayala]

does the man actually believe the people of NV are going to re-elect him?
what are the polls in NV on Ensign?

are there no viable Dem contenders out there, here's a chance for Dems to capture another seat, McCain too.

[zanzig]

Well I'm sure the Republicans' fell hands are behind the flurry of "news" from the birthers, in an attempt to distract the populace from the Sanford and Ensign sagas. The "Kenyan birth certificate" in particular serves as the "cake (apocryphal Marie Antoinette comment "Let them eat cake") so the peasants will forget that they are starving.

[alvdh1]

It is called the law of GOP hypocracy.

[sippi]

He's testing the waters to see if he can remain in office despite his pathologic lies and deceit. If he and Sanford can remain in office, and little Pickering can sweep his lies and corruption under the rug, they've established a new low watermark - the voters, even fundamentalist crazies may be so scandal overloaded, it really doesn't even resonate at the voting booth anymore. A sure sign of a gov't on the brink of collapse.

[barackobama4prez]

Den of thieves....they were born and shaped and, sadly still live in iniquity. hypocrites.

[jsgaetano]

Q: How cowardly is John Ensign?

A: As cowardly as a typical Republican.

[MikeRdg]

We will do this another way, a walk down memory lane

Why not a National Day of Humiliation like they did when President Nixon signed the order brought foward by Den. Mark D. Hatfield., it was to be a day for prayer and forgivenss for our government and institutions in our society......


sadly it did not do much good back then.

[JailNeoconVicts]

The answer to your question: What is clear is that John Ensign does not have an ounce of shame or dignity.

[MikeRdg]

While wading through a box of old clippings, a yellowed and frayed article surfaced, surfing through the blogs and articles on Huffington post, scanning for a spot which the article may not be grossly out of place, thinking here may be the best spot for a walk down memory lane.

The article reads as follows:

Day of Humiliation

The Senate yesterday called for the observance next April 30 of a “national day of humiliation, fasting and prayer” as repentance for the nation’s failings. The resolution, adopted by voice vote with no debate or opposition now goes to the A hour for consideration. If the House approves it, the measure will go to President Nixon. Introduction by Sen. Mark O. Hatfield R-Ore., the resolution declares “it… behooves us to humble ourselves before
Almighty God, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness….” He suggested that on April 30 “our government and the other institutions of our society would all cease business as usual… so that we all would be free to consider actions appropriate to … national repentance.”

Maybe it would fit under wall street also, then again maybe it would fit under…..

[cobraxus]

In The Book Of Leviticus this is called The Day Of Atonement and it's where the term scapegoat comes from.

[AngelaQuattrano]

The reason he has not resigned is because the people at C Street told him that laws don't apply to him, since he is one of God's Chosen.

[jsgaetano]

After looking at the last eight+ years, I'd say every conservative thinks they are God's Chosen.

[ReedYoung]

That was my reaction to this whole article. The GOP prevented impeachment of known war criminals. Who expects a little Senatorial adultery to bother them? And who is surprised that they all fail to practice on one of their own what they preached to and about former President Clinton?