SEX IN THE SENATE: ENSIGN PULVERIZED

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NEVADA REPUBLICAN USED CAMPAIGN FUNDS TO HUSH MISTRESS

CONSERVATIVE POLITICIAN COMMITTED ADULTERY
WITH HIS NEIGHBOR'S WIFE, SEXUALLY HARASSED HER

CBS NEWS KLAS TV8 LAS VEGAS
"Jon Ralston Interviews Doug Hampton -- Segment 1"
The news Fox refused to report.


"Uncle John" Paid Fallen Woman's Husband & Son For His "Use For Pleasure" Of Their Wife & Mother

Now that the King of Child Molesters is safely in the ground (better check that) we can get back to those other troubled celebrities, the extreme right-wing of the Republican Party. Conservative Republican Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has quit to avoid or confront ethics investigations, she's not sure which. She'll have to get back to us. Or not.

Conservative Republican South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford ran off with his Argentine mistress, came back, publicly regretted coming back, apologized to his wife, announced to the entire world his mistress was the "love of his life," said he wanted to get back together with his wife and "work on their marriage," wished aloud that he was still in Argentina, where he disappeared completely for almost a week last month without leaving anyone in charge of official State business, and then refused to resign, all in the same week, in full view of todo el mundo. ¡Un qué pendejo!

But all that almost seems like small pecado's, compared to the criminal implications and downright disgusting sleaze of the Ensign Affair. The man paid his best friend so he could screw the guy's wife. Then he paid her son. Then he paid her. All with taxpayers' and/ or campaign contributors' money. That's way illegal, folks, not to mention gross.

Keep in mind, both SC Governor Sanford and NV Senator Ensign were in the forefront of the arch-conservative "Moral Majority" mob that staged the impeachment of Bill Clinton for lying about extramarital sex he'd had with an unmarried American volunteer. Both Republicans demanded that Clinton resign, back then. Now that both have been caught in flagrante delicto themselves, they won't hear of resigning. Hypocrite, much?

Not that any of this surprises those of us who have watched the Republicans and their so-called conservative movement for any period of time. Like most people who make a living accusing other people, they are all guilty as Hell themselves. The whole finger-pointing thing is just a way of directing attention away from their own sins. Really, the "moral" stuff is trivial except that they use it to destroy other people who could have done some good for us all.

Their greatest sin lies in destroying good people for evil purposes which hurt us all. From Tailgunner Joe McCarthy to tail-chasing Newt Gingrich, from red-baiting Tricky Dick Nixon to Islamofascist-accusing Dickhead Cheney, the right wing has held this country back, forced us off course and pushed us into bad situations that will take decades if not centuries to get out of. Like healthcare, or the lack of it: Ensign sits on the Senate Finance Committee that will decide whether we ever get it.

Conservatives haven't just screwed one intern, they've consistently screwed us all. The Republican Party is completely illegitimate and can never hold power again. Let Ensign be the first in a long line of Republicans headed for long prison terms. Too long to ever end up on talk radio afterwards.


YAHOO NEWS
"Ex-mistress's husband says Ensign paid severance"
So, this is what it means to be a "Christian"? Better get born again, and quick, Senator!

' Doug Hampton also provided a letter to the Las Vegas Sun that he claimed was a handwritten apology from Ensign to Cindy Hampton, a former treasurer for the senator's campaign committees. "I used you for my own pleasure," the letter reads, later adding. "Plain and simple it was wrong; it was sin." The letter and Doug Hampton's interview on Wednesday with a local television news show mark another embarrassment for Ensign, a 51-year-old Christian conservative who abruptly came forward last month and confessed to the affair. In addition, a severance payment could pose campaign finance or ethics issues for him. Campaign committee records do not show a large payment to Cindy Hampton when she left her job. If the payment occurred, it could present a possible campaign finance disclosure violation, campaign finance attorney Kenneth Gross said. The nature of the violation and penalty depends on "how the senator chooses to characterize the payment," he said. "It's an entangled situation and like most circumstances the devil is in the details on whether its described as gift or income, and whether there are tax or campaign disclosure laws implicated," Gross said. '

EXAMINER.COM
"Sen. Ensign faces felony ethics inquiry"
Who's the criminal here?

' Senator John Ensign was today accused of paying more than $25,000 to Cynthia Hampton in a possible felony violation of campaign finance law. If convicted, the two-term Republican could face up to five years in federal prison. The allegation was made by Doug Hampton in an interview with Las Vegas Sun columnist Jon Ralston. Doug Hampton, a former member of Ensign's senate staff, is Cynthia Hampton's husband and the man whom Ensign accused of extorting him in exchange for not making the affair public. No criminal investigation of the extortion allegation has been reported. The Sun reports that Ensign could face a possible felony indictment if he failed to report the payment as an "in-kind" contribution to the campaign committees where Cynthia Hampton worked. According to ethics complaints filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), no such payments were reported. The scandal also serves to harm the GOP's credibility on social policies. As a member of the House in 1998, Ensign was an outspoken critic of President Clinton, calling for his resignation and voting for impeachment, actions which are now being roundly criticized as cravenly hypocritical. Ensign has long been seen as a stalwart vote on conservative issues, earning a lifetime Senate voting record of 94% from the American Conservative Union, and his loss will be a setback to advocates of conservative policies. '

LAS VEGAS SUN
"Hampton speaks publicly, says Ensign paid severance"
Family values have gone up considerably. They're worth millions, now. It's a seller's market.

' Hampton said the affair began while his family was staying at the Ensign home. Hampton said his family’s house was broken into just before Christmas 2007, at which time the Ensigns invited the Hamptons to stay with them in a nearby Summerlin neighborhood. The families each have three children and their friendship goes back decades. Hampton discovered the affair when he saw an incriminating text message, he said. The families confronted the issue in full on Christmas Eve. Still, Hampton told Ralston, Ensign continued to pursue Cynthia Hampton with text messages and phone calls. Hampton seemed to suggest his wife Cynthia was powerless to prevent the continuing affair. Hampton and Ensign were bonded by their conservative evangelical faith. Hampton said he reached out to intermediaries involved in a Christian fellowship home in Washington, D.C., where Ensign and several other powerful Washington figures live. The group, including Coburn, a well-known conservative, confronted Ensign and suggested that the Hamptons needed to be given financial assistance -- in the millions of dollars -- to pay off their $1 million-plus mortgage and move them to a new life away from Ensign. '

CITIZENS FOR ETHICS & RESPONSIBILITY IN WASHINGTON
"CREW FILES ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST SEN. ENSIGN"
Any Commandments they didn't break, here?

' Today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint against Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) with the Senate Select Committee on Ethics and a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against his campaign committee and leadership PAC, based on activities surrounding his affair with a campaign staffer, Cynthia Hampton. On June 16, 2009, Sen. Ensign announced he had engaged in an affair with Ms. Hampton, who was married to Doug Hampton, the Senator’s administrative assistant. The affair began in December 2007 and ended in August 2008. The complaint details a number of Senate ethics rules and legal violations. First, Mr. Hampton has alleged Sen. Ensign terminated him and his wife for reasons related to the affair. If true, the senator likely engaged in discrimination on the basis of sex in violation of Title VII, and Senate Rule 42, which incorporates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to Senate employees and prohibits discrimination based on sex. At least two members of Congress previously have been investigated for sexual harassment, including former Sen. Bob Packwood (R-OR) and former Rep. Jim Bates (D-CA). Second, Ms. Hampton apparently received a severance payment directly from Sen. Ensign when she was terminated from the campaign committee and PAC, but neither committee reported any in-kind contribution by the senator. In addition, if Sen. Ensign paid Ms. Hampton more than $5,000 he may have made an illegal excessive contribution to the PAC. Knowingly failing to report a contribution of over $25,000 is a violation of criminal law. Mr. Hampton apparently was paid $6,000 upon his departure, purportedly for vacation time. If this actually was some sort of severance payment, Sen. Ensign’s office may have misused official funds. CREW has alleged Sen. Ensign violated the rules prohibiting improper conduct that reflects upon the Senate by abusing his authority as the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) to hire and pay the Hampton’s son as an intern at the NRSC and by claiming to have been blackmailed by Mr. Hampton, without reporting the alleged crime to law enforcement authorities. '

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