Ensign says he did not breach ethics rules

[sabra]

Source: CNN

(CNN) – Embattled Republican Sen. John Ensign told CNN Tuesday he did not break Senate ethics rules in helping secure a lobbying job for the husband of the woman he had an affair with.

"I think it's pretty clear. I said in the past, I recommended him for jobs just like I've recommended a lot of people," Ensign told CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash and Congressional Producer Ted Barrett. "But we absolutely did nothing except for comply exactly with what the ethics laws and the ethics rules of the Senate state. We were very careful in everything that we did. You can see our statements on that."

...

A preliminary Senate ethics investigation has been launched.

"All of these things will, you know, come out," Ensign told CNN "All of these things will come out at their due time. But there's no question, we complied with all of the ethics"

Asked if he has any plans to resign his seat, Ensign said, "I am focused on doing my work. I'm going to continue to focus on doing my work."

Read more: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/06/ensign-says-he-did-not-breach-ethics-rules/

[mth44sc]

1. well - that settles that n/t

[yellowcanine]

10. Yep (smacks dust off hands). Nothing to see here. Alrighty then.

[Mz Pip]

2. Oh bullshit.

THough I suppose he can't really come out and say, "I screwed my aid's wife and then tried to buy him off but it didn't work out too well."

[Ian David]

3. He did not have unethical relations with that money. n/t

[Soylent Brice]

13. LOL

[gateley]

4. I don't think it's up to him to determine whether he's guilty or not. What an ass. nt

[maddezmom]

5. yeah, I guess Ensign forgot about the lobbying restrictions as well

issues, though, pale in comparison to recent disclosures by the New York Times that Mr. Ensign helped find Cynthia Hampton's husband, Douglas, work as a lobbyist and that Mr. Hampton, in turn, lobbied Mr. Ensign on behalf of his clients. According to the Times, Mr. Ensign, acting on requests from Mr. Hampton, appealed to officials at the Interior and Transportation departments to intervene on matters raised by clients -- a power company and an airline -- represented by Mr. Hampton. Mr. Ensign has said that he acted without regard to Mr. Hampton's efforts. Federal law prohibits congressional aides from lobbying their ex-bosses or other colleagues for one year after departing their government jobs. Mr. Hampton told the Times that he and Mr. Ensign were aware of the restriction but chose to ignore it. That could, according to experts, put Mr. Ensign at legal risk.

It will be up to the Justice Department and the Senate ethics committee to decide whether Mr. Ensign violated federal law or Senate ethics rules. A spokeswoman for the senator said that he will fully cooperate with any inquiries and that he believes he complied with all relevant rules and laws. But there's another issue: What kind of man lets his parents clean up his mistakes (by paying off an old girlfriend) or misleads supporters (into hiring Mr. Hampton) or ensnares friends (such as Mr. Coburn) in his tawdry affairs? Mr. Ensign recently delivered a pronouncement about public mistrust of Washington: He's a good example of why.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x486525

[BOSSHOG]

6. Of course he didn't

He's a christian conservative with family values. They never do anything unethical.

[Plucketeer]

19. Spot on!

:rofl:

[BeyondGeography]

7. Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?

[Angry Dragon]

8. Interesting

It will be very interesting when they interview his mistress and her husband. I have seen quotes from the people he talked to about jobs and they say that they worked through his office. Seems it may just be a mistake by all the others. He is such a honest man.:evilfrown:

[pattmarty]

9. Yeah, really "ethical" to fuck your staffer's wife. Ensign, now go fuck yourself.

[kestrel91316]

11. Ever the sleazy little weasel.......

[SpiralHawk]

12. "After all, I am a Republicon Pharisee and above reproach. Smirk." - Sen. Ensign (R)

"I gots Republicon Familee Values (smirk), and you know what that means (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)."

- Sen. Ensign (R)

[lisa58]

14. then it's okay then...thanks for telling us

[damntexdem]

15. Yeah, and prisons are full of people who didn't do it.

;-)

Of course, Texas prisons really are; but we're talking about fed charges against a Nevada pol.

[No Elephants]

16. And of course my parents wanted to make tax-free gifts totaling $100,000 to my mistress,

her husband and their children. Because, if I had paid them "bonuses" from payroll (a) I would have had to pay payroll taxes on the "bonuses" and (b) that may have raised questions. Ditto if I had made tax free "gifts" from my own money to employees.

[xxqqqzme]

17. Boxer decides to investigate

Ensign says, generously, there is no need.

Boy, that's a relief!

[WonderGrunion]

18. Sen. Ensign... YOU LIE!!!!

Somebody had to say it.

[Plucketeer]

20. Cookies???

I ain't stole no cookies! - Munch, Crunch, crumble, spew, cough, swallow.........

[Javaman]

21. That slippery oil that Ensign is covered in, is wearing away. nt

[depakid]

22. In many other western nations, Ensign would have been indicted

and looking down the barrel of 5 years or so of prison time.

[shadowknows69]

23. Ok, and I didn't take a shit this morning.

I suspect the evidence to the contrary in both cases is floating around somewhere.

[tishaLA]

24. I just watched Bash's interview with him

he looked like a complete lying republicon weasel.

[Overseas]

25. He lived with "The Family" before-- perhaps he answers to a different authority.

Perhaps he knows the self-named "Christian Mafia" will protect him.

Perhaps giving jobs to his lover's husband is part of their "Jesus Plus Nothing" credo.

Senator Ensign, a member of a male evangelical group that promotes marital fidelity, recently admitted to having an affair with a campaign staffer. He later disclosed that his parents gave almost $100,000 to the staffer and her family. Governor Sanford’s wife recently moved out of the governor’s mansion, weeks after Sanford admitted to visiting a woman in Argentina and committing infidelities with several other women. And last month, Congressman Pickering’s estranged wife filed suit against his alleged mistress, claiming the woman had ruined their marriage.

But these Republicans’ ties extend beyond their marital woes. All three have, at one time, lived in a former convent on Capitol Hill known as the C Street house, and all three are connected to a secretive group known as the Fellowship, or the Family. It’s probably an organization you’ve never heard of, but it’s one of the most powerful Christian fundamentalist movements in this country.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/8/12/sharlet

[Old Codger]

26. for starters

The 2 words senate and ethics do not really belong in the same sentence, actually they are not even in the same universe...What a Joke...

[tomm2thumbs]

27. well if he says so, I believe him. he's such a good boy /nt

[Lagomorph]

28. He's simply supporting his mistress in the lifestyle she's accustomed to...

by getting her husband a job. What else is a amoral horny bastard going to do?

[tonysam]

29. Nevada really knows how to do it

Pick elected officials, I mean. Right now "we" have Ensign to embarrass us nationally, and we have Gibbons to embarrass us statewide. Then we have these officials who really know how to pick 'em, which include Ensign and Gibbons, the latter who is going through a messy divorce. But at least these two haven't paid for their bad choices with their lives ala the late controller Kathy Augustine. She took the cake for making bad decisions.