John Ensign is the lone Pentecostal in the US Senate, and his days may be numbered.
The Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee are expected to conduct preliminary inquiries into whether Senator John Ensign violated federal law or ethics rules as part of an effort to conceal an affair with the wife of an aide, current and former officials said Friday.
“Whenever allegations of improper conduct are brought to the attention of Senate Ethics Committee, we open a preliminary inquiry,” said Natalie Ravitz, a spokeswoman for Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the committee.
The inquiries will most likely examine whether Mr. Ensign, a Nevada Republican, or Douglas Hampton, his one-time administrative assistant, broke the law after Mr. Hampton, immediately upon leaving his Congressional job last year, began to lobby Mr. Ensign’s office. Mr. Hampton, as a senior aide, was subject to a one-year lobbying ban, lawyers who specialize in ethics law said.
“It is difficult for me to imagine they would not look into it,” said Kenneth A. Gross, a former associate general counsel at the Federal Election Commission. As a lawyer at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Mr. Gross has represented Washington officials in ethics investigations.
Mr. Ensign could be legally at risk if he knew that Mr. Hampton was violating the one-year ban, or if he actually directed him to do so, as Mr. Hampton has said, ethics lawyers said… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
This one should be a slam dunk, because more that one source has apparently revealed that Ensign personally set up Hampton’s hiring and subsequently supported positions favorable to Hampton’s new employer. He did this to cover up his affair and avoid being exposed as a hypocrite who supports enforcing theocratic values on everyone else, while considering himself above having to follow them himself.
Not only is this typical for C Street, but also, it’s symptomatic of the Republican leadership as a whole. Max Blumenthal explains this in a new book, Republican Gomorrah. Video Nation has a review.
I think what we’re witnessing here is the final meltdown of the once great Republican Party, that has driven all but most extreme radical right wingers from the party, and that now represents only corporate greed, racism, and the American Taliban.
4 comments:
Yep, all I wrote about before and all of the hypocrisy is coming about. This is so typical of the religious right. I posted another video of the Jesus Camp bunch last night... it's just sickening..
tom
it should be a slam dunk but wont be - there is a growing rift of one set of rules for the elite in congress and one set for everyone else.
why does vitter still have a job but not elliot spitzer?
watch ensign get 'exonerated' - about the ONLY thing republicans are good at is protecting their own no matter how criminal they might be
After years of hearing the GOP blather about being the party of Family Values, it is both amusing and disgusting to see what they are up to. The thing that I find most shocking about the Ensign affair is that not only did his parents pay the family of his mistress but Tom Coburn also knew about it. We have this Bible thumping group called The Family which both Ensign and Coburn belong to and yet they act like dogs in heat. One of the things that makes me most angry is how so often the GOP and the radical right want to have the 10 Commandments posted in every public building, yet they seem to forget that one of the commandments is succinct and to the point; Thou shall not commit adultery.
Incidentally, have you noticed that they have not tossed the mantra of Family Values around much lately?
Thanks for the warning, Annette. I'll have a barf bag ready before I watch that clip. :-)
DC, you raise an excellent point, but this one has escalated to the DOJ.
Charles, not only did Coburn know, but also, he was actively involved in the cover up.
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