Nevada Sen. John Ensign to admit extramarital affair

[Phillip V]

Lucky Dems.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23813.html

By: Manu Raju
June 16, 2009 05:47 PM EST

Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign has told colleagues that he plans to admit an extramarital affair, a senior Republican official tells POLITICO.

A Nevada political insider told POLITICO that Ensign began an affair with a staffer several months after he separated from his wife. When Ensign reconciled with his wife, the source said, he gave the aide a severance package and parted ways.

Sometime later, the source said, Ensign met with the husband of the woman involved and had what this source described as a positive encounter. But the source said that the man subsequently asked Ensign for a substantial sum of money – at which point Ensign decided to make the affair public.

Ensign's office did not return calls for comment, but the senator told the Associated Press Tuesday: "I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions."
Ensign's staff said he would be making a statement about a "personal matter" at 3:30 p.m. local time in Las Vegas.

Ensign is chairman of the GOP Policy Committee, making him the highest ranking Republican Senator in Nevada's history. He has three children.

Ensign was absent on Capitol Hill Tuesday, skipping the weekly lunch that his committee hosts for GOP senators and its ensuing press conference where party leaders espouse their weekly message. Word of his expected announcement stunned colleagues, were preparing for this summer's big battles over the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor and a health care fight but now have to contend with a drama hovering over one of their leaders.

Elected in 2000, the 51-year-old Ensign has moved up the leadership chain in the Senate. As chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2008, Ensign oversaw the devastating losses to GOP candidates. But his party largely spared him of blame, casting it instead on an unpopular president who dragged down the party's brand. Since then, Ensign has sought to articulate conservative principles and is a mainstay at GOP press conferences deriding Democrats' domestic policies.

Ensign ran for the Senate in 1998 against Sen. Harry Reid in a nasty, cliffhanger race that Reid – now the Senate majority leader – won by a razor-thin 428 votes. Reid and Ensign have since reached a détente; neither man criticizes the other back home by name.

A staunch fiscal and social conservative, Ensign has been considered a rising star in his party, recently making headlines by speaking at events in Iowa, raising speculation about his interest in a run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012.

[garbon]

Text too big, didn't read.

[Valmy]

What the heck?  He had the 'extramarital affair' when he was separated from his wife.  That is getting a little technical isn't it?  Surely the Republicans are not going to throw him out over something like that.

On the other hand if you are trying to show yourself to be a social conservative I guess you are required to live like a monk.

[Malthus]

What the heck?  He had the 'extramarital affair' when he was separated from his wife.  That is getting a little technical isn't it?  Surely the Republicans are not going to throw him out over something like that.

On the other hand if you are trying to show yourself to be a social conservative I guess you are required to live like a monk.

The only part that was a bit iffy is paying off the woman and firing her when he got back with the wife - though anything else would be pretty awkward.

Edit: though it looks like the woman was married herself, which some might find a bit of a no-no.

[Valmy]

Well and the fact she was married at the time I guess is a little below impeccable moral standards. 

Edit: Yeah I didn't think about that one at first.

[Razgovory]

Never heard of him.  So long as it's not a dead woman or a live boy I can't get to worked up.

[Martinus]

Newsflash: People have sex.

[DGuller]

Newsflash: People have sex.

Even married people?

[Martinus]

Newsflash: People have sex.

Even married people?

Well, not with each other, obviously.

[Caliga]

pics plz

[Martinus]

Five years ago this guy made this press release:

July 13, 2004

ENSIGN DEFENDS SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE ON SENATE FLOOR


Washington, D.C. – Senator John Ensign took to the floor of the United States Senate today to defend the sanctity of marriage and urge passage of the Federal Marriage Amendment Act.

"Marriage recognizes the ideal of a father and mother living together to raise their children," Ensign said. "Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded. For those who say that the Constitution is so sacred that we cannot or should not adopt the Federal Marriage Amendment, I would simply point out that marriage, and the sanctity of that institution, predates the American Constitution and the founding of our nation. Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America has relied."

Ensign, in his comments, noted that Nevadans had amended the state constitution to guarantee the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. Ensign emphasized the need to preserve the will of Nevadans who voted overwhelmingly to preserve marriage as well as the need to preserve the will of the majority of Americans.

"I am deeply concerned that a few unelected judges and some locally elected government officials have taken steps to redefine marriage to fit their own agenda," said Ensign. "It is not right to mold marriage to fit the desires of a few, against the wishes of so many, and to ignore the important role of marriage."

Fuck you, you sanctimonious son of a bitch. 

[DGuller]

I think it's fair to point out that they were on a break.

[Martinus]

I think it's fair to point out that they were on a break.

[PDH]

I think he deserves life in front of a firing squad.

[Valmy]

I think it's fair to point out that they were on a break.

Well it did work for Ross eventually.  Maybe he should try it.