Posted on 06/16/2009 3:30:45 PM PDT by pissant
Nevada Republican Sen. John Ensign has told colleagues that he plans to admit an extramarital affair, a senior Republican official tells POLITICO.
Political insiders in the Senate and in Nevada 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 sources said, he gave the aide a severance package and parted ways.
Sometime later, a Nevada source said, Ensign met with the husband of the woman involved and had what this source described as a positive encounter. Sources 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 informed fellow Nevadan Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, about his situation earlier today.
"I don't know the details. I talked with him today,” Reid told POLITICO. “Of course, he's my friend. This is a private, family matter. I just hope that Darlene and he work things out."
Reid said he didn’t offer any advice on how to handle the situation. "I didn't give him any advice. I just told him he's my friend. I'm pulling for him. Anything I can do to help, let me know.”
Ensign, a born again Christian, is chairman of the GOP Policy Committee, making him the highest ranking Republican Senator in Nevada’s history. He has three children. Ensign’s wife Darlene, in a statement to the Las Vegas Sun, said: "Since we found out last year we have worked through the situation and we have come to a reconciliation. This has been difficult on both families. With the help of our family and close friends our marriage has become stronger," Mrs. Ensign said.
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, who 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.
It’s not clear exactly how this affair will affect Ensign’s future in the Senate. When former Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was arrested for soliciting sex in an airport men’s room in the summer of 2007, Ensign was among Craig’s toughest critics, saying he should step down since he had been charged with a crime.
In the Bible, David did far worse and yet he was called a man after God's own heart. If he had a history of numerous affairs, that would be a different matter.
Before Conservatives get into the purge mode, perhaps consideration of whether or not there is a pattern of this type of behavior in his life would be worthwhile.
There is no question that he did wrong, but, the evidence that he also repented and did right should be taken into account, imo.
Um, they tried to blackmail him and he went public. It was something that happened while he was separated and when he and his wife went back together, he ended it. I really don’t see where he did anything but the right thing.
Some fools on our side will never learn.
First thought that popped into my mind, since both the husband and wife worked for him.
I’d like to know a bit more about the background of the story.
Is this his first affair or the first time that he’s been caught?
I suspect the answers are "no" and "yes".
I always wondered why he didn’t run for President. He’s a staunch conservative with ‘supposedly’ Christian values and his stances on pretty much every issue agree with mine completely. I always thought he would make a rather Reagan-esque President.
Now I know ‘the why’. It makes perfect sense.
Crap.
According to the Bible yes he did, as I do five or six time a week, how about this for a confession, I am a fornicator and a sinner. However I do not look for sexual moral behavior ideals in a politician I look for them to cut my taxes, fight socialism, keep our national security strong, and preserve the life of the unborn.
The conservatives should read the Bible if they want to learn about moral sexual behavior but they should not look to learn this from a politician. We will judge our politicians based on the stuff that I mentioned in the previous paragraph.
My dad died when I was rather young but he did tell me "Don't F@ck the help"
But she wasn’t separated from her husband, who was his friend. Make excuses all you want, but I’m not going to believe any ‘family values’ lectures from some arsehole who bangs his friend’s wife.
Exactly.
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