Free Republic

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Ensign's future grew more unsettled Friday as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell declined to offer his support or express confidence in the embattled Nevada Republican, following additional fallout from Mr. Ensign's affair with a staffer. Asked if Mr. Ensign could be an effective senator in light of ethical questions raised by the New York Times Friday, Mr. McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said only: "Sen. Ensign continues to serve. He's a member of the Finance Committee, been active in the discussions there."

Senator’s Aid to Mistress’s Husband Raises Ethics Flags ERIC LICHTBLAU and ERIC LIPTON Published: October 1, 2009 WASHINGTON — Early last year, Senator John Ensign contacted a small circle of political and corporate supporters back home in Nevada — a casino designer, an airline executive, the head of a utility and several political consultants — seeking work for a close friend and top Washington aide, Douglas Hampton. Senator John Ensign was having an affair with Cynthia Hampton, and he sought work for her husband. Mr. Ensign on Capitol Hill in July. “He’s a competent guy, and he’s looking to come...

Let's see Obama spin this one!By now readers may be aware that the health care bill proposed by Democrats creates an individual mandate which requires all Americans to buy health insurance (illegal aliens will still be able to get their care free). Even though then Sen. Obama campaigned for office against a mandate, he's on record supporting one now and claiming that it does not constitute a tax even though just about everyone else concedes it is a tax. Republicans in the U.S. Senate tried to get the individual mandate removed from the bill Democrats are pushing rapidly through the...

Politics: The senator who called the president a liar and never apologized may have worn out his welcome in his home state. Harry Reid may be riding the liberal agenda into political oblivion.In 2004, Republicans defeated Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle largely on the theme that he neglected his home state in favor of national party interests. The GOP is hoping that in 2010 lightning will strike a second time, and Nevada polls indicate it may be more than wishful thinking. In 1998, Reid beat John Ensign by a hair-thin 428 votes. Ensign would go on to win Nevada's other...

It seems every election we are promised by both parties to get earmarks (pork) under control. They always promise to be better than previous legislatures were, but they always seem to increase their wasteful spending. So how does your Nevada congressional members rank for fiscal year 2009, and how much pork barrel spending were they responsible for? From best to worst as far as pork is concerned:

Despite admitting to having an affair and having his parents pay off his mistress, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) yesterday said he plans to stay in office -- and run for re-election in 2012. Ensign told the Las Vegas Sun he's been getting emails and phone calls from supporters urging him to stay put. Those supporters, he said, include senators on both sides of Senate leadership. "I fully plan on running for reelection," Ensign said. "I'm going to work to earn their respect back." He quoted his supporters as saying, "Keep your head up. This thing will pass."

Washington — Perhaps the political future of Republican Sen. John Ensign will become clearer Monday evening at the Chianti Cafe in Las Vegas. There, the state’s Republican Party leaders will gather to discuss other matters, but amid the mozzarella fritta and calamari appetizers, Ensign’s affair is certain to come up. These are the loyalists, the volunteers and officials who are trying to keep a crumbling state party together in the face of the Democratic machine engineered by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Sen. John Ensign's (R-Nev.) parents gave the family of the woman with whom he had an affair gifts totaling $96,000 after they learned of their son's affair, an attorney for the Nevada senator said Thursday. Ensign's parents gave the gifts to Doug and Cindy Hampton and two of their children, in the form of a single check. The gifts were limited to $12,000 per person at most, in order to avoid taxes on gifts, given by each of Ensign's parents. After the senator told his parents about the affair, his parents decided to make the gifts out of concern for...

Is the conservative movement rotten to its core? South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's bizarre revelation that he had an extramarital affair with a longtime female friend in Argentina has dealt another blow to an already decrepit Republican Party. After losing control of Congress in 2006 and the White House in last year's election, the Republicans are not only in the minority; they also are adrift and leaderless. Mr. Sanford was highly touted as one who could advance new ideas, as a fresh face for Republican conservatives. He carved out a distinct political identity by fusing a command of policy with...

Should Senator Ensign resign in the wake of an affair with a staffer? No. Is Ensign’s career harmed? Yes. What should be done? Let the voters decide, next election. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, on to the more interesting question: Why does the left take such delight in a Republican senator’s personal stumbles? (A more dramatic version is now playing out in South Carolina with Gov. Mark Sanford.) Part of it is just base, crass human nature. People like the mighty to fall — especially if the stricken is an enemy. If it was only that...

Beleaguered Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) appears to be following a path into the shadows traveled by many scandal-plagued lawmakers before him — by hiding from the press, refusing to talk, and hoping that time will push the whole episode into the background.

Doug Hampton, the supposed blackmailer of John Ensign, went to Megan Kelly of Fox News for help, the week before the story broke. "I love this country and considered it a great privilege to work in the US (sic) Senate. I am bringing this to you and Fox News to address this professionally and correctly. I could have sought the most liberal, Republican hating media to expose this story, but there are people’s lives at stake and justice is about proper process as well as outcome. Senator Ensign has no business serving in the US (sic) Senate anymore! I will...

A rather intriguing reaction from one of John Ensign’s Senate GOP colleagues to the news of Ensign’s extramarital affair: . . . . . Graham let out a laugh and said: “I’ve got plenty of sins that I’m not going to share with anyone else.”

Sen. John Ensign has been quick to describe his dalliance with an aide in brief and simple terms. The affair is over. The apologies made and accepted. No questions will be answered, the married Nevada Republican said in his brief admission of infidelity. But the first public statement from the woman once involved with the 51-year-old rising political star suggests more is brewing behind Ensign's neat account. Cindy Hampton and her husband, a couple Ensign has described as "close friends," issued sharp remarks Wednesday through an attorney. "It is unfortunate the senator chose to air this very personal matter, especially...

LAS VEGAS – Sen. John Ensign has been quick to describe his dalliance with an aide in brief and simple terms. The affair is over. The apologies made and accepted. No questions will be answered, the married Nevada Republican said in his brief admission of infidelity. But the first public statement from the woman once involved with the 51-year-old rising political star suggests more is brewing behind Ensign's neat account. Cindy Hampton and her husband, a couple Ensign has described as "close friends," issued sharp remarks Wednesday through an attorney. "It is unfortunate the senator chose to air this very...

The son of the couple at the center of the sex scandal that has engulfed Sen. John Ensign was being paid by National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2008 at the same time his mother was having an affair with the Nevada Republican. Both Doug and Cynthia Hampton were already working in senior positions for Ensign when their son Brandon Hampton was hired to do “research policy consulting” for the NRSC in March 2008. The younger Hampton, 19, was paid $5,400 before he left the Ensign office in August last year, Federal Election Commission records show. That means during March and...

Reporting from Washington and Las Vegas -- The 19-year-old son of a woman who reportedly had an affair with Nevada Sen. John Ensign was being paid by the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the relationship, federal election records show. Brandon Hampton, who shares an address with former Ensign staffers Doug and Cynthia Hampton, was paid $5,400 between March 2008 and August 2008. The payments, for "research policy consulting," ended the same month as the affair, which was said to begin in December 2007. Ensign staffers and committee officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Nevada's junior U.S. senator, Republican John Ensign, recently let it be known he might consider a presidential run in 2012. It must be presumed that lit a fire under the "opposition research" bloodhounds on the other side of the aisle. We'll likely discover the senator's public acknowledgement Tuesday, that he has had an extramarital affair with a member of his campaign staff, came in answer to a threat by other parties to go public with that information. Unless, of course, political forces not friendly to Sen. Ensign's limited-government agenda got hold of the information, and offered to not make it...

The Republican senator who went public a day earlier about an extramarital affair has resigned his GOP leadership post on Wednesday. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., stepped down as chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, the fourth-ranking GOP position in the Senate, after holding a brief news conference Tuesday to come clean about his affair with a former aide. He is not expected to resign from the Senate. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., confirmed the move Wednesday afternoon. "He's accepted responsibility for his actions and apologized to his family and constituents. He offered, and I accepted, his resignation as chairman...

These politicians more and more prove the theory that the conservative and liberal movements needs to remove nearly every incumbent politicians holding office in 2010 including the Messiah, as every time we turn around either they don't uphold their own personal lives they way they claim, lying and cheating their own families as Ensign admits to doing here, which means they wouldn't think twice about screwing you and I, as it usually turns out they are. As does every single Liberal democrat out there, we know that as a fact. They wear infidelity and deviance proud and loud as a...