With the world’s eyes focused on the late Osama Bin Laden and Congress largely quiet, Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) ended his tumultuous political career with a farewell speech from the Senate floor on Monday afternoon.
Ensign, who announced his resignation last month almost two years after revealing an extramarital affair with a staffer, issued an apology to his family and fellow lawmakers — and a warning to avoid his path to ruin.
In his remarks, Ensign lamented how he had grown “blind to how arrogant and self-centered that I had become” en route to his scandal, even as he saw the same self-centeredness exhibited in his Senate colleagues.
“My caution to all of my colleagues is to surround yourself with people who will be honest with you about how you really are and what you are becoming, and then make them promise to not hold back, no matter how much you may try to prevent them, from telling you the truth,” Ensign said. “I wish that I had done this sooner, but this is one of the hardest lessons that I’ve had to learn.”
Ensign took time to personally apologize for judging two colleagues whose Senate careers also ended in infamy — the late Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK), who lost his final election while under indictment for corruption charges that were later thrown out, and Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), who pleaded guilty to disorderly-conduct charges after allegedly soliciting sex from an undercover cop in an airport bathroom.
“Following Larry’s admission and Ted’s guilty verdict, I too believed in the power of my leadership position and I called on both of them to resign,” he said. “I sincerely struggled with these decisions afterward, so much so that I went to each of them a few weeks afterward and admitted what I did was wrong and I asked both of them for forgiveness. Each of these men were gracious enough to forgive me, even though publicly I did not show them the same grace.”
While the circumstances of his departure may have put a damper on his departure, the Ensign didn’t let it eclipse his achievements, which he devoted the lion’s share of his speech to recounting in detail.
“I simply cannot list the number of things or the number of people on my staff who have helped me with legislation. We have accomplished a lot. I wish I could do it in just one speech, but it’s not possible,” he said. “I could speak at length about my fight for lower taxes and individual freedoms, protection of constitutional rights, the dignity of our servicemen and women, education reform, and so much more, but there is not enough time. And I hope that my voting record and legislative record here in the United States Senate will continue to speak for me longer — long after I have left this chamber.”
In the end, he said he still harbored the same faith in his country that propelled him into politics in the first place.
“Throughout the years, I may have lost my naivete, but I never lost my idealism,” he said.
