Disgraced Nevada senator John Ensign won’t fight the ethics investigation into his dealings with a former staffer, in the aftermath of an affair between Ensign and the staffer’s wife.
“Sen. Ensign will cooperate with any official inquiry,” a spokeswoman for the senator told TPMmuckraker via email.
The existence of the Senate Ethics committee probe was revealed yesterday by Sen. Barbara Boxer, who chairs the committee. Appearing on CNN, Boxer said there’s a “preliminary investigation going on, and added” “We will look at all aspects of this case as we do whenever there’s a case before us and try to get to the bottom of it as quickly as we can in fairness to all.”
The New York Times reported last week that, after his affair with Cindy Hampton was discovered, Ensign, a Republican, actively set up her husband Doug, a former aide, as a Nevada-based lobbyist, and helped him sign up clients. Doug Hampton then contacted Ensign’s office on behalf of several of his clients, after which Ensign took action benefiting those clients. According to Hampton, both he and Ensign were aware that these contacts could well violate laws against lobbying one’s former boss, but persisted nonetheless.
