Rep. Dean Heller (R-NV) spoke on a local politics show this week about his colleague Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), detailing why it’s “frustrating” to have him in the Nevada delegation — and adding that he’s not running for Sen. Harry Reid’s seat because of the scandal.
“I’m not asking Sen. Ensign to resign, at least on this show,” Heller said.
But he spoke about the frustrations the Nevada delegation faces because of Ensign’s sex and lobbying scandal, and the senator’s refusal to answer certain questions about it.
“When our delegation is together, of course we invite the press in. We know what the questions are going to be from the press. When you get Ensign in a room, they’re gonna ask him questions he refuses to answer at this point. So I think it’s frustrating on Sen. Reid’s part to bring the whole delegation together,” Heller said, because “the questions are not going to be about Nevada, what’s best for Nevada … It’s just gonna be, ‘OK, we finally have Ensign in the open.'”
But the scandal, Heller said, contributed to his decision not to run for Sen. Harry Reid’s seat.
The scandal “was part of the decision making process as to whether or not I would take on Sen. Reid,” he said. “And I chose not to under the scenario. It was more variables than just that, but that was a major variable in the process and I think it’s very, very difficult. And it will be very difficult, I think, for candidates in the future, or this race against Sen. Reid, or the governor’s race, with that cloud of Sen. Ensign’s problems out there.”
