Mar 13 2011

Ex-Aide Calls for Ensign to Resign From the Senate Right Now

Senator John Ensign’s announcement this week that he is retiring has brought little solace to his chief accuser, Doug Hampton, the husband of Mr. Ensign’s former mistress.

Mr. Hampton, breaking a long period of public silence as the various investigations of Mr. Ensign have dragged on, put out a statement Wednesday calling on Mr. Ensign, Republican of Nevada, to resign immediately from the Senate, instead of waiting for his term to expire in 2012.

“I continue to be extremely disappointed by John’s callousness and lack of remorse for destroying my family and life,” Mr. Hampton wrote in his statement. “His selfish, steadfast refusal to resign immediately prolongs the pain and anguish he caused.”

Mr. Hampton, a former senior aide to Mr. Ensign and one-time close family friend of the senator, largely forced Mr. Ensign’s public admission in June 2009 that he had an affair with Cindy Hampton, Mr. Hampton’s wife, who had served as a treasurer of one of his political fund-raising groups.

Senate ethics investigators have been examining if Mr. Ensign violated Senate rules by helping Mr. Hampton get work as a lobbyist immediately after he left the Senate in 2008, work that would have been illegal because Mr. Hampton then turned to Mr. Ensign’s office to help his clients, despite a one-year ban on such contact.

The Department of Justice also investigated the role Mr. Ensign played in helping Mr. Hampton get lobbying work, but Mr. Ensign’s lawyers announced in December that no criminal charges would be filed against the senator.

Daniel J. Albreghts, a lawyer for Mr. Hampton, said it is unclear if Mr. Hampton is still himself the subject of a criminal investigation, given his public admission and email records that show that Mr. Hampton had contacted Mr. Ensign’s office during the one year ban—a move Mr. Hampton has said he took at the senator’s urging.

As recently as January, even after the announcement by Mr. Ensign’s lawyers, Justice Department officials had told Mr. Albreghts that the investigation was ongoing. But he said he had not heard from them since.

Mr. Hampton made clear in his statement that, at a minimum, he continues to play a role in the separate Senate investigation of Mr. Ensign, including being asked to come to Washington to speak with Senate investigators. Senate officials have said that this inquiry will continue as long as Mr. Ensign remains in office, as the Senate Ethics Committee only has jurisdiction over sitting members.

Mr. Hampton, in his statement, said Mr. Ensign must know that he could effectively terminate this inquiry by resigning.

“The cost to the taxpayers of this fruitless exercise flies in the face of John’s claim of being fiscally conservative and a protector of the taxpayer’s money,” Mr. Hampton’s statement said, continuing, “much like his affair with my wife flew in the face of his claim to moral righteousness.”

Mr. Hampton lost his Nevada home and moved back to southern California, Mr. Albreghts said.

View the original article here

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